Managing the Transatlantic Gap: The Rise of Spain

Among the many frustrations hampering cooperation between Western allies is the transatlantic gap in defense capabilities. Many analysts find little reason for hope that the gap might close in the near future due to the growing differential in aggregate defense spending between the U.S. and Europe. In recent years, however, Spain set an intriguing precedent for small states entering the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU). Defying economies of scale, Spain used progressive institutions at domestic and international levels along with creative geopolitics to engage both the U.S. and traditional powers in Europe. The result was that Spain, without dramatic increases in defense spending, still managed to narrow the transatlantic gap along vital dimensions. These included increased participation in the development of high-technology defense and aerospace systems as well as a stronger, independent voice in global affairs.     

由对抗到承认:从早期苏美关系看冷战的起源

十月革命后由于社会制度和意识形态领域的根本分歧,美国始终拒绝承认苏维埃政权,并参与协约国对苏俄的武装干涉.在整个20世纪20年代美国对苏联一直执行孤立和不承认的外交政策;30年代初世界经济危机使国际局势发生根本变化,美国从维护自身利益和世界和平与安全的角度出发,主动与苏联建立了外交关系.早期苏美关系的演变进一步揭示了冷战源于苏美在社会制度和意识形态领域的根本分歧.     

从俄罗斯世俗学校恢复宗教课的过程看东正教会的作用

帝俄时期,东正教是俄罗斯的国教,俄罗斯东正教会承担了国民宗教教育的全部任务。宗教课不仅在教会学校开设,而且还遍及国民教育部属的各类世俗学校。如今,宗教课再次走入俄罗斯世俗学校的课堂,成为当代俄罗斯一个引人注目的现象。俄罗斯世俗学校中宗教课的恢复是俄东正教会多年努力的结果。虽然这一过程一直伴随着来自社会各界的非议,但是精神道德培养作为当代俄罗斯国家主流意识形态的一个重要组成部分,已经得到俄罗斯官方的认可。宗教课在俄罗斯世俗学校普及的趋势不可逆转。     

西班牙社会保障制度改革30年:1978～2008

西班牙1978年新宪法奠定了其构建现代社会保障制度的法律基础,这在西班牙社会保障制度发展史上具有里程碑意义.自1985年以来,社会保障制度中存在的问题和困难使得社保改革成为西班牙公共政策讨论的焦点.各利益相关者在改革路径上存在三种不同观点,一种是在维持现收现付制框架下的小幅度改革,一种是向积累制转型的激进改革,还有一种观点主张实行混合型社保制度.由于存在改革的路径依赖和可能面临的巨大转型成本-_特别是政治上的,西班牙在民主转型后的30年里并没有选择激进地改变公共保障制度,而是在现有的制度框架内围绕公平和效率予以修正和调整.但目前的经济衰退和人口老龄化带来的财政压力使西班牙面临深化改革的迫切选择.     

The implementation of IMF programs: A conceptual framework

IMF supported programs have conventionally been assessed by examining their effects on intermediate variables and final outcomes. More recently greater attention has been paid to their implementation, on the assumption that in order to work programs need to be implemented. Empirical studies have begun to include political economy variables in an attempt to explain implementation. They have used the concept of ‘ownership’ to provide a theoretical foundation. This paper provides an alternative and simple conceptual framework based on the marginal benefits and costs of implementation. It goes on to discuss policies that might be expected to improve implementation based on this framework.

Unfinished business: The united states and Franco's Spain, 1944-47

'Unfinished Business' examines American and British postwar policy toward the regime of Francisco Franco in Spain. Although the emergence of the cold war eventually altered that policy from one of strenuous opposition to one of grudging acceptance, the continuing desire of the Western allies to alter or remove the Franco regime illustrates the persistent influence of anti-fascism after World War II. In retrospect, the eventual alignment of Franco with the West seems a foregone conclusion, but in the fluid context of the years immediately after World War II policy makers on both sides of the Atlantic struggled to determine their interests in a world no longer defined by the war and not yet in the grip of the cold war.     

Systemic Explanations, Divergent Outcomes: The Politics of FinancialLiberalization in France and Spain

This article challenges the adequacy of prevalent market-driven models of regulatory change, and more specifically, the stipulation that international market integration will lead governments undertaking financial liberalization in formerly interventionist states to carry out adequate market reforms. It does so through an analysis of financial regulation in two European countries: France and Spain. The article offers an integrated historical perspective on regulatory change which suggests that the market-driven convergence thesis does not adequately capture the political dynamic behind financial interventionism and liberalization in the two countries. The introduction of dirigisme and its later-day abandonment were driven less by the "state vs. market” dynamics emphasized in much of the literature than by macroeconomic policy choices on the part of postwar elites. Focusing on similarities and differences in the timing and pattern of reform, the article argues that dirigisme was abandoned in France and Spain not because of changing sectoral pressures or the lack of viability of external controls, but because it raised the political costs of monetary austerity for elected authorities. This link between regulatory choices and the politics of macroeconomic adjustment has implications that are likely to be critical in any country undergoing financial liberalization.     

Legal production of illegality in a comparative perspective. The cases of Malaysia and Spain

Most studies on illegal migration focus on particular national or local settings and most theoretical approaches are built upon research done in America and Western Europe. In consequence, there is little understanding about the legal construction of the ‘illegal’ and the meanings of migrants’ illegality in different political contexts. Given these major shortcomings, this article compares the cases of Malaysia and Spain. By comparing how we can explain illegal immigration and what it means to be illegal in each country, the final aim of this article is to place the term ‘illegal’ back into its context, that is, to understand the ‘illegal’ not as an essentialised, generic and singular object but rather as a legal and political product of particular historical and national contexts.     

The cold peace: Russo-Western relations as a mimetic cold war

In 1989–1991 the geo-ideological contestation between two blocs was swept away, together with the ideology of civil war and its concomitant Cold War played out on the larger stage. Paradoxically, while the domestic sources of Cold War confrontation have been transcended, its external manifestations remain in the form of a ‘legacy’ geopolitical contest between the dominant hegemonic power (the United States) and a number of potential rising great powers, of which Russia is one. The post-revolutionary era is thus one of a ‘cold peace’. A cold peace is a mimetic cold war. In other words, while a cold war accepts the logic of conflict in the international system and between certain protagonists in particular, a cold peace reproduces the behavioural patterns of a cold war but suppresses acceptance of the logic of behaviour. A cold peace is accompanied by a singular stress on notions of victimhood for some and undigested and bitter victory for others. The perceived victim status of one set of actors provides the seedbed for renewed conflict, while the ‘victory’ of the others cannot be consolidated in some sort of relatively unchallenged post-conflict order. The ‘universalism’ of the victors is now challenged by Russia's neo-revisionist policy, including not so much the defence of Westphalian notions of sovereignty but the espousal of an international system with room for multiple systems (the Schmittean pluriverse).     

火鸡大肠埃希氏菌刚果红阳性表型与毒力的相关性研究

以致病性大肠埃希氏菌刚果红阳性表型(CREC)菌株和刚果红阴性表型(non-CREC)菌株实验性感染火鸡,探讨其刚果红阳性表型与毒力的关系.结果表明CREC株可致80%(8/10)火鸡发病,且症状明显、病变典型.non-CREC株可致40%(4/10)火鸡发病,但症状轻微、且缺乏大肠杆菌病的特征性病变.提示大肠埃希氏菌毒力与CREC有一定相关性.     

Being a 'pathetic hero' in international politics: The diplomat as a historical actor

This article posits that the diplomat's weakness as a historical actor stems from two salient factors: (a) the impassivity of the diplomatic practice, and (b) the diplomat is an actor of 'one front' - the external. Politicians and military men act within the internal lines of the domestic and the external. The diplomat is in the service of grand things but is never on heroic tracks; his service is always that of dependency. The apparent political weakness of the professional diplomat makes him, in not a few cases, a 'pathetic hero' of international politics.     

Press content as a key to a country's alignment: The case of Ethiopia

This article examines the news content of an Ethiopian government‐run newspaper over a period of 20 years to determine how closely the present government is aligned with the Soviet Union. There are two schools of though among foreign policy scholars. Regionalists believe Ethiopia is nonaligned. They argue that since the country follows the tenants of African socialism, its international politics are shaped by indigenous factors such as nationalism and local economic and security needs, rather than by Soviet or U.S. influence. Globalists, on the other hand, believe Ethiopia belongs to the Soviet camp and is dependent on the Soviet Union. A review of a government‐run newspaper in two ten‐year periods before and after the takeover by Mengistu Haile Mariam found a dramatic shift in the nature of coverage. Under Emperor Haile Selassie before the ovethrow, the paper printed predominantly pro‐United States and anti‐Soviet news. But under Mengistu, the same paper printed vastly pro‐Soviet and anti‐United States news, and absolutely no anti‐Soviet news. These findings support the globalist view.