Macroeconomic Control of Local Governments in Scandinavia: The Formative Years

The three Scandinavian countries have been able to radically decentralize their public sectors without losing the ability to control macroeconomic performance. The explanation of this puzzle is that, in all three countries, institutions have been established to coordinate economic activity levels at the local level with macroeconomic policy goals at the central level. The article investigates how these institutions were established, and pays special attention to the precise nature of these institutions since they show interesting differences among the otherwise very similar Scandinavian countries. The article pursues the thesis that institutional legacies in intergovernmental relations shape institutions like these, unless decision makers face an institutional tabula rasa. Alternative explanations are briefly considered, but the article concludes by supporting the historical approach to politics.     

The Impact of Federalism on the Organization of Canadian Foreign Policy

The international activities of Canadian provinces—mainlyAlbert, British Columbia, Ontario, and Québec—challengeconventional concepts of sovereignty and the federal view ofa national monopoly in foreign policy. These provincial activitieshave become more important since the early 1970s and have yieldedoutcomes in the field of foreign policy that would not haveoccurred otherwise. Provinces engage in international activitiesfor a number of reasons. They have the capacity, jurisdictionalobligation, and political desire to do so. Economic necessity,especially the international economic environment, is importantmotivation. Both conflict and cooperation with Ottawa also encourageprovincial involvements in international activities. Occasionally,foreign governments invite such activity as well. Present trendscoupled with the constitutional division of responsibilitiesin Canada suggest that territorial transgovernmentalism willhave greater consequences for Canadian foreign policy, therebygiving to Canada's international presence a character similarto the complexities and contradictions of the country's domesticmosaic.     

Public Enterprises and Canadian Foreign Economic Policy

To what extent can public enterprises serve as instruments ofpolicy enabling the federal government to assert a measure ofcontrol over Canada's foreign economic relations? This articlepresents an overview of public enterprises in Canada and highlightsthe special features of the Canadian political economy whichdifferentiate it from other advanced industrial economies. Theactivities of the Canada Development Corporation and CanadianNational Railways are analyzed in terms of whether they reinforceor undermine the federal government's authority in foreign economicpolicymaking. It appears that the relative autonomy of publicenterprises from government controls, most pronounced in thecase of commercial enterprises operating in competitive markets,fragments decisionmaking. Given that governmental power in Canadais already fragmented due to competitive federalism, and giventhe expanded activities of provincial public enterprises inrecent years, a lack of direction over the "subgovernment" offederal public enterprises compounds the difficulties for Ottawato conduct a coherent, foreign economic policy.     

Canada's Foreign Intelligence Interview Program, 1953-90

Canada's Interview Program, established in 1953, was a modest overt human intelligence collector conducting voluntary debriefings of persons with knowledge of ‘denied areas’. Interviews focused on East European industrial capabilities and orders of battle information. Initially housed with intelligence at National Defence, the Interview Program moved to External Affairs in 1968, where it remains.     

买方市场的形成机制——兼论我国买方市场的现状

买方市场已成为我国经济运行的基础环境,但在如何看待我国买方市场的问题上存在着分歧,这种情况不可避免地会影响到我国微宏观经济对策的制定与实施效果。本从理论方面分析了买方市场的形成机制,并分析了我国买方市场的现状。     

Explaining Swedish Corporatism: The Formative Moment

The question addressed in this article is how to explain major intentional changes in national political systems. The theoretical point of departure is that political systems are usually so tightly structured that the prospects of actors introducing such changes are very small. The argument put forward is that only under certain periods of crisis can such changes occur; it is only during such formative moments that political actors change the institutional parameters or the nature of the 'game'. Empirically, the article extends this argument in an attempt to explain why Sweden's political system became highly corporatist. It has been shown that from a rationalistic approach, collective action - e. g. why individuals join and support interest organizations - is difficult to explain. Instead, an institutional explanation is offered. The empirical analysis shows how centrally placed politicians in Sweden during the 1930s, by changing the payoffs, could solve the 'free-rider' problem for both farmers' and workers' interest organizations. Contrary to earlier studies, the analysis shows that the breakthrough of corporatist principles in Swedish politics took place under a Liberal government strongly supported by the Conservative Party. The traditional connection between the Swedish Social Democrats and the corporatist nature of Swedish politics is thus questioned and the alliance between the Social Democrats and the Farmers' League in 1933 is given a new explanation.     

The Intelligence Paradigm

Ephraim Kam, Surprise Attack: The Victim's Perspective (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1988). Pp.266. $25.00.     

The problem of Defence Intelligence

Abstract

The following article argues that defence intelligence in general, and Britain’s Defence Intelligence (DI) organization in particular, represents an area in intelligence studies that is significantly under-investigated. It makes the case that the significance of understanding defence intelligence and DI lies not only in a general lack of illumination but also because DI is subject to and prompts a range of difficulties and challenges that are either especially acute in the defence context or have ramifications for the wider intelligence community that remain to be fully appreciated. Particular attention is given to DI’s remit being divided between Ministry of Defence and national requirements, problems of fixed-sum resourcing an intelligence function with national responsibilities that is subordinate to Departmental spending structures and priorities, fraught positioning of defence intelligence in Departmental line management and, finally, a chronic lack of public or official interest or scrutiny. The article concludes that the UK’s experience has echoes elsewhere, notably in the US, and that wider international study of defence intelligence is both long overdue and may have implications for understanding of national and wider intelligence institutions and processes.     

The Latest Intelligence Crisis

In the autumn of last year the National Intelligence Council issued a National Intelligence Estimate that states (in a portion of the NIE that has been published) with ‘high confidence’ that Iran years ago suspended its development of nuclear weapons. This paper questions the wisdom of a consensus intelligence document bound to be published in one form or another, and the soundness of the analysis in it, which pivots on speculation about Iranian decision making and on an ambiguity in the very meaning of ‘suspending’ a nuclear-weapons program while continuing to produce highly enriched uranium. These questions lead in turn to questions concerning the ambitious reorganization three years ago of the US intelligence system.     

Seceding The Canadian Way

The Canadian Supreme Court's 1998 decision on whether Quebechas a right to secede was initially lauded for granting boththe federal government and secessionists their due. The Courtfound there to be an implicit Constitutional right for Quebecto secede, but by negotiation of the terms, not one-sided action.It thus deemed secession both a legal and a political phenomenon.This paper critically reassesses the decision in light especiallyof recent discussions about constitutionalizing secession. Itargues that while a right to "nonunilateral" secession is warrantedon general moral-political grounds, it should not be encodedor interpreted as a constitutional right, nor should it be calledupon except to avoid systematic injustice.     

The Intelligence Requirement of International Mediation

This article explores the intelligence requirement of international mediation, a topic that is ignored in both the literature on conflict resolution and the literature on intelligence. A mediator's strategies and tactics ought to be informed by a deep understanding of the parties' internal calculations about the conflict and its resolution. Intelligence is needed to gain this understanding because the parties typically do not reveal their sensitive deliberations to outsiders. United Nations mediation teams should have a monitoring and analysis unit that endeavours to meet this need and reduce the ignorance that commonly afflicts international mediation.     

The Intelligence War on Terrorism

From 1941 to 1944, MI5 faced determined attempts to penetrate Allied Air Forces using trained pilot agents recruited by German Military Intelligence (Abwehr). The mission of these pilot agents was to gather military intelligence and to return to German held territory. This pattern of targeting Allied Air Forces has not been recognized by historians. This article examines MI5's responses to the threat using recently released files in the National Archives.     

The Foreign Research and Press Service: Britain's Primary Source of Intelligence from the German-occupied Baltic States during the Second World War

The article investigates how the Foreign Research and Press Service succeeded in overcoming internal government prejudice to become His Majesty's Government primary supplier of intelligence from the German-occupied Baltic states during the Second World War. As the Foreign Office had banned the covert intelligence agencies from operating within the Soviet sphere, which included the Baltic states, the non-covert Foreign Research and Press Service Baltic States Section could operate without offending the USSR. The article charts how the Foreign Research and Press Service supplied crucial information from the enemy press that helped to form British war and post-war policy towards the USSR.     

The Epistemic Status of Intelligence: An Epistemological Contribution to the Understanding of Intelligence

We argue that the majority of intelligence definitions fail to recognize that the normative epistemic status of intelligence is knowledge and not an inferior alternative. We refute the counter-arguments that intelligence ought not to be seen as knowledge because of 1) its action-oriented scope and 2) its future-oriented content. We dismiss the traditional infallibilistic understanding of knowledge and follow David Lewis' argument, that knowledge is fallible and context-sensitive. Thus, we argue for the importance of developing a methodology by which the entitlement, justification and robustness of claims to intelligence-knowledge can be assessed.