National interest to global reform: patterns of reasoning in British foreign policy discourse

Discussion of the national interest often focuses on how Britain's influence can be maximized, rather than on the goals that influence serves. Yet what gives content to claims about the national interest is the means-ends reasoning which links interests to deeper goals. In ideal-typical terms, this can take two forms. The first, and more common, approach is conservative: it infers national interests and the goals they advance from existing policies and commitments. The second is reformist: it starts by specifying national goals and then asks how they are best advanced under particular conditions. New Labour's foreign policy discourse is notable for its explicit use of a reformist approach. Indeed, Gordon Brown's vision of a 'new global society' not only identifies global reform as a key means of fulfilling national goals, but also thereby extends the concept of the national interest well beyond a narrow concern with national security.

U.S. immigration policy and the national interest : the final report and recommendations of the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy with supplemental views by commissioners.

"Submitted to the Congress and the President of the United States pursuant to Public Law 95-412."

U.S. immigration policy and the national interest /

Originally published March 1981 as U.S. immigration policy ... final report and recommendations of the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy.

Corps of Engineers functions and the national interest : a study of the effect of reorganization proposals on the national defense and on development of water resources.

Mode of access: Internet.

Giants and dwarfs:the multilevel lobbying strategies of national interest organizations

The article addresses the bias in interest representation within the EU by examining the lobbying strategies of national interest organisations within the EU’s multilevel political system. Both our theoretical framework, which includes the determinants of a national interest organisation's decision to act at the EU level, and the data analysis from the INTEREURO Multi-Level Governance Module (MLG) (www.intereuro.eu) reveal three main findings. Firstly, the greatest differentiation among interest organisations (IOs) appears to be between those IOs from the older member states (Germany, the UK and the Netherlands), which exhibit above-average levels of activity, and those from the newer EU member states (Sweden, Slovenia), which exhibit below-average levels of activity. Secondly, the variations in IO activity levels are much greater from country to country than from one policy field to another. Thirdly, although the IOs from all five countries in our study are more likely to employ media and publishing strategies (information politics) than to mobilise their members and supporters (protest politics), we can still observe national patterns in their selection of strategies and in the intensity of their instrumentalisation.

Foreign aid and the national interest : the cases of the United States and Japan

Developed countries give foreign assistance for many reasons, one of which is the protection of national interests. Foreign aid gives a donor country leverage in international relations and is used as a tool of foreign policy. The United States and Japan are the two largest aid donors in the world. Each of these countries exert influence over specific regions through foreign assistance. Although the national interests of each country are different, both use foreign aid to protect these interests. This thesis discusses the means by which the United States and Japan use foreign aid in foreign policy. It looks specifically at U.S. food aid to Central America and Japanese aid to Asia.

"Cheap and nasty": German goods, socialism, and the 1876 Philadelphia world fair

At the World Fair in Philadelphia in 1876, the German goods on display were described as cheap and nasty, setting off a vigorous debate about the state of German industry. Social democrats attacked policies of increasing competitiveness of German exports through keeping wages low, and claimed that the quality of the goods produced by socialist workers was higher than those produced by others. An analysis of the debate shows the extent to which social democrats not only resorted to arguments stressing the national interest, but also the extent to which nominally Marxist socialists in this period were still attached to traditional artisanal values of pride in the quality of their work.

As Presidências Portuguesas da União Europeia

O estudo das Presidências Portuguesas do Conselho da União Europeia, desenvolvido no âmbito desta tese de doutoramento em relações internacionais, tem por objetivo descrever, comparar e explicar o papel, os objetivos e as prioridades políticas internas e externas de Portugal durante os três exercícios presidenciais da União: 1992, 2000 e 2007. Partimos de uma análise assente nas teorias da integração europeia, para analisar a evolução e importância das Presidências para os Estados-membros. Dentro destas adotamos o modelo conceptual da perspectiva racionalista e sociológica, de forma a compreender o comportamento e desempenho dos Estados no exercício das mesmas. Neste enquadramento procuramos explicar o desenvolvimento institucional da Presidência, o seu papel e respectivas funções ao longo do processo de construção europeia, a forma como os Estados através destas influenciam a agenda europeia, como lideram determinadas políticas e/ou dossiers e inerentemente defendem o seu interesse nacional. Descrevemos e comparamos as três Presidências Portuguesas do Conselho a nível empírico e analisamo-las de acordo com o quadro teórico adoptado. Desta forma, pretendemos explicar as razões que levaram Portugal a definir um determinado tipo de prioridades políticas para cada uma das suas Presidências, as estratégias desenvolvidas para obter o sucesso na prossecução das mesmas, bem como a respectiva importância para o país e para a União Europeia. Cada uma das Presidências ora referidas, oferece um contributo específico e importante na sustentação da nossa tese e concorrem para o argumento central da mesma: explicar o papel de Portugal nos três exercícios presidenciais, e consequentemente a sua relevância para a política externa nacional e para o processo de integração europeia.

A maritimidade portuguesa : a extensão da plataforma continental

As potencialidades da plataforma continental estendida são enormes e variadas, desde as que podem ser obtidas através de sectores tradicionais – como portos e marinas ou turismo náutico – até as que advirão de novos sectores como a exploração dos fundos do mar ou a energia das ondas, entre outras. Com efeito, devido ao alargamento resultante das negociações nas Nações Unidas, é praticamente garantido que Portugal passe a controlar um espaço marítimo, acrescido de 2.1 milhões de km2, isto é, vinte vezes a extensão da sua superfície terrestre. A maritimidade de Portugal constitui um traço profundamente marcado na sua história, bem como nas suas tradicionais práticas económicas, sociais e simbólicas. Na verdade, os últimos anos testemunharam a criação de um amplo consenso quanto ao papel determinante que o desenvolvimento costeiro, a superfície e o comprimento dos limites do “Mar Português” terá no futuro do país. Da articulação entre o Território Nacional, o Oceano Atlântico e o Continente Europeu, associada à confluência das vias de comunicação marítimas que ligam a Europa à América do Norte e do Sul configurar-e-ão os aspectos essenciais do designado “Espaço Estratégico de Interesse Nacional Permanente”. A área geográfica prioritária para o desenvolvimento das acções militares de Defesa Nacional e dos interesses vitais permanentes inclui assim – para além do Território Nacional – o Espaço Interterritorial, o Mar Territorial (MT), o espaço aéreo sob responsabilidade nacional e a Zona Económica Exclusiva (ZEE). O País é titular de soberania no território continental e nos arquipélagos da Madeira dos Açores, para além de estar comprometido com alguns Estados da CPLP, que têm no Atlântico Sul uma importante e poderosa presença. Pela geografia e pela definição dos interesses dos Estados e dos grandes espaços em que estão incluídos, Portugal está na articulação da segurança do Atlântico Norte com a segurança do Atlântico Sul. Esta realidade acarreta novos desafios para a Defesa Nacional, assumindo como preocupações acrescidas o terrorismo, o tráfico e a pirataria marítimas, entre outras.

The Determinants of pricing in pharmaceuticals: are U.S. prices really higher than those of Canada?

This paper studies price determination in pharmaceutical markets using data for 25 countries, six years and a comprehensive list of products from the MIDAS IMS database. We show that market power and the quality of the product has a significantly positive impact of prices. The nationality of the producer appears to have a small and often insignificant impact on prices, which suggests that countries which regulates prices have relatively little power to do it in a way that advances narrow national interest. We produce a theoretical explanation for this phenomenon based on the fact that low negotiated prices in a country would have a knock-on effect in other markets, and is thus strongly resisted by producers. Another key finding is that the U.S. has prices that are not significantly higher than those of countries with similar income levels. This, together with the former observation on the effect of the nationality of producers casts doubt on the ability of countries to purs

Nationalisme économique et réalisme mercantile : la politique énergétique russe sous Poutine (2000-2008)

Mon travail met en évidence la restructuration de l'industrie énergétique russe sous les deux mandats Poutine (2000-2008) via le rôle prédominant de l'État dans une perspective historique. Une nouvelle élite politique russe (les Silovikis) issue des structures de force de l'Etat favorise le nationalisme économique axé sur le rétablissement de l'autorité du gouvernement central au sein de l'industrie énergétique nationale au détriment des pouvoirs régionaux, des sociétés privées étrangères et des oligarques indépendants. Dans cette perspective, on peut citer "l'affaire Youkos" en 2003 caractérisée par l'arrestation de l'oligarque Mikhaïl Khodorkhovsky; les tentatives silovikiennes de reprendre l'ascendant sur les compagnies pétrolières régionales Tatneft et Bachneft gérées par les gouvernements tatar et bachkir, la pression fiscale envers les majors pétrolières étrangères à l'instar du conflit russo- britannique relatif à la joint-venture TNK-BP. Quant à la politique énergétique étrangère russe, elle est inspirée par line vision réaliste mercantile; le gouvernement silovikien vise à défendre l'intérêt national, le prestige et la puissance de la Russie via ses "champions" énergétiques Rosneft et Gazprom utilisés comme levier politique, notamment à l'égard des pays de la CEI considéré par Moscou comme sa sphère d'influence historique. Dans cette perspective, nous pouvons mentionner l'interruption des approvisionnements pétroliers et gaziers russes à l'Ukraine, aux Etats baltes ou encore à la Géorgie; la concurrence entre les majors russes et étrangères en Asie centrale / Caucase pour les champs pétrolifères et les tracés de pipelines (nouveau «Grand Jeu»); la diversification des marchés russes à l'exportation à travers la promotion de nouveaux pipelines partant des champs pétrolifères sibériens vers la Chine et l'océan Pacifique.¦My work highlights the restructuration of the Russian energy industry under the 2 Putin madates (2000-2008) by the predominant role of the state in a historical perspective. A new Russian politic elite (Siloviki) from state structure forces promotes the economic nationalism focused on the reestablishment of the central governmental authority in the national energy industry against regional powers, private foreign companies and independent oligarchs. In this perspective, we can mention the "Yukos Affair" in 2003 with the arrest of the oligarch Mikhail Khodorkhovsky; the silovikian attempts to take over the regional oil companies Tatneft and Bachneft handled by the Tatar and Bashkir governments; the fiscal silovikian pressure against foreign companies such as the Russo-Britannic joint- venture TNK-BP. As for the Russian energy Foreign policy, it is inspired by a mercantile realism vision; the silovikian government aims to defend the national interest, the prestige and the power of Russia through its energy companies Rosneft and Gazprom as a political leverage especially toward the CEI Countries considered by Moscow as it historical sphere of influence. In this perspective, we can mention the interruption of Russian oil&gas supply toward Ukraine, Baltic states or Georgia; the competition between Russian and foreign companies in Central Asia/Caucasus for oil and gas fields and pipeline routes (new "Great Game"); the diversification of Russian export markets through the promotion ο new pipelines from Siberian oil&gas fields to China and the Pacific Ocean.

The determinants of pricing in pharmaceuticals: Are U.S. prices really higher than those of Canada?

This paper studies price determination in pharmaceutical markets using data for 25 countries, six years and a comprehensive list of products from the MIDAS IMS database. We show that market power and the quality of the product has a significantly positive impact of prices. The nationality of the producer appears to have a small and often insignificant impact on prices, which suggests that countries which regulates prices have relatively little power to do it in a way that advances narrow national interest. We produce a theoretical explanation for this phenomenon based on the fact that low negotiated prices in a country would have a knock-on effect in other markets, and is thus strongly resisted by producers.Another key finding is that the U.S. has prices that are not significantly higher than those of countries with similar income levels. This, together with the former observation on the effect of the nationality of producers casts doubt on the ability of countries to pursue "free-riding" regulation.