Asymmetry in Japan and Korea's agricultural liberalization in FTA: domestic trade governance perspective

Abstract

This paper examines the nexus between food security and sustainability governance through a case study of palm oil. Palm oil's advocates claim that campaigns against palm oil and actions to halt its expansion due to sustainability concerns can undermine its food security role. However, palm oil expansion more directly undermines the food and livelihood security of rural and indigenous communities when land that rightfully belongs to, or has been used by, these communities is alienated to firms for oil palm cultivation with little or no consultation or compensation provided or alternatives considered. It is in this context that the paper examines whether the multi-stakeholder Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) is able to ensure that this commodity is cultivated in ways that minimise environmental damage and livelihood disruption, thereby safeguarding palm oil's contribution to food security. The findings are mixed. RSPO certification provides fairly comprehensive and progressive socio-environmental regulation that has enhanced sustainable production practises in this industry especially by the larger transnational plantation companies mindful of their global reputation. The RSPO is also far more responsive than governments have been to the land rights of rural and indigenous communities, providing due process for land claimants as well as recognising that these communities may have legitimate rights to land even if companies were awarded legal title by governments. However, multi-stakeholder regimes can be fragile, requiring a great deal of internal accommodation and trade-offs to work. Already, different interests in the RSPO are pulling in different directions while national certification systems have emerged that are less onerous compared to the RSPO even as the latter seeks to further enhance its sustainability credentials.     

APEC and the WTO: Collision or co‐operation?

Abstract

The creation of an integration scheme of the dimensions of the Asia‐Pacific Economic Co‐operation forum (APEC) is causing concern for the future of the world trading system. APEC will either turn into an economic bloc or it will become a forum of limited relevance. If APEC decided to form a classic free trade area and provided its trade concessions only on the basis of reciprocity, there would be little need for the World Trade Organization (WTO) in the future. Considering its size, APEC could then easily develop into a competing system for the liberalization of trade. If, however, APEC continues its policy of ‘coordinated unilateral liberalization’, the motivation for APEC will have to be questioned: if trade liberalization following the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) logic, i.e. on a non‐discriminatory basis following the most‐favoured nation principle, is desired, should not this aim be pursued in the appropriate forum, i.e. in the World Trade Organization (WTO)?     

从WTO贸易自由化视角反思平行进口

结合国内宪法层面上国民待遇原则针对平行进口的功能新解读与国际法层面WTO相关规则的深入分析,有助于我们正确理解平行进口现象,在宪法层面对国民待遇做出适当限制并制定相应的知识产权国内法规则,以平衡各方利益、减少甚或消解平行进口对专利权人、国内被许可企业产生的负面影响。     

多边投资条约下的外国投资准入自由化研究

外资准入是国际投资领域的重要制度,二十世纪九十年代以来,多边投资条约中的外资准入自由化,突出反映在将国民待遇原则适用于外资准入阶段,废除准入阶段的履行要求等方面。发达国家力主国际投资准入自由化。我国应主张渐进实现外资准入自由化,团结其他发展中国家,积极参加国际投资立法实践,促成有利于发展中国家的投资规则的形成。     

略论外资准入与投资自由化

国际投资法制中的外资准入制度 ,已成为南北国家矛盾和冲突的焦点与难点问题。外资准入作为国家经济主权的重要内容 ,受到双边和多边投资立法的重大冲击。发达国家推动投资自由化的目的在于进一步削弱东道国特别是发展中国家对外资的法律管制。因此 ,发展中国家应积极参与在多边贸易体制下国际投资规则的制定 ,并力求在制定和实施过程中体现发展中国家的利益和要求 ,以避免投资自由化对本国经济安全可能造成的消极影响。     

俄罗斯经济自由化与市场开放问题论析

经济自由化和市场开放既是俄罗斯经济转轨的核心内容之一,也是一个十分重要的理论问题。俄罗斯实行经济自由化和市场开放的原因是多方面的;经济自由化和市场开放的根本目的,一是与国际经济接轨,二是减少国家对经济的干预;经济自由化和市场开放的具体措施是经济自由化、价格自由化和对外经济活动自由化;经济自由化和市场开放与经济全球化之间的关系是相关互动的。实行经济自由化和市场开放必须加强国家的宏观调控作用。     

The liberal in liberal democracy

This article argues that much of the work on democratization and democratic consolidation is obscured by a conceptual fog, when at the very least some of this confusion could be ameliorated by parsing out components that are obviously liberal in nature. An admission of the importance of liberalization and liberal consolidation as distinctly different in form and measurement from democratization and democratic consolidation are the first steps to better research on the varieties of causation that constitute and propel the dissolution of more authoritarian regimes towards more liberal democratic regimes. Acknowledging that the liberal in liberal democracy is unpopular for some, and that liberal democracy does not necessarily mean American liberal democracy, go a long way to freeing these terms from ethnocentric misconceptions, as well as cementing analytical clarification. Though all modern democracies have both liberal and democratic components, democratic consolidation does not guarantee liberal consolidation.     

东盟贸易自由化若干协议的法律效力及实施

建立自由贸易区是东盟贸易自由化的一个重要层面,以绕开WTO多边协议的困难,克服WTO多边贸易体系的种种弊端.建立和完善自由贸易区的法律基础,是自由贸易区相关的各项协议,尤其是双边自由贸易协定(FTA).以东盟自由贸易区(AFTA)和中国一东盟自由贸易区(CAFTA)中的相关协议协定为核心,研究了东盟贸易自由化若干协议的法律效力及其在实施过程中的障碍,并提出相应的应对措施.     

Trade liberalization and the spread of regulatory institutions: The case of Chile

It is currently widely recognized that trade liberalization leads not only to deregulation but also to re‐regulation. However, it is less well understood how trade agreements and trade liberalization affect domestic regulatory institutions. This article aims to contribute to such an understanding through a case study of Chile. Since 1990, Chile has pursued a strategy of economic integration through bilateral, regional, and multilateral agreements. The study shows how this strategy has led to the partial implementation of a patchwork of competing regulatory institutions, many of which can trace their roots to the domestically preferred institutions of Chile’s major trading partners.     

Islamic Fundamentalism and Women's Economic Role: The Case of Iran

It is commonly believed that Islamic fundamentalism is responsible for the low female employment rate in the Middle East and North Africa. I earlier presented evidence from Indonesia indicating that the deteriorating conditions of women's economic role in the 1990s was related to the economic circumstances of the Asian Crisis, not to the rise of political Islam (Bahranitash, 2002). In fact, in Indonesia, increasing support for the Islamic movement was itself spurred by the Asian Crisis. As a contrasting case, I here examine Iran, a country where political Islam has been in power for over two decades. If commonly held views about the impact of the Islamic religion on female employment were true, one would expect a steady or sharp decline of the female employment rate in postrevolutionary Iran. The empirical data show the reverse. Women's formal employment rates increased in the 1990s and did so much faster than they had during the 1960s and 1970s, when a pro-Western secular regime was in power. This sharp increase in women's employment seriously challenges the view that religion explains women's economic status in Muslim countries. The evidence from Iran indicates that the situation of women's employment there has followed a common pattern of elsewhere in the South—an overall increase in female employment. This fact then suggests that the forces of international political economy, rather than religion, appear to be a determining factor in the state of women's economic role in Iran.