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非政府組織反多邊投資協定運動之研究 / A study of NGO campaign against the multilateral agreement on investment吳美智, Wu, Mei Chih Unknown Date (has links)
1998年在全球各地環保團體、消費者團體、社會正義團體等非政府組織跨國串聯反對下,擊敗了正在經濟合作暨發展組織為了一致化外國直接投資規則進行的多邊投資協定談判,這是非政府組織成功在全球經濟治理領域發揮影響力的重要案例。本論文的研究目的在於探討:第一、反對多邊投資協定談判的非政府組織跨國倡議活動為什麼成功及如何成功;第二、他們反對的理由是什麼;第三、從這個案例來看非政府組織倡議活動正在或將對國際政治經濟決策過程帶來何種程度的衝擊。這個個案研究使用Margaret E. Keck與Kathryn Sikkink的跨國倡議網絡(transnational advocacy network, TAN)理論,分析公民反抗行動如何成功影響在全球層次的政治決策,TAN理論強調議題共鳴、網絡密度、與目標對象脆弱性三種因素的重要性。本論文除了用這三種因素檢視反多邊投資協定運動過程,並發現非政府組織的倡議活動是否能夠與政府力量取得連結的重要性,作為TAN理論的補充。其次,本論文發現反多邊投資協定運動策略性地轉變為以國內為基礎的運動,透過國內爭議政治的傳統反抗手法向政府表達公民的訴求,以避開國際組織對非政府組織不利的政治機會結構,呈現出與TAN理論的「迴力鏢效果」相對立的發展。最後,這個個案研究發現反多邊投資協定運動更接近基於民族主義的傳統政治,而不能說是一種世界主義政治的發展。世界主義論者預期在一個形成中的全球公民社會中國家的角色正在消退,在這個案例中顯然並無法獲得足夠的證明。 / In 1998, a transnational NGO coalition of environmentalist, consumer rights, and social justice activists helped to defeat the Multilateral Agreement on Investment (MAI), a draft treaty to harmonize rules on foreign direct investment under the aegis of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This dissertation addresses why and how the transnational NGO advocacy sank the MAI negotiation, what are their advocacy reasons, and to what extent the transnational NGO advocacy activities will influence and are influencing the international decision making process. This case study uses Margaret E. Keck and Kathryn Sikkink’s transnational advocacy network (TAN) theory, which stresses the importance of issue resonance, network density, and target vulnerability, to explore how citizen’s resistance struggle succeed in influencing policy at global level. First, in supplementing Keck and Sikkink’s TAN theory, the work suggests whether the NGO advocacy links with its governmental power is also at stake. Second, contrary to the “boomerang effect” from their TAN theory, the work finds that the transnational NGO campaign against MAI strategically shifted to country-based campaigns to address citizen’s claims through traditional repertoire of contention politics, in bypassing unfavorable political opportunity structure in international arena. Finally, the anti-MAI campaign was found to be much closer to traditional politics in a view of nationalism than the alleged cosmopolitan politics, which expects the role of state has eroded in an emerging global civil society.
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Les répercussions du plan Marshall sur les comportements économiques du Canada durant la période de l'après-guerreGrandmaison, Mathieu 08 1900 (has links)
La période de l’après-guerre posa d’importants défis commerciaux à l’économie canadienne. Les années entre 1945 et 1950 furent effectivement marquées par la rupture de son système commercial traditionnel et la recherche d’une stratégie alternative. Le pays dut composer avec un déficit commercial croissant à l’égard des États-Unis, ainsi qu’une chute de ses exportations à destination du Royaume-Uni, ruiné par les années de guerre. Ce déséquilibre commercial qui menaçait d’épuiser les réserves canadiennes de dollars américains reflétait l’écart entre les capacités productives des deux rives de l’Atlantique. Le programme de reconstruction des économies européennes, ou plan Marshall, fut accueilli avec enthousiasme à Ottawa puisqu’il devait non seulement rétablir les marchés du Vieux Continent, mais également faciliter la mise en place d’un réseau multilatéral d’échanges et la libéralisation du commerce international. Les tensions de la guerre froide limitèrent toutefois l’ouverture de ces marchés aux marchandises canadiennes, puisque l’endiguement du communisme commanda une consolidation européenne qui privilégia le démantèlement des entraves aux échanges intra-européens, aux dépens du commerce transatlantique. Les préoccupations de Washington en matière de sécurité collective devaient néanmoins laisser place à une stratégie alternative pour le Canada, en poussant la coopération économique des deux pays, dans le but d’optimiser une production de défense destinée aux pays membres de l’OTAN, dont la demande était soutenue par l’aide Marshall. L’incorporation du Canada dans ce dispositif de défense élargie à la communauté atlantique permit ainsi d’assurer un accès privilégié à ses marchandises sur le marché américain, et par conséquent de progresser vers l’équilibre commercial. / The postwar years brought many challenges to the Canadian economy in terms of trade policies. Indeed, in the years between 1945 and 1950, Canada experienced growing trade imbalances as imports from the United States market reached new peaks and exports to the United Kingdom decreased dramatically due to financial exhaustion caused by the war. These developments soon raised concerns as the country was faced with the prospect of foreign reserves depletion, a situation mainly caused by the productivity gap existing between the economies of the two sides of the Atlantic. The American sponsored European Recovery Program or Marshall Plan was met with enthusiasm in Ottawa as it intended to restore economic viability of the European markets as well as to establish a multilateral trade system based on non-discriminatory trade practices. The international tensions of the nascent Cold War were to limit these achievements as the need for a strong Europe dictated the elimination of restrictive trade practices between European commercial partners without giving equal treatment to transatlantic trade relations. However, the conflictual Cold War context was to offer an alternative strategy to the Canadian’s quest for dollars, for Washington’s collective security concerns paved the way to closer economic cooperation and privileged access to Canadian exports of strategic materials and other defence related commodities in the American market. The Marshall Plan was a key element of the procurement mechanism of the NATO country whose demand alleviated the pressure on Canadian foreign reserves through greater exports to the United Stated.
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Die Beziehung zwischen der UNESCO und den Vereinigten Staaten von Amerika mit besonderer Beachtung der multilateralen BildungsfinanzierungReif, Falko 09 December 2013 (has links) (PDF)
Die Geschichte der Beziehungen zwischen den Vereinigten Staaten und der UNESCO ist seit Gründung der UN-Sonderorganisation von Spannungen geprägt. Diese kulminierten im Austritt der USA aus der UNESCO mit Wirkung vom 31.12.1984. Im Gegensatz zur rechtlichen Dimension des Austritts war die politische Dimension höchst kontrovers. Es zeigte sich, dass ein generelles Unbehagen zu internationalen Organisationen generell und den Vereinten Nationen im Besonderen die Hauptrolle beim Austritt spielte. Die UNESCO spielt auf dem Gebiet der multilateralen Bildungsfinanzierung – neben anderen Organisationen – eine nicht zu unterschätzende Rolle. Neben anderen Problemen auf diesen Gebiet mit denen die UNESCO noch heute zu kämpfen hat, hatte daher der Austritt der Vereinigten Staaten negative Auswirkungen auf den Haushalt der UNESCO und somit auch den Teil der Bildungsfinanzierung.
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The promotion and protection of foreign investment in South Africa : a critical review of promotion and protection of Investment Bill 2013Ngwenya, Mtandazo 20 June 2016 (has links)
At the dawn of democratic rule in the period 1994–1998, South Africa concluded 15 bilateral investment treaties (BITs), mostly with European nations. Some of these treaties were concluded before the Constitution of 1996. The country has since concluded a total of 47 BITs, with the majority not in effect as they were not ratified per the required constitutional processes. The policy decision to enter into BITs was taken by the African National Congress (ANC) government, led by the late former state president Nelson Mandela. The BITs were seen as an important guarantee to attract foreign investment into the country. The aim was to provide added assurance that foreign investments were safe in a democratic South Africa after many years of international isolation and sanctions.
The conventional wisdom at the time was that BITs would increase foreign investor appetite to invest and the country would experience rising levels of foreign direct investment (FDI) as a result. This would facilitate economic growth and the transition of the country into the global economy. South Africa concluded BITs with seven of the top ten investor countries. In October 2013 the South African government cancelled a number of BITs with these European countries invested in South Africa. These countries – namely Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands – complained of lack of consultation by the South Africans. On 1 November 2013 the Minister of Trade and Industry published, in Government Gazette No 36995, the Promotion and Protection of Investment Bill (PPIB or Investments Bill) as the proposed primary legislative instrument for the protection of foreign investments.
This created much uncertainty among many European nations as well as in the United States of America (US), who were concerned about the motivation for cancelling bilateral treaties in favour of domestic legislation. BITs had been a part of the policy instruments regulating foreign investments in the country for over 20 years. Globally these treaties have been used to regulate foreign investments in a number of areas, and to provide protection to investments such as full protection and security, guaranteed pre-establishment rights, ease of repatriation of funds, most-favoured nation, fair and equitable treatment, national treatment and efficient dispute settlement mechanisms, among other provisions.
In most cases international arbitration via the International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and other international arbitral mediums has been a standard provision in the treaties. This has allowed foreign investors to bypass host countries’ legal systems. The latter is believed to be a significant inducement for foreign investors, guaranteeing that should a dispute arise, or if an expropriation occurs, the investor could institute an international arbitral process against the host government. International arbitration is preferred by foreign investors for the reason that, in some cases, domestic courts may lack independence from the state, and may make partial rulings that do not protect investors.
Furthermore, international arbitration processes are more efficient and produce rulings faster than domestic courts, which are usually burdened with bureaucratic procedures and limited resources. In cases where delay exacerbates injury, prompt resolution of disputes is preferable. This study evaluates the Investments Bill and the rationale applied by the government of South Africa to cancel BITs with major trade and investment partners in favour of this legislation. The thesis focuses on the Investments Bill, in light of the objective provided by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) for its enactment to law. The Investments Bill is subjected to a constitutional analysis to determine its compliance therewith. Comparisons are also made between the Investments Bill provisions and the prevailing international law principles on foreign investments.
The Investments Bill is then critically evaluated against emerging trends on FDI regulation on the African continent to determine its congruence or lack thereof with best practice recommendations at regional economic community (REC) and African Union (AU) level. The thesis concludes with a set of policy recommendations to the DTI on how to improve South African policies related to the regulation of foreign investments taking into account the national imperative as well as Southern African Development Community (SADC) and other broader African continental objectives of harmonisation of FDI regulation, including the Tripartite Free Trade Area (FTA) implementation. The timing of this thesis is significant for South Africa. It adds to various deliberations that are taking place as the Investments Bill is set to makes its way through the legislative approval processes in 2015.
The Bill has been met with opposition from some segments of society. Others have expressed support – including several state departments, the ANC, the South African Communist Party (SACP) and other political formations. The summary of findings contained in the thesis will be presented to the DTI to influence policy directions of the state in terms of foreign investment regulations. Should the Bill be enacted, the Minister of Trade and Industry is required to promulgate the dispute resolution mechanism that will govern investment disputes. The findings of this study will be important to the determination of how such dispute resolution mechanisms may function. Furthermore, in 2010 Cabinet instructed the DTI to develop a model new-generation BIT Template to be utilised by South Africa, should a compelling reason arise to enter into bilateral agreements.
The research results will assist policy-makers to develop policies that are consistent with and align with the overarching Africa strategy that has been heavily promoted by South Africa. The country faces a number of challenges, particularly those related to low economic growth, high levels of poverty, unemployment and record levels of inequality. The gap between the rich and poor, in terms of the Gini coefficient, was 0,67 based on the World Bank Development Research Group Report of 2010. It is reported as one of the highest in the world and is believed to have worsened since the dawn of democracy. / Public, Constitutional and International Law / LL. D. (Public, Constitutional and International Law)
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Three Essays on the Measurement of ProductivityHussain, Jakir January 2017 (has links)
This doctoral thesis consists of three essays. In the first essay I investigate the presence of productivity convergence in eight regional pulp and paper industries of U.S. and Canada over the period of 1971-2005. Expectation of productivity convergence in the pulp and paper industries of Canadian provinces and of the states of its southern neighbour is high since they are trading partners with fairly high level of exchanges in both pulp and paper products. Moreover, they share a common production technology that changed very little over the last century. I supplement the North-American regional data with national data for two Nordic countries, Finland and Sweden, which provides a scope to compare the productivity performances of four leading players in global pulp and paper industry. I find evidence in favour of the catch-up hypothesis among the regional pulp and paper industries of U.S. and Canada in my sample. The growth performance is at the advantage of Canadian provinces relative to their U.S. counterparts. However, it is not good enough to surpass the growth rates of this industry in the two Nordic countries.
It is well-known that econometric productivity estimation using flexible functional forms often encounter violations of curvature conditions. However, the productivity literature does not provide any guidance on the selection of appropriate functional forms once they satisfy the theoretical regularity conditions. The second chapter of my thesis provides an empirical evidence that imposing local curvature conditions on the flexible functional forms affect total factor productivity (TFP) estimates in addition to the elasticity estimates. Moreover, I use this as a criterion for evaluating the performances of three widely used locally flexible cost functional forms - the translog (TL), the Generalized Leontief (GL), and the Normalized Quadratic (NQ) - in providing TFP estimates. Results suggest that the NQ model performs better than the other two functional forms in providing TFP estimates.
The third essay capitalizes on newly available high frequency energy consumption data from commercial buildings in the District of Columbia (DC) to provide novel insights on the realized energy use impacts of energy efficiency standards in commercial buildings. Combining these data with hourly weather data and information on tenancy contract structure I evaluate the impacts of energy standards, contractual structure of utility bill payments, and energy star labeling on account level electricity consumption. Using this unique panel dataset, the analysis takes advantage of detailed building-level characteristics and the heterogeneity in the building age distribution, resulting in buildings constructed before and after mandatory energy standards came into effect. Estimation results suggest that in commercial buildings constructed under a code, electricity consumption is lower by about 0.48 kWh per cooling degree hour. When tenants pay for their own utilities, consumption is lower by 0.82 kWh per cooling degree hour. The Energy Star effect is a 0.31 kWh reduction per cooling degree hour. Finally, peak savings for all three variables of interest occur at 2pm in the summer months, whereas peak summer marginal prices at DC's local electric utility occur at 5pm.
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Efficiency in international climate funds / Efficiency in international funds for climate changeHusová, Kateřina January 2009 (has links)
In years long negotiations on the new global climate change regime, financial support provided for adaptation and mitigation in developing countries have been one of the most contentious issues. Billions dollars are in questions annually, disbursed both by private investments, as well as substantially via public funds. The fundamental question resonating in the negotiations and elsewhere though is the issue of efficient delivery. Given the scale of resources, which should be mobilized and disbursed, given the current experience with inefficiencies in ODA, given the fact that existing climate change funds are now disbursing millions but not billions, the efficiency is really the key for success of future climate regime. Moreover, efficient delivery is a pre-condition for "preventing dangerous interference with climate change", which is the ultimate goal of climate change policy enshrined in the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change envisages. It is a widespread belief that inefficiency in disbursing public funds remains at the recipient's side. This paper tries to approach the efficiency question at the case of the Global Environment Facility, the Kyoto Protocol Adaptation Fund and the World Bank Climate Investment Funds. It asks the question whether the existing funding mechanisms in climate change are set up optimally in order to disburse funds efficiently. When looking at their internal policies and guidelines, it focuses on the four leading questions -- how can funds be accessed, who decides, who and how implements and how are funds held accountable. It finds that there are major differences between the tree funds in how and by whom are priorities and objectives decided, what are the fund's requirements on recipients, and how does the fund control the efficiency of its spending. This paper brings an in-depth analysis of weak and strong policies in existing climate change funds with regard to efficient delivery.
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A grounded theory of critical incidents impact management among SAPS officers in the Vhembe District, Limpopo ProvinceGumani, Andronica Masefako 06 1900 (has links)
A study was conducted to describe and interpret the personal strategies that South African Police Service officers in the Vhembe District, Limpopo Province, use in their line of work. These are strategies to deal with the impact of the primary victims’ critical incidents of rape, domestic violence, murder and road accidents. The focus was on describing the impact of the critical incidents that the officers are exposed to, which manifest in a form of traumatic stress, namely, vicarious traumatisation, and management of this impact.
Twenty participants were selected through purposive and theoretical sampling techniques from the family violence, child protection and sexual offences, domestic violence, field training, detective and social crime prevention units. Unstructured open-ended interviews, diaries and follow-up telephone interviews were used as data collection methods and data were collected in the participants’ home languages, Tshivenda and Xitsonga. Data gathered necessitated looking into both the aspects of the officers’ organisational and operational work. Data were thus analysed through the content thematic and constant comparative data analysis methods.
The results first presented a profile of police vicarious traumatisation in the Vhembe District, which include the types of critical incidents exposed to, the organisational and operational stressors that lead to vicarious traumatisation, and the description of vicarious traumatisation symptoms. Second, a theoretical framework of the process of police critical incidents impact management (PCIIM) was developed. The framework shows that the management of the impact of the encountered incidents is inspired by various coping needs and subcultures of the officers, and the management takes place through the use of two styles of trauma management, namely, the linear and multilateral styles, which refer to application of coping strategies successively and the combination of horizontal and vertical application of coping strategies, respectively. The coping strategies used by the officers help them to have an objective understanding of the critical incidents encountered, have less severe symptoms of vicarious traumatisation, some symptoms last for shorter periods than before, and other symptoms are no longer experienced. Resilience to the encountered incidents is shown through the development of coping strategies to handle the incidents, facing them, and showing cognitive hardiness. The officers also manage to reflect on
the experiences encountered, engage in narratives about them and mutual help thus still working towards attaining posttraumatic growth. / Psychology / D. Litt. et Phil. (Psychology)
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Appeal mechanisms and Investment Court Systems in Investor-State Dispute Settlement : An analysis of AM and ICS suggestions, in light of contemporary reformDrakopoulos, David January 2021 (has links)
We begin with a short analysis of the history of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS). We then discuss the merits and demerits of the regime, such as the arguments between finality, speediness, and correctness. Following from this, historical reforms are discussed, and whether those issues have gotten worse or better since these discussions. The modern problems are discussed, leading to the explanation of the “legitimacy crisis”. As Appellate Mechanisms (AM) and Investment Court Systems (ICS) both propose multi layered systems, we argue whether ISDS must be a “one bite at the apple” system. We expand on the issues of regulatory chill, before showing the contradictions in the granting of awards. From this, a discussion is raised on the advantages of a tenured system of adjudicators, particularly in reference to their apparent bias. We delve deeper into the direct consequences of the perceived issues of ISDS, in the context of human rights, the environment, and other issues of sovereignty.As more reforms are suggested, the question of “what makes arbitration, arbitration?” is raised. From here, we may begin to suggest reforms based on which key factors are to be preserved. Firstly, we discuss current reform options, such as the Mauritius Convention. We take inspiration from existing AM, and prior discussions on the implementation of such a system across the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) frameworks. We analyse whether these discussions have led to change by comparing trends in drafting.Thereon, we offer suggestions of reform. ICS and how this would be implemented, what it would look like structurally, and its positive and negative effects. Using the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) and other contemporary ICS reform suggestions, we gain some knowledge of what an ICS regime could and should look like, the implementation of AM previously discussed in this regime, and other. Finally, we offer a different solution to the problems, yet less pragmatic, the termination of arbitration.
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Essais sur l'enseignement supérieur et la recherche : capacités d'accueil, frais d'inscription et mobilité internationale. / Essays on higher education and research : capacities, tuition fees and international mobilityDidisse, Jonas 12 December 2018 (has links)
Dans un contexte d’internationalisation de l’enseignement supérieur et de la recherche, nous nous intéressons à deux problématiques relatives aux dynamiques récentes des systèmes universitaires nationaux. D’abord, à partir d’une approche microéconomique par l’offre, nous montrons que le degré d’intervention publique et les capacités d’accueil non-rigides des établissements expliquent les divergences de frais d’inscription entre les systèmes universitaires régulés et dérégulés. Ensuite, à partir d’une approche macroéconomique par la demande, nous cherchons à appréhender les facteurs d’inélasticité de la demande à travers des modèles de gravité incluant des déterminants hors-prix de la mobilité internationale des étudiants / In a context of internationalization of higher education and research, we focus on two issues related to the recent dynamics of national university systems. First, from a supply microeconomic approach, we show that the level of public intervention and the non-rigid capacities of institutions explain the divergence of tuition fees between regulated and deregulated university systems. Then, from a macroeconomic demand approach, we try to underline the inelasticity of the demand from gravity models with non-price determinants of international student mobility
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Vliv společné evropské investiční politiky na systém mezinárodního investičního práva / The Influence of EU Common Investment Policy on the System of International Investment LawSvoboda, Ondřej January 2020 (has links)
1 The Influence of EU Common Investment Policy on the System of International Investment Law Abstract Extending exclusive European Union (EU) competence to foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Lisbon Treaty has had profound implications. The EU began to develop its own investment policy, including negotiating either international investment agreements or comprehensive trade and investment agreements with third parties. Taking into account the magnitude of the EU economy and the fact that EU Member States have concluded almost 1 400 bilateral investment treaties (BITs) out of roughly 3 300 in force worldwide, the potential of European influence over the system of international investment, based principally on BITs, is enormous. The aim of this dissertation is to assess how and in which way the new EU competence changes the system. The EU investment policy has developed a specific approach towards investment protection and investment dispute mechanism which does not envision content declared at its beginning. According to initial documents such as the European Commission's Communication Towards a comprehensive European international investment policy, the Union should have followed the available best practices of the Member States. Nevertheless, during the first bilateral negotiations with Canada and...
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