Land Acquisition,Investment, and Development in the Lao Coffee Sector: Successes and Failures

ABSTRACT

Despite the increasing acknowledgment of scholars and practitioners that many large-scale agricultural land acquisitions in developing countries fail or never materialize, empirical evidence about how and why they fail to date is still scarce. Too often, land deals are portrayed as straightforward investments and their success is taken for granted. Looking at the coffee sector in Laos, the authors of this article explore dimensions of the land grab debate that have not yet been sufficiently examined. Coffee concessionaires in southern Laos often fail to use all of the land granted them and fail to produce high yields on the land they do use. Thus, the authors challenge the often-assumed superiority and effectiveness of large-scale versus small-scale production, specifically the argument that they modernize agricultural production and optimize land use. They argue that examining failed investments is as important as studying successful ones for understanding the implications of the land grabbing phenomenon for social, economic, and environmental outcomes. Knowledge about the scale of “failed land deals” provides important motivation for national governments to close the gap between intentions and actual outcomes. This article engages with the current debate on quality of investment and challenges the approach of employing land concessions as a vehicle for economic development in the Lao coffee sector and in other sectors and countries.     

Should the African lion learn from the Asian tigers? A comparative-historical study of FDI-oriented industrial policy in Ethiopia,South Korea and Taiwan

Ethiopia’s economy has been growing at breakneck speed for well over a decade now, earning the nickname as Africa’s lion. In recent years, the development literature on Ethiopia has paid particular attention to the role of industrial policy, especially the ways in which the Ethiopian experience compares to that of the Asian tigers. But through this comparative-historical perspective, little attention has been devoted to an important aspect of industrial policy in Ethiopia – foreign direct investment (FDI) in the manufacturing sector. This paper compares FDI-oriented industrial policy in Ethiopia in the current era (particularly focusing on light manufacturing) to that of South Korea and Taiwan between 1960 and 1990, arguably the two most generalisable cases among the Asian tigers. The paper argues that FDI-oriented industrial policy in Ethiopia seems to be bringing about short-term economic benefits, and is showing promise for further industrialisation. At the same time, it could benefit from taking more lessons from the long-term economic development perspective that characterised South Korea’s and Taiwan’s approach to FDI. Such a long-term perspective most importantly includes pro-active strategies to transfer technology from foreign firms to the domestic economy and the creation of backward linkages from foreign to domestic firms.     

Neo‐nationalism and Neo‐Atlanticism in Italian foreign policy

The European Union has low expectations for the international climate regime after 2012, when the Kyoto Protocol effectively expires. The United States is not thought likely to sign up to new binding international commitments, whereas EU countries have experienced unexpected difficulties in implementing existing commitments. As a consequence, the European Union may be prepared to settle for a surprisingly weak follow-up to the Kyoto Protocol. At the same time, the European Union will pursue bilateral and regional climate agreements with like-minded countries, parallel to the UN framework and possibly independently of it. Collectively, such agreements could produce an international climate regime that is more robust than what could be agreed at the consensus-based UN level. Nevertheless, the European Union will continue to support the UN process as the only legitimate forum for international negotiations on climate change.     

Governance Barriers to Renewable Energy in North Africa

Solar power in the North African region has the potential to provide electricity for local energy needs and export to Europe. Nevertheless, despite the technical feasibility of solar energy projects, stakeholders still perceive projects in the region as risky because of existing governance issues. Certain areas of solar projects, such as construction, operation and management, are the most prone to governance risks, including lack of transparency and accountability, perceived as barriers for deployment of the projects. It is likely that large-scale foreign direct investment into solar energy will not eliminate existing risks, but might even increase them. Furthermore, the recent political changes in the region have addressed some governance risks but not all of them, especially bureaucratic corruption. Stakeholders recommend a broad set of measures to facilitate development of solar projects in the region, ranging from auditing of individual projects to simplification and unification of bureaucratic procedures.     

China in the dynamic Asia‐Pacific region

The Chinese economy has experienced spectacular growth in recent years. Despite its huge trade and investment potential, China today remains an insignificant player in the world economy. But the emerging Chinese economy has already profoundly changed the pattern of trade and investment flows in the Asia‐Pacific region. Over the years, the Chinese economy has been steadily integrated with its neighbouring economies of Japan, the NIEs and ASEAN, which are all well known for their dynamic growth. The growing integration of the Chinese economy, with its huge economic potential, into the Asia‐Pacific region will enhance the region's prospects for further growth. Most Asia‐Pacific economies take a positive view of China's increasing economic involvement in the region as a new source of economic opportunity. It is in such a regional rather than the global context that the immediate effects of China's recent economic upsurge should be gauged.     

Indonesia and bilateral trade agreements (BTAs)

Abstract

This paper analyses the perspectives of Indonesian state and non-state actors towards their country's increasing tendency to use bilateral trade agreements (BTAs) as part of its foreign economic policy. Unlike the other original members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Indonesian government has been rather slow in pursuing a BTA policy with non-ASEAN member countries. Nevertheless, due to the proliferation of BTAs in other ASEAN countries' foreign economic policies, it was inevitable that Indonesia would pursue similar agreements with its non-ASEAN major trading partners. Despite this, it remains questionable whether Indonesia's participation in such trade agreements will produce such positive results for Indonesian economy. The attitude of the majority of Indonesian domestic constituents to date remains sceptical to this type of agreement. This is not only because BTAs create specific obligations on a range of issues, from trade and investment regimes, this trade strategy also involves deeper and more comprehensive commitments that those agreed at the multilateral level.     

Singapore Inc. Goes Shopping Abroad: Profits and Pitfalls

Efficient state-led, market-driven intervention has been the hallmark of Singapore's success story but the exportability of state credibility, systemic efficiencies and local advantages into alien contexts is a matter of academic and political controversy. This article scrutinises Singapore's experience with outward investment in order to objectively examine the role of Temasek and of the government-linked corporations (GLCs). It uses the case of Temasek's investment in Thailand to reflect upon the economic and political impacts of the GLCs' global quest. It shows that resistance to Singaporean acquisitions reflects a combination of factors, including a general turn towards “economic nationalism,” attempts by other governments to replicate the city-state's state-led modernisation, and Temasek's and GLCs' underestimation of the risks that are germane to their international strategy.     

The determinants of foreign direct investment inflows in the Central and Eastern European Countries: The importance of institutions

This study investigates the determinants of FDI inflows in six Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) by incorporating the traditional factors and institutional variables over the 1996–2009 period. The study identifies whether and how these determinant factors differ across four investor countries (EU-15, the US, China, and Japan). The results verify the positive and economically significant role of GDP size, trade openness, EU membership, and institutions (measured by economic freedoms, state fragility, political rights, and civil liberties indices) on FDI inflows. The results also reveal the existence of notable differences in the determinant factors across four investor countries.     

俄罗斯的东北亚政策

俄罗斯的东北亚政策在其对外政策中具有非常特殊的位置,俄罗斯在制订东北亚政策时,是以东西伯利亚和远东地区为主要背景,并注重寻找两个平衡点:一是既要积极参与东北亚的政治合作,保证俄罗斯不被排斥在地区事务之外,又要保证这种参与不危害俄罗斯东西伯利亚和远东地区的安全与稳定;二是既要积极参与东北亚的经济合作,保证东西伯利亚和远东所需要的市场、资金、技术和劳动力,又要防止该地区的经济完全脱离俄罗斯,成为东北亚经济的"资源附庸"。俄罗斯在东北亚的政策越来越积极、越来越主动、越来越全面。俄罗斯完成了由旁观者向参与者的转变,正在由普通参与者向核心参与者转变。     

我国国际多式联运业外资准入若干法律问题研究

国际多式联运是将两种以上不同的运输方式加以整合,其目的是实现高效的“门到门”货物运输,便利国际货物贸易的开展.国际多式联运业的外资准入法律问题与GATS体制下海运业的外资准入问题密切相关,但因其牵涉到向外资开放东道国的整个国内运输市场,因而相比海运业更为敏感和复杂.就我国而言,国际多式联运业外资准入的法律问题主要包括GATS体制下国际多式联运业的归类问题、国内法中国际多式联运外资准入的“多轨制”问题、外商独资企业的经营资格问题以及国际多式联运业外资并购的国家安全审查问题等.