Africa is facing many challenges which range from underdevelopment to high poverty levels. Although Africa is richly endowed with natural resources, the continent continues to be a source of raw material for the North. This state of affairs cannot be allowed to continue indefinitely. The high level of debt owed to multilateral organisations compounds the challenge by limiting investment inflows. Through the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), the African Union (AU) has the potential to stimulate growth and development on the continent in pursuit of the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Undoubtedly, the African Union’s NEPAD faces many challenges itself. The benefits of the multilateral trade regime will only become freely available if factors such as the negative multiplier effects associated with the accomplishment of the ideal of African integration and market access, could be mitigated. The success of NEPAD is not a given for Africa and necessitates visionary leadership. It has to be earned and as a matter of course will involve some sacrifices. Africa will have to mobilise intra-continental investment to leverage Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). The point of departure of this research study is that the NEPAD initiative is an African programme which must be led by Africans themselves, especially the intelligentsia. The Africans in the diaspora also constitute a valuable source of capacity to implement NEPAD. NEPAD promotes the participation of Africa in global affairs in pursuit of the African Renaissance. It is imperative that the architects of NEPAD listen to the concerns being raised by its opponents and continuously engage the Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the intended beneficiary society. It should be noted that the private sector can partner with governments in supporting the objectives of NEPAD. There is a need to harmonise policies of different AU member states to give effect to regional cooperation and integration. Regional integration can enhance the mobilisation of resources through economies of scale that will position Africa to penetrate global markets and to attract direct foreign investment. Globalisation itself should not be viewed as a threat, but as presenting new economic challenges and potential opportunities for regional integration. It is time that the Africans their own agenda within Africa. Africans must rise jointly to this occasion and emancipate themselves from dependence associated with underdevelopment and poverty. Africa has the potential and the capacity to succeed through the effective implementation of NEPAD. The time for Africa is now. / Thesis (PhD (Public Affairs))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / School of Public Management and Administration (SPMA) / unrestricted

This dissertation is a comparative case study of regional cooperation in the field of economic development. In the 21st century global economy, proponents of regionalism have put forth fresh arguments for collective action. A regional approach to economic development activity presents a classic social dilemma: How can local officials collectively improve the economic prospects of a region, and remain autonomous to act in the best interest of the local community? This research examines the role of social capital in overcoming this social dilemma. Three (3) comparable Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) form the empirical basis of this research. The Houston MSA, the Atlanta MSA and the Miami MSA present distinct variations of regionalized economic development activity. This dissertation seeks to explain this disparity in the dependent variable. The hypothesis is that accrued social capital is crucial to obtaining economic development cooperative agreements. This qualitative research utilized secondary demographic and economic databases, survey instruments, interviews, field observations, and a review of legislative and administrative decisions to formulate a clear understanding of the factors influencing the current state of regional economic development cooperation within each region. The study concludes that the legislative and executive decisions of state government exert inordinate influence on the capacity of local officials to cooperate regionally for economic development purposes.

Non communiqué / Non communiqué

This study investigates minilateral partnerships, also referred to as regional cooperations, with the purpose of identifying whether these types of partnerships may be perceived as cohesive political grouping in the EP and if such cooperations influence the way in which MEPs debate and vote. The study uses a combined qualitative and quantitative method to study the behaviour of MEPs from the Visegrad Group when debating and voting on migration and asylum policy, during the Eight European Parliament. The thesis argues that the studied subject, i.e., the Visegrad Group, and the discussed issue i.e., migration and asylum policy, jointly generate a most likely case allowing for a reasonable degree of generalization. The study finds that the Visegrad Group is a politically incohesive group during the beginning of the studied time period, but that its cohesion notes a substantial increase towards its end. Despite the increase, the consistency of the Visegrad Group MEPs debating and voting as a group is found to be below the average cohesion of the European party groups. The study further confirms earlier research stating that national consideration and party politics remains the two strongest determinants of MEP debating and voting behaviour. The thesis concludes that the influence of minilateralism on MEPs is insignificant.

One of the defining trends in international finance over the last two decades has been the unprecedented growth in the levels of international reserves accumulated by emerging nations. In a global financial system characterized by market failures and sudden stops, many developing countries have opted for the protection provided by individual accumulation of reserves as a second-best outcome. However, as suggested by Rodrik (2006), among others, the accumulation of reserves comes at a hefty opportunity cost to the nations that hold them. It is this particular aspect that brings into question--or at least merits a re-examination of--the validity and efficiency of reserve accumulation as a stabilization and development strategy, particularly in the context of some cash-strapped developing nations. This dissertation takes an in-depth look at this trend in Latin America by investigating the extent of protection of these precautionary reserves, the role of contagion risk in the accumulation process, and the outlook of regional arrangements of cooperation, such as regional reserve pooling mechanisms.

L’intérêt pour l’Arctique s’est développé à travers l’environnement et les changements climatiques, avec avant tout la question du réchauffement climatique, qui bouleversent grandement cette région. Ces évolutions amènent aussi bien de nombreuses menaces que des opportunités importantes, qui demandent toutes une coopération approfondie pour y répondre. La protection de l’environnement, l’accès et la gestion des ressources (naturelles, énergétiques, halieutiques, etc.), l’utilisation des routes maritimes, la délimitation des limites maritimes et limites extérieures du plateau continental, le respect des droits de l’homme et des droits des peuples autochtones, l’aspect stratégique et militaire sont des exemples des nombreux enjeux qui existent en Arctique. La coopération arctique, qui se structure de manière plus prononcée depuis la fin de la Guerre froide, se trouve devant des défis importants qui demandent son approfondissement. Tous ces enjeux dépassent la seule coopération entre les Etats arctiques, d’autant plus que les conséquences et les intérêts présents sont mondiaux. A la multitude de domaines de coopération s’ajoute donc une congruence d’acteurs, arctiques et non-arctiques avec, de manière classique, les organisations internationales, les organisations non-gouvernementales et les multinationales, mais également les régions, les organisations interparlementaires, les peuples autochtones ou encore les associations scientifiques. La complexité de la situation se traduit au niveau de la coopération, qui fait face aux tensions aussi bien entre les acteurs arctiques qu’entre les acteurs arctiques et non-arctiques. Deux processus contradictoires semblent donc structurer la coopération avec d’une part une régionalisation et d’autre part une internationalisation. La coopération entre les acteurs arctiques se bâtit ainsi autour de nombreuses institutions internationales dont la structure et le rôle sont voués à évoluer, avec comme institution centrale le Conseil de l’Arctique, tout en se fondant sur des coopérations internationales globales, avec comme instrument essentiel la Convention sur le droit de la mer de 1982. La coopération arctique semble constituer un modèle intéressant reposant sur une flexibilité qui doit permettre une adaptation, d’autant plus importante dans une région exposée à des évolutions rapides. Elle utilise une structure unique mettant en avant une action multiniveaux et multi-acteurs en gardant un équilibre entre hard law et soft law. Si la coopération arctique structure une véritable région arctique avec une importance grandissante sur l’arène internationale, les liens entre le monde et cette région restent incertains. L’ouverture aux acteurs extra-arctiques est nécessaire, mais fait face à la réticence de certains acteurs arctiques. L’Arctique se pose comme un nouvel objet des relations internationales et peut même en devenir un acteur, mais doit répondre aux dangers qui peuvent exister pour la coopération dans cette région, dangers qui semblent avant tout venir de causes exogènes. La coopération arctique nécessite donc une analyse approfondie des enjeux qu’elle présente ainsi que des contradictions et paradoxes qui semblent y exister. Cette thèse vise ainsi à étudier la coopération arctique en mettant en exergue ses mécanismes et spécificités tout en analysant les relations qu’elle peut entretenir avec les acteurs extra-arctiques et la manière dont elle s’intègre dans les relations internationales. / The interest in the Arctic has grown through the environmental issues and climate change that deeply altered the region, especially with the impact of the global warming. These changes bring many threats but also important opportunities, and require a deeper cooperation to respond to them. The protection of the environment, the management of Arctic resources (natural, fishery, etc.), the use of sea routes, the delimitation of maritime boundaries, the respect of human rights and of indigenous peoples rights, the strategic and military aspects are all examples of the issues that coexist in the Arctic. They highlight the challenges that the cooperation in the Arctic is facing. None of these issues could solely be managed by the cooperation between the Arctic States, as their consequences and the interests at stake are global. In addition to the multitude of areas of cooperation, there is a congruence of actors: Arctic and extra-Arctic ones such as international organizations, non-governmental organizations, multinational corporations, but also regions, inter-parliamentary organizations, indigenous peoples or scientific associations. The complexity of the situation is perceptible in the way the Arctic cooperation is established. Tensions exist both among the Arctic actors and between Arctic and extra-Arctic actors. Two contradictory processes seem to structure the cooperation with the regionalization on the one hand, and the internationalization on the other hand. Thus, cooperation between Arctic stakeholders is built around many international institutions, which structures and roles will certainly evolve. The central structure of the Arctic cooperation is the Arctic Council – a regional institution. At the same time, the cooperation in the Arctic region is based on global international cooperations, with essential instruments as the Convention on the law of the sea of 1982. Arctic cooperation seems to be an interesting model based on flexibility that should enable adaptation, which is especially important in a region so deeply exposed to fast changes. It is based on a unique structure emphasizing multi-level and multi-stakeholder actions, keeping a balance between hard and soft law. If the Arctic cooperation builds a real Arctic region with a growing importance in the international arena, the ties between the world and the region remains uncertain. The inclusion of extra-Arctic actors is necessary but it is facing resistance from a part of the Arctic actors. Arctic arises as a new object of international relations and may even become a new actor, but it must respond to the dangers that may exist for cooperation in this region, dangers that seem to come especially from exogenous causes. Therefore, Arctic cooperation requires a thorough analysis of the issues it is faced with as well as its contradictions and paradoxes. This thesis aims to study the Arctic cooperation highlighting its mechanisms and particularities as well as to analyze relationships that it can develop with extra-Arctic actors and how it incorporates into international relations.

The natural environment is a key attraction for Australia???s tourism industry. In order to prevent the deterioration of the environment, environmental management measures have been adopted by the tourism industry. Some of these measures are related to environmental regulations imposed on tourism operators by governments. However, given the dependence of the nature-based tourism industry on the environment, voluntary environmental management measures have also been instituted. The objective of this thesis is to investigate the effect of environmental management on the competitiveness of a nature-based tourism destination. For that purpose, Tropical North Queensland, a major Australian nature-based destination, is selected as a case study. Competitiveness is measured by the aggregate profitability of the tourism industry in the destination region. The investigation incorporates an assessment of the simultaneous effects of environmental management on the destination???s tourism demand and on business costs to tourism operators at the destination. The conceptual background to the investigations is discussed in the first part of the thesis. It includes the rationale for choosing a nature-based destination region as the unit of analysis. The conceptual framework is a departure from the conventional analysis of the relationship between the environment and international competitiveness in which the effect of regulatory compliance costs is emphasised. In this thesis, the potential demand benefits and the associated voluntary environmental management are added to the conventional analytical framework. The primary data for the analysis are derived from two separate investigations. The first comprises an analysis of the tourism industry in Tropical North Queensland. The second investigation involves a discrete choice modelling analysis of destination choices by prospective visitors to Tropical North Queensland. The empirical results show that it is justified to treat the nature-based tourism destination region, Tropical North Queensland, as an aggregate entity in the analysis. The destination competes as a collective unit with other destinations. This is done, predominantly, on the basis of the region???s high-quality natural attractions. The empirical analyses show that tourism businesses??? costs due to environmental management are small in comparison with the positive demand effects. The cost and demand effects are assessed in a quantitative fashion in an economic model. That analysis shows that environmental management makes a positive contribution to Tropical North Queensland???s competitiveness as a nature-based tourism destination.

<p>Central Asia is a region strategically located at the crossroads of the two continents: Asia and Europe. The region is represented by five states (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) with different level of economic development and with the population amounting to over 60 million people. The region is rich in energy resources represented by oil, gas, coal and water resources.</p><p>The thesis analyses, assesses and scrutinises one of the topical issues of the contemporary international relations - cooperation between the European Union and Central Asian states before and after adoption in June 2007 of the ‘European Union and Central Asia: Strategy for a New Partnership’,  an important political document in the history of relations between the two parties.</p><p>The new stage of cooperation is analysed more comprehensively accentuating priorities set in the Strategy. Analysis of the current state of affairs is conducted concerning some important issues of the Strategy related to regional cooperation between Central Asian states, such as integrated water management and development of hydro-energy system, issues of diversification of hydrocarbons supply routes from the region to Europe and provision of energy security, etc.</p><p>Issues of cooperation between the European Union and Tajikistan are analysed as a case study. State of affairs between the Central Asian states and the European Union Member States actively cooperating with these countries is characterised.</p><p>The thesis also scrutinises other regional/international actors engaged in cooperation with Central Asia (such as China, Russia, the US, Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, etc.) and their potential for interaction with the European Union for more effective joint solution of the problems existing in the region is assessed.</p><p>In the conclusion, development of cooperation between the European Union and Central Asian states is scrutinised, the problems and their possible solutions in this regard are analysed, and the recommendations for increasing effectiveness of cooperation between the two parties are presented.</p><p>The European Union’s policy in Central Asia is interpreted from perspective of the theories of international relations namely neorealism, neoliberalism and constructivism in the research.</p>

All Norwegian regions are represented with permanent offices and are engaged in different activities in the EU capital. This thesis investigates the regional and network level of EU policy-making, and asks the questions of what Norwegian regions are doing in Brussels; if are they are able to influence EU policy; and what effect participation in transnational policy networks have on their abilities to influence EU policy. To answer this, it applies a theoretical framework comprised of multi-level governance and the policy network approach to conduct an analysis of empirical data collected through interviews with different actors in Brussels. The present thesis argues that participation in transnational policy networks improve Norwegian regions' abilities to influence EU policy through being 'representations of scale'.

After Cold war, the trend of economical globalization has led the region cooperation development. As China is going to focus on economic growing, its good neighborhood policy is most important especially in East Asia.In 2002, ASEAN and China decide to build up a free trade area between each other. The China-ASEAN free trade area is expected to be an important economic area in 2010. The study is using Neo-functionalism to analyze China¡¦s policy in East Asia.To explore the China-ASEAN Free Trade Area ,its circumstance and development.