The resurgence of banking institutions in post-crisis Korea

This article studies financial structure transition in Korea by focusing on the flow of funds as endogenous responses to government reform policies. In the pre-crisis period, asymmetric and unbalanced financial liberalization policies had resulted in the dominance of non-bank financial institutions and the deterioration of corporate debt structure. After the crisis, notwithstanding the IMF reform package designed to make Korea's financial system more arm's-length and market-based, the financial structure has become more bank-based as a result of the sequential approach to bank and non-bank financial restructuring as well as delayed resolution of insolvent non-financial firms. We identify risk factors embedded in this financial transition gridlock and draw policy lessons.]     

End of an Era? The Landtagswahl in Bavaria,September 2008

The biotechnology and venture capital sectors have flourished in Germany during the 1990s, a surprising development that finds its roots in the policies of the federal government. Years before the private sector became engaged, the federal government had identified biotechnology and venture capital as important for job creation and Germany's world‐wide status as a technological leader. Its success in leading a renaissance in these sectors sits uneasily with dominant understandings of the German state as ‘semi‐sovereign’ (Katzenstein) or ‘enabling’ (Streeck) ‐ as institutionally incapable of defining policy against or without the active participation of societal actors. This article uses a history of the biotechnology and venture capital sectors since the 1970s to re‐examine the relationship between the central state and lower governments as well as organised interests in Germany. The evidence demonstrates the federal government's autonomy in formulating policy priorities as well as its ability to enhance the capabilities of lower level governments and private sector actors to achieve the objectives it defined.     

The Financialisation of Sovereign Debt: An Institutional Analysis of the Reforms in German Public Debt Management

This study explores the financialisation of sovereign debt through an in-depth study of institutional change in German debt management. Between 1998 and 2006, the Ministry of Finance fundamentally altered the management of federal public debt by not only disempowering the Bundesbank and Federal Debt Administration as debt managers and outsourcing this task to a new agency, the Federal Finance Agency; moreover, the conservative debt strategy was replaced by strict market orientation. Conceptualising this change as institutional innovation, the paper argues that the Ministry of Finance played a leading role in the reform process. It shows that the arrival of the Euro brought with it a power struggle between the Ministry and the Bundesbank. The evidence fits better the concept of institutional innovation as a result of entrepreneurship than approaches which conceptualise institutional innovations as consequences of profit maximisation or layering and displacement.     

A legacy reassessed: Helmut Kohl and the German party finance affair

Revelations about former chancellor Helmut Kohl's party finance practices spawned the biggest scandal in post‐war German political history. Though some details of this affair's scope remained unclear or in dispute, the author argues that large, unreported private contributions served Kohl's strategy for managing his Christian Democratic Union: such resources helped fund the modern party organisation that he had built and sustained his own quasi‐feudal network of personal relationships at all levels. His intense partisanship made it easier for him to justify circumventing party finance laws. Yet evidence for the contention that Kohl took such funds in exchange for granting policy favours remains more ambiguous.     

Fiscal Federalism and International Capital: The Effects of Fiscal Federalism on Foreign Direct Investment and Sovereign Dept Ratings

Although the study of federalism has become one of the most intensely studied areas in economics and political science, no consensus has emerged on the impact of fiscal federalism on macroeconomic performance. I focus on one specific element of the debate‐ the role of fiscally federal institutions in allowing a country access to international capital markets. In an empirical analysis of 60 countries from 1975‐1995 I find fiscal federalism has no clear impact on inflows of foreign direct investment. In an examination of the impact of federalism on sovereign debt ratings for 40 countries from 1980‐1998, I find that fiscal federalism is associated with lower levels of sovereign debt risk.     

Computing in the USSR: A Comment

A specialist on Russian society and politics analyzes recent plans for reform of social policy in Russia. Based on documentary and interview evidence, case studies of housing and pension reform are presented. Prospects for the Putin government's social-sector reform program are considered.     

Explaining Domestic Violence Policy Outcomes in Chile and Argentina

This article explains why Chile has outperformed Argentina in policy responses to the problem of domestic violence. It argues that policy variation is due to both macro‐level institutional features (state capacity and centralization) and to more contingent political factors that shape the structure, role, and resources of the women's policy agencies that coordinate and implement domestic violence policies. The initial design of Chile's National Women's Service has allowed it to act as a crucial “insider” ally to advocacy groups. In contrast, Argentina's National Women's Council has suffered repeated downgrading and loss of resources due to ideological conflicts and changes in government, rendering it unable to coordinate policy responses to domestic violence effectively or to act as an ally to advocates inside and outside the state seeking increased resources and more effective policy responses to violence against women.     

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.     

主权财富基金困境因素分析

近几年来,随着新兴经济体主权基金的迅猛发展,西方国家试图通过行政和立法等手段对其进行干预,使主权基金的投资活动遭遇金融保护主义壁垒,形成主权财富基金在投资活动中面临的某些困境,导致主权基金的一些投资活动不能顺利进行甚至无法进行。本文对造成主权财富基金投资困境的因素进行了分析,认为主权基金的一些描述性特征(来源国家、资金规模、基金类型)以及投资对象国的政治环境、公众的认知与民意、投资行为或行为体的透明度、主权基金的投资方向/投资产业是影响主权财富基金投资阻力大小的主要因素,并对他们之间的影响和作用方式进行了分析。     

Foreign aid,debt relief and Africa's development: problems and prospects

In recent years, the Paris club granted a number of African countries, including Nigeria, debt relief. This elicited widespread celebration in the capital cities of affected countries, where it was portrayed as a veritable launch-pad to Africa's development. This paper takes a critical look at the debt relief, with emphasis on its problems and prospects for Africa's development. It is argued that while debt relief does offer some prospects for development, there is little or no evidence to suggest that such an outcome is automatic. The conditions that precipitated the debt crisis in the first instance, including an inequitable international economic order and political conditions tied to aid, are still very present in the debt relief regime. Corruption of the foreign aid regime by both internal and external actors has been compounded by the recent global economic crisis, posing further constraints on the effectiveness of foreign aid in Africa. If debt relief must yield the desired result, it has to be accompanied by a sustainable campaign to fundamentally reform the world order to make it more equitable, together with a drive for good governance that is not only democratic, but also efficient and development-oriented in Africa.     

瑞典名义账户养老金制度改革探析

自20世纪90年代以来,世界上诞生了一种崭新的社会保障制度—名义账户养老金制度。瑞典是世界上第一个引入这种制度的国家,也是迄今为止改革成效最好的国家之一。本文在回顾90年代以来瑞典养老金制度改革过程的基础上,重点分析瑞典名义账户制设计和实施中的几个关键性问题,以期对十几年来瑞典养老金制度改革的效果做出总结与评价。     

Private Farming in Russia: An Emerging Success?

The emergence of privately owned peasant farms in the early 1990s was one of the most important reforms in Russia's agrarian sector. Initially failing to become a significant food producer, during its second decade private farming emerged as a success in agrarian reform. This success is analyzed using two levels of analysis. At the macro-level, economic performance, government policy, and AKKOR's relationships with a range of actors are examined. The micro- or household level is examined using survey data from rural households, looking at private farmers' earned income, land holdings, and shifts in employment.     

欧洲主权债务危机与美国债务风险的比较分析

欧洲主权债务危机是1957年《罗马条约》签署以来欧洲面临的最大考验,欧元则遭遇了正式面世10年来最为严重的生存危机。欧洲主权债务危机的爆发,并非仅仅因为其债务问题非常严重,更主要的是因为欧洲的联合中存在着制度性的缺陷。为了克服这些制度性的缺陷,欧洲必须加强对成员国的财政监督、适度地统一管理欧洲的债务、引入惩罚和债务管理机制。一国退出欧元区将面临巨大的经济成本、政治成本和法律、技术方面的障碍。因此,欧元区解体是小概率事件,联合仍然是欧洲政治的主流和传统。和欧洲主权债务危机相比,美国债务问题面临的风险更大。     

In the Eye of the Storm: The Italian Economy and the Eurozone Crisis

Abstract

The eurozone crisis had a more significant and longer-lasting impact on Italy than on virtually any other member state, with the effects still visible a decade after. The extent of the shock was surprising in view of progress Italy had apparently made in the 1990s in terms of enhancing its capacity to meet the demands of European Monetary Union. The explanation for this traumatic economic experience lies in Italy’s deep, long-term, structural tensions which were placed under severe pressure during the 1990s and which were cracked open by the 2011 sovereign debt crisis. These have had long-standing economic effects as well as political ramifications in terms of a significant change in the Italy–EU relationship.     

A Grand Coalition for the Euro: The Second Merkel Cabinet,the Euro Crisis and the Elections of 2013

This article argues that the reaction of the second Merkel government to the sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone was conditioned by informal and formal policy commitments that were put into place by the preceding CDU/CSU and SPD Grand Coalition after the financial crisis of 2007/08. The decisions were shaped by a cross-party consensus among Christian Democrats and Social Democrats about the causes for the good performance of the German economy in the past decade. Both parties also shared the determination to save the euro and to preserve the integrity of the Eurozone. As a result, an informal Grand Coalition emerged in 2011/12 which shaped Germany's policy reactions during the euro crisis down to the details. One important consequence of this development was that the euro bailout measures and the ensuing reforms of the institutional framework of the Eurozone did not become decisive issues during the Federal elections of 2013, despite their unpopularity among the voters.     

Wie wird bewertbar, ob ein Staat zu viele Schulden hat? Finanzexperten und ihr Bewertungswissen in der griechischen Schuldenkrise

This paper develops a sociology of knowledge of sovereign debt crises by studying expert cultures in the financial services industry. It is argued that the concept of calculative framing can capture the epistemic practices of analysts as well as the way their products are used by market participants and other stakeholders. The notion of calculative framing is empirically and conceptually extended: The article shows how sovereign debt is framed as a financial value and how calculative framing evolves in situations of crises. The central case is the evaluation of Greece government debt by analysts of international banks in the period from early 2010 until mid 2011. This case shows how crises frames are developed and how they consolidate the evaluation of sovereign default. In this crisis period, analysts inscribe their evaluations into contexts of official crisis management.     

Partisan Pork‐Barrel,Independents and Electoral Advantage: Australia's Regional Partnerships Program in 2004

This article, building on previous research into earlier Australian pork‐barrel schemes, uses data from Australia's Regional Partnerships Program (RPP), and its apportioning of $104 million in constituency‐level grants in 2003–4, to explore the distinctive logic of parliamentary pork‐barrel politics. Results show that the Liberal‐Nationals Coalition's distribution of these funds was consistent with three electoral priorities — to reward its own MPs and show voters that the government “can deliver”; to provide vote‐winning assets in the Coalition's most marginal seats, where even small vote gain can make the difference between victory and defeat; and to try to re‐establish its credibility at the local level in regional seats that had proven vulnerable to inroads made by Independent candidates.     

The debate over south Africa's foreign policy

South Africa is no exception to the rule that there tends to be continuity in a state's foreign policy even in the event of far‐reaching domestic political change. But given the new South Africa's debt to a global human rights campaign, the emphasis on ‘staking out the moral high ground’ in the rhetoric of the country's new decision‐makers and of commentators is not surprising. The article discusses the creative tension between the claims of morality and the constraints of realpolitik in the debate on the formulation of the new South Africa's foreign policy. It identifies both differences and overlaps in the approaches of realists and radicals to the conduct of the country's foreign policy.     

Book Reviews

Books reviewed in this issue. Carmen Diana Deere and Frederick S. Royce, eds., Rural Social Movements in Latin America: Organizing for Sustainable Livelihoods. Enrique Mayer, Ugly Stories of the Peruvian Agrarian Reform. Daniel H. Levine and José E. Molina, eds., The Quality of Democracy in Latin America Denise M. Walsh, Women's Rights in Democratizing States: Just Debate and Gender Justice in the Public Sphere. Jane S. Jaquette, ed., Feminist Agendas and Democracy in Latin America. Ana Margheritis, Argentina's Foreign Policy: Domestic Politics and Democracy Promotion in the Americas. Luiz Carlos Bresser‐Pereira, Developing Brazil: Overcoming the Failure of the Washington Consensus. Juan E. De Castro and Nicholas Birns, eds., Vargas Llosa and Latin American Politics. Ronald Bruce St John, Toledo's Peru: Vision and Reality.     

From Pariah State to Global Protagonist: Argentina and the Struggle for International Human Rights

Democratizing states began in the 1980s to hold individuals, including past heads of state, accountable for human rights violations. The 1984 Argentine truth commission report (Nunca Más) and the 1985 trials of the juntas helped to initiate this trend. Argentina also developed other justice‐seeking mechanisms, including the first groups of mothers and grandmothers of the disappeared, the first human rights forensic anthropology team, and the first truth trials. Argentines helped to define the very term forced disappearance and to develop regional and international instruments to end the practice. Argentina thus illustrates the potential for global human rights protagonism and diffusion of ideas from a country outside the wealthy North. This article surveys Argentina's innovations and proposes possible explanations, drawing on theoretical studies from transitional justice, social movements, and norms cascades in international relations.