Structure and Process: Examining the Interaction between Bureaucratic Organization and Analytical Requirements

Attempts by politicians to control bureaucratic decisions include both structural (how is the agency making the decision organized?) and procedural (what rules must they follow when making the decision?). But how do these two modes of influence interact? This article examines the interaction between bureaucratic structure and one procedural control, the requirement that agencies conduct an analysis of their decisions prior to their issuance. I look at this interaction in the context of two types of analysis, cost‐benefit analysis and environmental impact assessment. I interview 16 individuals in each field and draw from their experiences of conducting and reviewing more than a thousand analyses. The conduct of analysis is affected by where analysts are placed in agencies. In particular, independence of analysts has a trade‐off. The more independent analysts are, the more likely they can challenge preferred decisions in their agency. But independent analysts are brought into decisions later and their independence may limit their long‐term impacts on agency culture. Despite this trade‐off, analysts expressed a clear preference for independence. The interaction between different controls of bureaucratic behavior is a potentially fruitful line for further research.     

Post‐crisis reforms in banking: Regulators at the interface between domestic and international governance

Post‐crisis international standards have been agreed on in certain areas of banking regulation, namely capital, liquidity, and resolution, but not others, namely bank structure – why? We articulate a two‐step analytical framework that links the domestic and international levels of governance. In particular, we focus on the role of domestic regulators at the interface between the two levels. At the domestic level, regulators evaluate externalities and adjustment costs before engaging in cooperation at the international level. This analysis explains why regulators in the United States and the European Union act as pacesetters, foot‐draggers, or fence‐sitters in international standard setting; that is to say, why they promote, resist, or are neutral toward international financial standards. At the international level, we explain the outcome of international standard setting by considering the interaction of pacesetters and foot‐draggers.     

Hurdles to International Terrorist Alliances: Lessons From Al Qaeda's Experience

Despite the threat posed by international terrorist alliances, the conditions that foster and inhibit these relationships remain poorly understood. When seeking allies outside of their primary conflict and political market, groups struggle to forge credible commitments, particularly the requisite ‘shadows of the future’ and reputations conducive to cooperation, without third-party enforcers. Given their suspicious nature and strong in-group identities, terrorist groups sometimes balk at relinquishing independence for security. Alliances risk precipitating counterterrorism pressure, alienating constituents, and increasing the risk of betrayal. Even groups that enjoy alliance success, like Al Qaeda, experience these hurdles in their alliance. What helped to set Al Qaeda apart from most groups was its ability to navigate these obstacles, though some bedeviled its alliances efforts. This offers under-utilized opportunities for alliance disruption.     

Politics,exit strategy and political settlement in Sierra Leone: a critical analysis of a laboratory experiment (1991–2015)

Abstract

A glance at key indicators—in terms of growth forecast and stable elections—will project Sierra Leone as a political settlement model for a post-conflict state. Sierra Leone has been an important laboratory for UN and international donors’ interventions and thinking. However, efforts by the international donor community to decentralise power to the margins, both geographically and demographically, have failed. Instead, this focus on the institutions of governance has allowed the same elite to maintain power. Sierra Leone today shares similar socio-economic and political conditions with the Sierra Leone before the outbreak of the civil war. A detailed analysis of the country’s socio-economic trends, its political institutions and the logic and dynamics of violence show a disturbing picture. While the international community considered that an exit strategy was feasible, the political settlement remains an experiment in that it is detached from everyday life and livelihood concerns of Sierra Leoneans and reveals the structural violence behind this process.     

国际秩序转型与族群冲突研究

大国竞争和大国实力的变化是国际秩序转型的主要变量,它们影响着族群冲突。大国实力下降造成国内统治力减弱,届时国内各族群为争取权力而进行族群动员,引发族群冲突;同时大国实力下降会收缩其在国际控制范围,进而出现权力真空,由此引发族群对于权力的竞争和冲突。大国间竞争也会引发族群冲突。大国在某一地区或国家的经济竞争会引起族群间的收入不平等,进而引发或加剧族群间的竞争和冲突;大国在政治上的竞争,尤其在地缘政治上的争夺会引发族群冲突;大国在意识形态上的竞争为族群竞争提供思想支持。数据显示,1946-2015年间的族群冲突与苏联和美国的实力变化存在一定的趋势匹配。当美苏之间实力变化不大、竞争缓和时,族群冲突也相对减少;当两国之间实力起伏较大、竞争加剧时,族群冲突便有增长趋势,特别是苏联解体后,权力由苏联转向美国的几年,族群冲突异常激烈。1961-1991伊拉克库尔德人族群运动与苏美间的竞争息息相关,苏联通过支持伊拉克,以获得其在中东地区的影响力。美国为了减少苏联在海湾地区的影响力,确保丰富廉价的石油供应,唆使库尔德人反对伊拉克,并利用伊朗和伊拉克边界争端,通过支持伊朗来制衡伊拉克,进而削弱伊拉克,以确保其在该地区的影响力。正是美苏对该地区石油、地缘战略和意识形态阵地的争夺,让该地区复杂的族群、宗教矛盾成为它们全球争霸的工具,加之库尔德人自身的诉求,最终酿成长达三十多年的族群冲突。     

当代国际贸易发展的特点探析

当代国际贸易的发展呈现出以下特点和趋势：贸易商品结构上日趋高级化;贸易格局上全球化与集团化并存;绿色浪潮赋予国际贸易新的涵义,绿色贸易大行其道;贸易手段上,网络贸易将成为主导性贸易方式;贸易政策上,管理贸易盛行;技术壁垒成为贸易保护主义的新策略。     

International financial governance in hard times: tracing the transformations

This article reviews the tenets of the intellectual consensus on how to organize the international financial system that came to crystallize at the end of the 1990s and the contestation of such a consensus in the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2007–09. Illustrating the path of ideational transformation from the early 1990s until the present time, the article builds on recent constructivist works in international political economy that take economic ideas held by agents as the principal unit of analysis. In doing so, it brings to the surface both the substantive changes that had taken place in the principles underlying the governance of the international financial system and the dynamics of ideational change. Specifically, the article suggests a shift away from a governance project based on the dispersion of supervisory authority and finds that new policy ideas of regulation and political centralization have all been conceived with negative reference to the past.     

城市环境精细化治理的现实逻辑与优化路径——基于需求-回应的分析框架

随着改革开放以来城市化的不断推进,中国的城市建设和治理在取得显著成绩的同时也面临着日益严峻的环境挑战和压力。解决城市环境问题和满足城市居民对美好环境的诉求需要不断推进城市环境精细化治理。然而,当前城市环境治理仍然存在着治理理念相对滞后、治理法制不够健全、治理结构有待优化、治理过程较为粗放、治理绩效评估有所弱化等问题,阻滞了城市环境精细化治理的推进。这构成了城市环境精细化治理的需求层面。为此,应根据城市环境精细化治理的需求,采取有力的优化措施予以回应。     

"Who Are You Wearing?" Using the Red Carpet Question Pedagogically

This paper presents an active learning module design and implementation strategy for use in an undergraduate course on globalization, world politics, international political economy, or international relations. Students are first asked to conduct research on their wardrobe and its origins by country, allowing for classroom discussion of research methods and designs. Results are submitted, along with a short response essay. This is evaluated in conjunction with a case-study short reading and shared discussion, followed by a short video/multimedia presentation on free trade and labor issues. Drawing on literature on active learning, I argue that this presents a more cohesive approach for engaging students in the material on a substantive level, while at the same time allowing them to actively appreciate and understand such diverse concepts as commodity chains, free trade zones, fair trade versus free trade, gendered divisions of labor, consumer responsibility, research methodologies, and macroeconomic shifts in employment across nations. This also serves as a rubric for instructors to use in creating their own topical "modules." Preliminary data and classroom results are discussed, as are additional strategies for lesson development.     

Why International Organizations Should Bring Basic Needs Back in

An important milestone in the development debate is the recognition of poverty as a multidimensional phenomenon via the capabilities approach. However, a challenge remains in that many governments in less-developed countries continue to avoid prioritizing issues of absolute deprivation. This paper demonstrates how and why existing efforts to operationalize capabilities may distract policy makers from giving sufficient weight to issues of basic survival. We propose that international organizations can address this challenge through a method of triangulation: (1) identify how countries rank on universal goals of human development; (2) identify how countries rank on universal goals of basic needs provision; and (3) promote participatory poverty assessments. This approach ensures that absolute deprivation issues are addressed, and it establishes an acceptable (and necessary) balance between standardization and local complexity.