Business Power and Tax Reform: Taxing Income and Profits in Chile and Argentina

This article examines efforts to increase taxation of highly concentrated, undertapped income and profits in Latin America in the aftermath of structural adjustment. Argentina has advanced further than Chile in two policy areas: corporate taxation, which taps firm‐level profits; and tax agency access to bank information, which helps reduce income tax evasion. These outcomes are explained by drawing on the classic concepts of business instrumental power, which entails political actions, and structural power, which arises from investment decisions. In Chile, strong instrumental power removed reforms in both areas from the policy agenda. In Argentina, much weaker instrumental power at the cross‐sectoral level facilitated corporate tax increases. Bank information access was expanded after Argentina's 2001 crisis weakened the financial sector's instrumental power and reduced structural power.     

Market Power and Misunderstandings: The Case of EU‐Australian Trade Diplomacy

The article critically examines EU‐Australia relations through the negotiation of the 1994 and 2008 Agreements between Australia and the European Community on Trade in Wine. EU‐Australia relations are often characterised as defined by Australia's focus on the UK and the EU's agricultural policies. This article moves beyond these assumptions and analyses the negotiation of the wine trade agreements through three factors: the pattern of political institutions, power asymmetry and subjective utility of non‐agreement alternatives. It argues that perceptions, miscalculations, and misunderstanding have had an impact on how these factors shaped negotiation outcomes. These negotiations are an under‐studied case in the development of EU‐Australian relations, and are useful in understanding how the perceptions of negotiators shape outcomes in the EU's negotiations with Australia.     

Swiss Air Traffic Policy: Noise between Berne and Berlin

This article looks at the negotiations between Switzerland and Germany on air traffic regulation with the help of negotiation analysis tools. A number of factors pre‐eminent in the literature on negotiation processes and outcomes are presented and critically assessed. In particular arguments of “power”, which are often insufficiently explored in analysing interstate cooperation, are brought back into the picture. The article argues that structural power best explains the negotiation results while domestic politics and information asymmetries both account for non‐ratification of the treaty. Institutionalist arguments on the constraining effects of international norms and institutions as well as explanations focusing on negotiation skills are of minor importance. Moreover, the nature of the Swiss intra‐governmental setting at the federal level did not encourage the Swiss negotiators to exploit all means during the different stages of the bargaining process. The article concludes by illuminating a number of policy observations in the broader context of Swiss foreign relations and indicating avenues for further research.     

A Leader Without Followers? The Growing Divergence Between the Regional and Global Performance of Brazilian Foreign Policy

Brazilian diplomats and academics alike have long regarded regional leadership as a springboard to global recognition. Yet Brazil's foreign policy has not translated the country's structural and instrumental resources into effective regional leadership. Brazil's potential followers have not aligned with its main goals, such as a permanent seat on the UN Security Council and Directorship‐General of the World Trade Organization; some have even challenged its regional influence. Nevertheless, Brazil has been recognized as an emergent global power. This article analyzes the growing mismatch between the regional and global performance of Brazilian foreign policy and shows how both theoretical expectations and policy planning were “luckily foiled” by unforeseen developments. It argues that because of regional power rivalries and a relative paucity of resources, Brazil is likely to consolidate itself as a middle global power before gaining acceptance as a leader in its region.     

Japan's New Economic Diplomacy: Changing Tactics or Strategy?

Japan's economic diplomacy has evolved significantly since the 1990s in response to the reconfiguration of regional and global power. This article places developments along a conceptual continuum and finds that, slowly but steadily, Japanese policies shift from an emphasis on commercial goals of economic diplomacy to include also a more outspoken element of power play. While tourism promotion may be considered a new part of economic diplomacy, long-time practices of trade and investment promotion, business advocacy, and development cooperation are revamped with a focus on the environmental and energy fields. The negotiation of trade agreements, which for long was highjacked by domestic politics, was given new impetus in 2010, while financial diplomacy—which seemed promising in the early 2000s—stalled. Finally, negative sanctioning is no longer a taboo, particularly in the relationship with North Korea. The appetite of the government and private sector to conform with Western countries remains limited, however, and the ambiguity between the old and the new suggests that we are witnessing a change in Japanese tactics rather than in strategy.     

Conceiving of Telecom: The Politics of Australian Telecommunications Reform 1967–1972

This article explores the politics of telecommunications reform between 1967 and 1972, during which time Labor developed a new policy approach that included committing to reconstitute the Postmaster‐General's Department as a relatively independent statutory authority. This represented the first serious attempt to reconcile the conflicting objectives of Australian policy: to provide affordable universal services by a government department expected to operate as a “business‐like” enterprise, and ended the political consensus about how national telecommunications should be delivered. The paper contrasts Labor's policy with the Liberal‐Country government's more incremental approach; and highlights a significant public policy shift that has received insufficient attention.     

Public–Private Partnershipping as a Tool of Government: Exploring its Determinants Across German States

Despite considerable public and scholarly interest in public–private partnerships (PPPs) as a tool of government in Germany, there is no quantitative empirical study exploring the motivations behind policymakers' decisions to (not) use this type of privatisation policy. This article contributes to filling this gap by investigating the extent and determinants of the PPP activities of the 16 German states' governments over the period 2002–09. For that purpose, a PPP Activity Index is constructed which not only includes official PPP project figures but also state governments' programmatic, institutional, and advisory activities regarding PPP. Using this index, we statistically analyse whether fiscal stress, government partisanship, and other factors can help to explain the considerable differences between Länder governments' PPP activities. Among other things, it turns out that partisanship only matters if Socialists are part of a coalition government, and that fiscal transfers have a negative impact on a state's PPP activity level.     

La Marcha Violenta? Railroads and Land in 19th‐century Mexico

The impact of railroad development on land tenure and use in 19th‐century Mexico has long been central to interpretations of Mexico's rural history, in particular of the grievances culminating in the Revolution (1910–20). The prevailing interpretation, that railroads displaced Mexican peasants and smallholders from the land, has intuitive appeal but lacks empirical support. This article treats the question of the railroads' impact by studying the terms of the railroads' acquisition of land in southern Mexico. It argues that railroads failed to displace owners and occupants of the land, despite the governments's new laws and handpicked agents intended to oust recalcitrant residents with minimal delay and expense.     

Between Interest and Responsibility: Assessing China's Foreign Policy and Burgeoning Global Role

Abstract

This article is situated within the contemporary debates about the nature and purpose of China's growing power. It uses the concepts of “national interest” and “international responsibility” as a framework of analysis for Chinese foreign policy, and develops a three-dimensional typology to conceptualize their relationship (antagonistic; instrumental; mutually constitutive). This article adopts two main arguments. First, a stronger China is one gravitating toward greater notions of international responsibility, albeit instrumentally. Second, observable trends in China's evolving worldview indicate, however, that it is conceiving its national interests more broadly, embracing further socialization and greater normative commitments to international society. One may therefore view China's burgeoning global role as a great power with a degree of “cautious optimism.”     

Sovereignty–Security Nexus,Domestic Constraints,and the Taiwan Independence Policy (1988–2010)

Abstract

This article explains the rise and fall of the so-called Taiwan independence policy during the period of 1988–2010. It defines the Taiwan independence policy as an internal political move by the Taiwanese government to establish Taiwan as a separate and sovereign political entity on the world stage. It reviews two existing prevailing theses – electoral politics and shifting identity – and points out their weaknesses, the former's being its indeterminacy and unfalsifiability, and the latter's being its inadequacy to explain policy change. A new explanation focusing on relative power shift (military balance, alliance strength, and diplomatic standing) and domestic constraints (resource and political constraints) is then proposed to explain the rise and fall of the Taiwan independence policy. A brief examination of the 1988–2010 cross-strait history lends strong support to the theory.     

Dueños,Duendes, Bichos: Non‐Human Agents and the Politics of Place‐Making in a Bolivian Guaraní Community

The article looks at the interactions between the inhabitants of a community of Guaraní people in the Bolivian eastern lowlands and spirit entities found in the forest that forms part of the community's lands. Understanding these interactions as a form of intra‐communal politics, the article engages with the issue of landownership as an ongoing process of negotiation between two different sets of owners. This presents a vision of the political relations between people and spirit beings that is opposed to the currently dominant ontological vision which would put these distinct entities into defined (apolitical) places within a unified cosmovision.     

Track 2 Security Dialogue in the Asia-Pacific: Reflections and Future Directions

Abstract

This article critically reviews the literature on Track 2 security dialogue in the Asia‐Pacific and suggests a number of possible avenues for further research. From almost a standing start, Track 2 security dialogue in this part of the world has burgeoned over the past decade and a half. As these institutions and activities have grown, so too has a body of scholarship grown around them which has striven to stay abreast of them and – at least in the case of some of the more prominent second track institutions and activities – to evaluate their influence and effectiveness. Just as viable second track processes must constantly adapt in response to changes in the regional and global security environment, however, this article contends that the scholarship on Track 2 security dialogue needs now to evolve beyond its heavy emphasis upon on the “success” of these institutions and activities. While this criterion remains vital, the article argues that greater analytical attention should also be given to differentiating between the many and varied Track 2 security processes that are currently active in the Asia-Pacific; to developing a closer understanding as to the operating modalities of these institutions and activities; and to better comprehending longitudinal trends in regional Track 2 security dialogue.     

The Evolution of Chinese Foreign Policy: New Incentives with Slowing Growth

Abstract

Rising powers such as the People's Republic of China (PRC) experience two distinct stages of relative capability growth. China is currently in the first stage of growth, which is defined by increasingly rapid expansion and incentives for foreign policy accommodation. As the PRC shifts to the second stage, however, relative growth will slow, and leaders in Beijing will be presented with new incentives for foreign policy confrontation. This article formalizes a two-stage model of relative power growth and argues that China's shift to the second stage of growth will threaten regional and global stability. During this shift, the key to international security will be a coordinated, multilateral effort that responsibly balances China's growing power with a similarly expanded international role for China.     

Engaging with Asia: the Chifley Government and the New Delhi Conferences of 1947 and 1949

This article is a study of the Chifley government's foreign policy towards Asia, in particular India and Indonesia, as evidenced by Australia's attendance at the 1947 Asian Relations Conference and the 1949 New Delhi Conference on the Indonesian‐Dutch conflict. Australia's presence at these two conferences provides an ideal opportunity to examine the Chifley government's response to the momentous changes that occurred in post‐war Asia as a result of the dismantling of the European colonial world order. Through detailed examination of the archival material and contemporary accounts generated from Australia's involvement in the New Delhi conferences, this article will argue that despite significant political constraints, the Chifley government did adopt a distinctive and innovative policy towards the emergent nations of Asia in the immediate post‐war years.     

The EU–South Africa Strategic Partnership and global environmental governance: Towards effective multilateralism after Copenhagen?

ABSTRACT

This paper uses an analytical framework drawn from organisational studies to unpack and evaluate climate change relations under the EU–South Africa Strategic Partnership. The article finds that, while the EU and South Africa share a common purpose and high-level climate goals, many of the formal organisational structures set up under the partnership to tackle climate change and the environment are weak and have fallen into disuse. At the same time several factors outside of the strategic partnership, such as South Africa's hosting of the Durban climate change meeting, have played a significant role in promoting climate cooperation between the two partners. Therefore, while the strategic partnership creates an additional opportunity for climate cooperation, it is by no means the only or even the most important instrument in the EU's foreign policy tool box for negotiation and dialogue.     

Notes on contributors

In the Kosovo crisis, Germany for the first time since 1955 joined NATO military combat operations in a major way. While this has often been interpreted as a fundamental major departure ('normalisation') in Germany's post‐war foreign policy, this article argues that Germany's willingness to contemplate joining a NATO war even without a mandate by the UN Security Council represents an evolution, rather than a fundamental change in Germany's foreign policy orientation. This evolution can be explained best as a logical and consistent response of Germany's foreign policy identity which reconciled, through modification, its traditional post war foreign policy identity as a ‘civilian power’ to a radically different security environment.     

Sino-Mongolian relations and Mongolia's non-traditional security

The following article examines the effect China has on Mongolia's non-traditional security. Using the Copenhagen School's approach to non-traditional security, the article argues that Mongolia's economic dependence on China coupled with weak political security have allowed China to develop structural power over Mongolia's domestic institutions. This structural power also negatively affects Mongolia's societal and environmental security. Chinese structural power, therefore, has a net negative effect on Mongolia's domestic non-traditional security, despite Chinese policies that seek to maintain good relations with Mongolia. This suggests that China is not in complete control of its relations with Mongolia and that its use of economic ties to drive relations with Mongolia contains elements that ultimately undermine its position and Mongolia's security.     

Equality and Regional Finance in the Americas

This article explores competing definitions of equality embedded in contending visions for regional finance in the Americas. The U.S. free market–oriented project envisions extension of a NAFTA‐like regulatory framework hemispherewide, promising Latin Americans better financial services, credit, and investment in exchange for strong financial property protections and (implicitly) dramatically reduced financial policy autonomy for their governments. Venezuela's vision of “Bolivarian” finance, exported to the Caribbean and the upper Andes, promotes assertive state management of both foreign and domestic investors, populist redistribution, and increasing reliance on nonmarket financial transactions. Brazil's regional financial project would unite South America through continentwide physical infrastructure and capitalist financial markets while retaining a role for public sector banks responsive to central government priorities. Brazil's approach shares with Venezuela's an emphasis on governments' need for financial policy authority and with the U.S. approach a concern for regulatory predictability and financial deepening.     

The Class Basis of Switzerland's Cleavage between the New Left and the Populist Right

This article argues that a full grown cleavage has surfaced in Swiss politics, separating a libertarian‐universalistic (the New Left) from a traditionalist‐communitarian camp (the Populist Right). Based on survey data of Switzerland's parliamentary election 2007, it examines the cleavage's micro‐foundations and shows that the class constituencies of the New Left (the Social‐Democratic and Green Parties) and the Populist Right (the Swiss People's Party) present the almost exact mirror image of each other. The former draws disproportionate support from the salaried middle class, notably socio‐cultural professionals, whereas the latter is rallied by small business owners, production and service workers. Although anchored in the employment structure, this divide is not primarily about the economy and resources, but about culture and identity. It thus strongly correlates with opposing cultural attitudes. While small business owners and workers prefer cultural demarcation and defend national traditions, salaried professionals strongly favour international integration and multi‐culturalism.     

Negotiating Gender Identities during Mixed-Gender Activities: Amateur Theatre in the 1930s and 1940s in Turkey

This article focuses on the amateur theatre of the People's House and the consumption of state-promoted mixed-gender activities in the 1930s and 1940s in Turkey. The People's Houses were community centres established in many Turkish towns between 1932 and 1950. They performed activities in adult education and political indoctrination with the chief aim to propagate the socio-cultural changes the state had been initiating since 1923. Drawing on complaint letters and investigative reports, this article focuses on the presence and activities of women in the People's Houses; reviews the tension produced upon the introduction of mixed-gender entertainment and social interaction like theatre within largely sex-segregated local societies; studies the practices performed by men and women and the discourses they articulated in response to and in an attempt to manage such moments of tension; and considers their significance as practices contributing to the negotiation and shaping of social identities.