暴利诱惑下的毒品交易

联合国国际控制毒品机构(OICS)最近的调查报告说,估计目前全世界有超过5500万人经常使用海洛因、可卡因和合成毒品例如摇头丸(Ecstasy)。国际控制毒品机构是联合国的一个机构,其总部设在维也纳,该机构近日公布了有关全球毒品消费和走私以及各国政府在反毒斗争方面所作努力的年度报告。     

Explaining institutional change in international patent politics

This article seeks to explain institutional change in international patent politics since the conclusion of the 1995 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (trips). I argue that the distribution of interests in this issue area adheres to a sharp North–South distinction, and that the pursuit of largely incompatible and conflicting patent agendas by industrialised and developing countries, respectively, has led to the gradual emergence of an international patent regime complex. Focusing on trips-plus measures under various Free Trade Agreements, patent enforcement clubs and a range of UN organisations which have recently gained relevance for international patent politics, I show how the distribution of interests in this area has led to the development of two parallel and partially inconsistent international governance structures. I conclude that the distribution of interests explains the propensity of regime complexes towards stability and change, with institutional change being particularly pronounced when overlapping interests among revisionist actors enhance the prospects of collective action.     

Profit sharing and job anxiety: moving public policy toward a win-win solution

Interest in profit sharing as a form of flexible pay is part of a larger interest in more flexible personnel practices. The interest in flexibility, in turn, reflects a perceived increase in product-market uncertainty. Where in the past employers have offered job security - due to legal mandate or practice - increased product market uncertainty makes such job “insurance” more costly. Job security protections can be viewed as an employee option to sell labor at the going wage, even when its value to the firm has dropped. As is true of financial options, the cost increases with the variability of the value of the underlying asset. Recent political trends in the U.S. suggest that there are social costs to the flexibility in American labor markets about which mainstream politicians have little to offer.     

Sovereignty,bare life and the Arab uprisings

Five years after people took to the streets in protest at political organisation across the Middle East, the consequences of these actions remain. As the protests gained traction, states began to fragment and regimes sought to retain power, whatever the cost. While a great deal of focus has been upon what happened, very little attention has been paid to the role of agency within the context of the fragmenting sovereignty and political change. This article contributes to these debates by applying the work of Giorgio Agamben to the post-Arab Uprisings Middle East, to understand the relationship between rulers and ruled along with the fragmentation of the sovereign state. The article argues for the need to bring agency back into conceptual debates about sovereignty within the Middle East. It concludes by presenting a framework that offers an approach building upon Agamben’s bare life.     

The latin american business environment: patent protection issues

Considers the issue of patent rights in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. Reviews both theoretical and empirical literature on fitting patent systems to national circumstances. Data are considered shedding light on trade flows and capital formation, two areas impacted by strong or weak protection. Recommends a general hybrid system for Latin American nations, meeting GATT standards while remaining adaptable to individual country needs.