China's ‘win-win’ cooperation: Unpacking the impact of infrastructure-for-resources deals in Africa

This paper discusses China's use of infrastructure-for-resources loans in Africa as a win–win economic cooperation tool. This formula, offering generous loans for infrastructure in exchange for resource access, came into being largely as a default cooperation tool, inspired by China's own domestic experience, its competitive advantages and Africa's receptivity to this kind of barter deal. Embodying the principle of mutual benefit, China has consistently combined the extension of financial assistance for infrastructure construction in Africa with the expansion of Chinese business interests and the pursuit of resource security goals. The analysis focuses on whether this instrument is actually promoting African development or fuelling instead China's economic growth at the expense of African economies. The author argues that the impact has been mixed. Although there are some meaningful positive signs, many challenges persist, and as such the long-term developmental impact of this particular tool remains uncertain. The responsibility to ensure a positive outcome rests, however, on the African side as much as on China.     

Discussion Content and Perception of Deliberation in Western European Versus American Juries

Jury research has dealt almost exclusively with the American system wherein 6-12 laypersons decide verdicts under a unanimity or non-unanimity rule. However, most Western European countries follow the escabinado system, in which laypersons and judges together decide verdict and sentence, under a non-unanimous rule. We experimentally compared the processes and outcomes of both types of juries. Under the guise of a Student Judicial panel, seven undergraduate students in Spain comprised 10 juries, whereas five undergraduates and two fifth-year Law students comprised 10 escabinado juries. We assessed pre- and post-discussion verdict, penalty, and confidence, discussion content, and subjective reactions to the discussion and outcome. Escabinado jury deliberations were driven by the imbalance of power between trained and lay jurors. Escabinado and lay juries differed in their perception of the deliberation but not in their outcomes. Implications for the impact of cultural differences and task requirements in jury decision-making are drawn.     

Ideological Congruence among European Political Parties

Do European political parties represent the ideology of their voters well? This research aims to provide an empirical appreciation of the levels to which Members of Parliament (MPs) ideologically represent their electorate within political parties in 12 European countries. The variable used is left–right self-placement and representation is measured through congruence. Three main hypotheses are tested. First, MPs express greater ideological extremism than voters. Second, MPs have biased perceptions on the positioning of their electorate. Third, New Left parties exhibit higher levels of representation than the other parties. This article's findings reveal that only the second hypothesis can be supported without restrictions.     

Women's interpretations of the right to legal abortion in Mexico City: citizenship,experience and clientelism

In April 2007, after a period of intense social debate, the Mexico City Legal Assembly legalized abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, which was an unprecedented development in women's rights in Mexico. Within the context of a proliferation of public discourses about women's citizenship rights changes in women's social status in Mexico, this article explores the extent to which the newly legalized character of abortion is interpreted by women as a right. Drawing on 24 interviews with women who had a legal termination of pregnancy between 2008 and 2009, this research shows that legalization opens up new and complex relationships between women as subjects of rights and the state. Such relationships are expressed as three discursive figures: legal abortion (1) as a concession from the government, (2) as ‘excessive’ tolerance by the state, and (3) as a right to be protected and guaranteed. The analysis shows that women's interpretations of the right to legal abortion are mediated by profound transformations, which Mexican society is currently undergoing. These include changes related to a shift from a clientist political culture to one more framed in terms of citizenship, the subjective effects of family planning policies, and their ambivalent relationships with Catholic notions of women and motherhood, and the effects of feminist discourses of women's citizenship, abortion, and reproductive rights.     

A Common Future and a Common Identity： The Transformation Process of Political and Social Identities in the South Caucasus Countries

In reflecting on the case of the South Caucasus （Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia）, one of the most popular perspectives is its lack of a common identity. The main argument is that it is a culturally diverse region with old-fashioned, ethnically exclusive nationalism. From this point of view, the process of the formation of a European identity in the region acquires particular importance. A European identity could act as a catalyst for bringing the region together. This identity could be considered as based on much more than just political orientation but fundamentally grounded in common values. This comprehensive integration in the South Caucasus can be achieved through the formulation and acceptance of a common political identity based on the political orientations of the South Caucasian States and their citizens. The main question that this study tries to answer is how people in the South Caucasian countries identify themselves in terms of a European identity. A suitable analysis is increasingly important at both the micro and the macro levels. The author examines the people＇s attitudes in the three South Caucasian states toward Western culture, states, and organizations, drawing on opinion polls conducted by the Caucasus Research Resources Center （CRRC）. The author seeks to analyze attitudes toward the West in the South Caucasus on a macro as well as on a micro level. The author seeks also to provide a much-needed analysis for decision making, based on empirical data that help understand public opinion toward the European Union （EU） in the countries of the South Caucasus, and that can contribute to the refinement of integration strategies.     

The Ambivalent Character of Reconstruction： Winners and Losers of the Lobito Transport Development Corridor

In Angola where poor and scattered communities extend over great distances, an efficient transport system is very important. Nevertheless, in the post-war context its reconstruction has an ambivalent character. On the one hand, it is an indispensable part of the process of economic reconstruction and development where it is possible to identify complementary linkages influencing the dynamics of road and railway reconstruction that can reduce poverty. On the other hand, the post-war transport economy, like the war transport economy, is a site of private accumulation and change where social stratification goes in parallel with increased socio-economic inequality and unfavourable conditions in the labour transport market. The infrastructural reconstruction process is not fulfilling its potential for generating domestic linkages or multiplier effects through wage employment of Angolans. The creation of employment and other income earning opportunities have been limited, meaning that communities might lack the financial capacity to make use of the transport network. The ambivalent character of the modernisation of the transport system was already a feature in the first half of the 20th century as the transport network＇s creation of regional and national spaces with new centres and peripheries established a new hierarchy of social groups and gave rise to significant cultural changes. The effects of roads, railways, and other new means of transport were experienced in very different ways by different actors （means of wealth as well as poverty; inroads of repression as well as paths to personal liberation; and as tools of fragmentation as well as of unification）.     

¿Por qué prevalece el estado de derecho? una aproximación comparada a las explicaciones centradas en la cultura de la legalidad

The objective of this paper is to analyze the relation between the concept of the Rule of Law and the culture of legality from a compared approach in order to establish the scope and limitations of explanations that are based in cultural factors. More specifically, we are interested in comparing the scope and limitations of culture-based explanations on why the Rule of Law prevails in certain countries: these explanations are centered in the construction of wide agreements between social actors and the control by civil society. Also we consider equally important the comparing of different definitions of culture of legality and the strategies and instruments that allow its construction. For this purpose we will center, specially, in the experiences of Hong Kong, Palermo and Bogotá.     

Power,Paradise and Fantasy

Change: Threat or Opportunity for Human Progress? / Üner Kirdar. ‐ New York : United Nations, 1992.‐5 v.

Contents: vol. 1. Political change; vol. 2. Economic change; vol. 3. Globalization of markets; vol. 4. Changes in the human dimension of development, ethics and values; vol. 5. Ecological change: environment, development and poverty linkages. ISBN 92–1–126029–9. ‐ ISBN 92–1–126024–8 (vol.1). ‐ ISBN 92–1–126025–6 (vol.2). ‐ ISBN 92–1–126026–4 (vol.3). ‐ ISBN 92–1–126027–2 (vol.4). ‐ ISBN 92–1–126028–0 (vol.5)

Le commerce des armes / par Romain Yakemtchouk. ‐ Bruxelles : Institut Royal des Relations Internationales. Centre interuniversitaire de recherche independant, 1992. ‐ 320 p. ‐(Studia diplomatica; 1–3)

Droga, problema europeo : una “terza via” fra proibizionismo e legalizzazione? / Andrea Chiti‐Batelli. ‐ Milano: F. Angeli, copyr. 1992. ‐ 239 p. ‐ ISBN 88–204–7440–9

L'economia italiana net mondo che cambia : 1990–911 / a cura di Franco Bruni e Fabrizio Onida. ‐ Bologna: il Mulino, copyr.1992. ‐ 291 p. ‐ ISBN 88–15–03655–5

L'elmo di Scipio : studisutmodello di difesa italiana a cura di Carlo M. Santoro. ‐ Bologna: iI Mulino, copyr. 1992. ‐ 297 p. ‐ ISBN 88–15‐ 03656–3

L'Europe et le Monde arabe : cousins, voisins / Bichara Khader. ‐ Paris : Publisud; Ottignies : Quorum, 1992. ‐ 254 p. ‐ (Horizons euro‐arabes). ‐ ISBN 2–86600–644–5 (France). ‐ ISBN 2–930014–06–7 (Belgium)

Le Grand Maghreb et l'Europe: enjeux et perspectives I Bichara Khader. ‐ Paris : Publisud; Ottignies : Quorum, 1992. ‐ 263 p. ‐ (Horizons euro‐ arabes). ‐ ISBN 2–86600–643–7 (France). ‐ ISBN 2–930014–02–4 (Belgium)

Le interrelazioni fra iniziativa esagonale e Alpe‐Adria in un’ Europa che cambia : prima riunione degli Istituti di relazioni internazionali dell'iniziativa del Centro‐Europa = Die Wechselbeziehungen zwischen “Esagonale” un “Alpen‐Adria” in einem sich wandelnden Europa : erstes Treffen der Institute für internationale Beziehungen der mitteleuropäischen Initiative = Inter‐relations between the “Esagonale” and the “Alps‐Adria” initiatives in a changing Europe : first workshop of the institutes of international affairs of the Central‐European initiative : Trento ‐24.1.19921 a cura del Servizio studi della Regione autonoma Trentino‐Alto Adige. ‐ Trento : Regione Autonoma Trentino‐Alto Adige, 1992. ‐197 p.

The Pentagonal/Hexagonal experiment: new forms of cooperation in a changing Europe / Hanspeter Neuhold (ed.). ‐Wien : W.Braumüller, copyr.1991. ‐145 p. ‐ (The Laxenburg papers; 10). ‐ ISBN 3–7003–0945–7

Red Microchip : Technology Transfer, Export Control and Economic Restructuring in the Soviet Union / Daniel L. Bughart. ‐ Aldershot : Dartmouth, copyr. 1992. ‐ x, 250 p. ‐ ISBN 1–85521–308–7

Vers une nouvelle Europe? l publié sous la direction de Mario Telò. ‐ Bruxelles : Editions de l'Université de Bruxelles, 1992. ‐ XIV, 561 p. ‐ (Etudes européennes). ‐ ISBN 2–8004–1055–8

Les voix du soulèvement palestinien 1987–1988 : édition critique des communiqués du Commandement National Unifié du Soulèvement et du Mouvement de la Résistance Islamique / Jean‐François Legrain; traduction française en collaboration avec Pierre Chenard. ‐ Le Caire : CEDEJ, 1991. ‐ 270, 351 p. ‐ (Dossiers du CEDEJ). ‐ ISBN 2–905838–23‐X

Western Europe and the Gulf : a Study of West European Reactions to the Gulf War / carried out under the auspices of the Institute for Security studies of Western European Union; edited by Nicole Gnesotto and John Roper. ‐ Paris : WEU. The Institute for Security Studies, 1992. ‐ viii, 219 p. ‐ ISBN 2–909567–00–1     

Determinants of Online Reporting of Accounting Information by Spanish Local Government Authorities

This paper examines the features of Spanish local governments that influence the degree of their voluntary reporting of financial information on the Internet. Following an agency theory approach, we propose five hypotheses regarding the relationship between voluntary financial disclosure and the size, leverage, capital investment, political competition and press visibility of a local authority. The empirical application of these hypotheses shows that size, capital investment and political competition are positively associated with the degree of online reporting. We also found a negative and significant relationship between press visibility and voluntary financial disclosure.