Future Multilateralism: The Political and Social Framework (International Political Economy)

The aim of this volume is to discuss the kinds of multilateralism that would be required to pursue some of the alternative projects of society, namely those which agree with some of the key normative commitments of the MUNS programme: non-violent means for dealing with conflict; social equity; protection of the biosphere; diffusion of power among social groups and societies. The strategies identified here are both 'top-down', ie: relying on conventional international institutions and 'bottom-up', ie: involving a new multilateralism grounded in civil society. The Farm War of the early 1980s caused subsequent disruptions in world markets, conflicts among major governments and disagreements in international organizations. The Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations, ostensibly devoted to the new issues of globalization, dragged on from 1986 to 1993 in an attempt to end farm-subsidy battles. Wolfe shows how and why battles over agricultural protectionism were largely resolved through the Round, demonstrating that the global economy is not self-regulating; it needs institutions if it is to be stable. The Green Box, a core provision of The Agreement on Agriculture, shows how states can decide that certain types of policies should be immune from international regulation by the new World Trade Organization, an elegant compromise between the imperatives of responding to global change and maintaining democratic accountability. Wolfe's analysis will be helpful for planners of the next set of farm trade talks, due to begin in 1999, while the annotated text of The Agreement on Agriculture will be especially useful in introducing students to the complexities of trade policy Front Matter....Pages i-xvii Introduction....Pages 1-11 Front Matter....Pages 13-13 From Civil War to Civil Peace: Multi-Track Solutions to Armed Conflict....Pages 15-42 Multilateral Security: Common, Cooperative or Collective?....Pages 43-70 Front Matter....Pages 71-71 Back to Heterodox Questions: Progress with Regress Through Competition....Pages 73-100 A Signal Failure: Ecology and Economy After the Earth Summit....Pages 101-135 Environmental Rights, Multilateralism, Morality and the Ecology....Pages 136-150 Front Matter....Pages 151-151 The Quest for Human Rights in an Era of Globalization....Pages 153-178 Globalization, Multilateralism and the Shrinking Democratic Space....Pages 179-195 High-speed Growth, Crisis and Opportunity in East Asia....Pages 196-252 Front Matter....Pages 253-253 Engineering Space in Global Governance: the Emergence of Civil Society in Evolving ‘New’ Multilateralism....Pages 255-291 Multilateralism from Below: a Prerequisite for Global Governance....Pages 292-311 Back Matter....Pages 312-319 List Of Tables And Figure -- Acknowledgements -- List Of Abbreviations -- Introduction: The Intersection Of Risk And Trade -- Science In The Regulation Of Risk : A Transatlantic Divide? -- Informal Trade Conflict -- Mad Cows And Transatlantic Trade Conflict -- Resolving Differences Over Stinky Cheese And Bothersome Beetles -- Formal Trade Conflict -- The Dispute Over Hormonal Cattle : The Lead Up To Ec-hormones -- Fearing Frankenfoods : Emergence Of Ec-biotech -- Disputing Chlorinated Chickens : The Politics Underpinning Ec-poultry -- Science And The Politics Of Transatlantic Trade Conflict -- Conclusions: Lessons For Trade Conflict -- Moving Forward -- Conclusions -- Notes -- Bibliography. David J. Hornsby, Senior Lecturer In International Relations, University Of Witwatersrand, South Africa. Includes Bibliographical References. Internationally the trade union movement is finding itself peripheralized by a series of mutually reinforcing processes - the ongoing world economic crisis; the uneven transition from an industrial to an information and service capitalism; the aggressive policies of neoliberalism; the collapse of communism and radical nationalism; the decline of the social-democratic or labour tradition - and by a globalization that undermines the nation-state to which union hopes have long been pinned. The editors argue that this crisis provides an opportunity for labour to recover or reinvent itself. They see this in terms of a labour response to the waves of energy coming from the new global social movements (women, ecology, human rights/democracy, and so on). "Realizing the United Nations system and regional organizations are not adequate to meet the global challenges of the 21st century, the contributors to this volume identify new and complementary multilateral mechanisms to deal with such issues as threats to the environment, civil wars and ethnic conflict, challenges to the stability of newly evolving democracies, achievement of economic prosperity without significant increases in social and economic stratification." "Proposals include reforming existing intergovernmental organizations, strengthening nongovernmental organizations, and empowering new social movements."--Jacket Sri Lanka is hailed internationally for its high standards of education despite rather modest levels of economic growth. Much of this achievement has been underpinned by economic revenues generated by the labours of the plantation community whose own achievements in education fell well below the national norm. In recent years, however, educational participation among this community has increased. Why, and how? A day in the life of Vickneswari provides the starting-point for an analysis of educational progress among the Tamil plantation community. The authors examine various aspects of Japanese financial markets. This analysis is interspersed with the relevant institutional/historical background on Japanese financial markets necessary for the non-specialist. Principal chapters include: an institutional overview; a chapter on the comparative costs of capital (both internationally and among Japanese firms); causes and implications of the high degree of financial intermediation in Japan; and an invaluable analysis of the most recent trends in the Japanese/Asian financial markets This book examines the effect of post-Soviet transitions on current problem solving trends with regards to world capitalism. The fall of Soviet communism left liberal capitalism as the dominant blueprint from which to construct economic development policies. Using Central Europe as an example it is shown that the application of the Western liberal-capitalist model has not been without its difficulties. This book endeavours to place the changes to the global political economy, since 1989, in a theoretical and historical context This volume discusses the kinds of multilateralism required to pursue some of the alternative projects of society, such as non-violent resolution of conflict, social equity and protection of the biosphere