Slumdog. No Millionaire.

It comes as no surprise that the capital cities of developing countries tend to be the most densely populated areas of those countries. Globalization is forcing developing countries across the world to undergo their own industrial and technological revolutions in a New York minute,ready or not. Along with revolution comes migration,typically in the way of rural populations moving to the capital city in search of work.Manila,however, stands out from her sister DCs (developing countries), not for being the most densely populated city in the world (111,576 people per mi²) but for having more than 50% of its metropolitan population living in slums.

Manilans are in great danger as population continues to grow and rural communities continue to migrate into the city in search of a meager $2 per day. NGOs worldwide have taken an interest in reducing the slum population, but I cant help but feel repulsed by the Filipino government's passive aggressive approach. Following a steady population growth rate in the late 1990s, a sudden jump in the year 2000 caused great concern when it became obvious that the capital city would be unable to handle the influx of rural migrants. As of 2002, the federal government began encouraging these rural dwellers to return to the countryside in order to alleviate the growth of slums in Manila. According to a report by BBC's Paul Mason, the slumdwellers made it clear that they were unwilling to return to their commerce-starved village centres and depleted rivers and land. Nevertheless, the government has been building homes in rural towns such as Cabuyao and relocating indignant slumdwellers there, to non-electrified, sparsely populated, commercially stagnant communities.The fact that the government is relocating slumdwellers to the exact stale communities they escaped  seems to be of no importance.

Undoubtedly,the living conditions are better than those in the slums,where collapse,arson and flooding are a constant concern due to the poor construction of the dwellings. Even more so in the past few years, with slumdwellers claiming occurrences of mysterious fires following refusal to relocate to the countryside. The government denies any accusations of foul play pointed at it and states that although it is using police forces to enforce the relocation, it has not resorted to arson. Nevertheless, suspicious fires which leave hundreds homeless, sourced to 'faulty electrical wires' have become common in the slum of Tondo in manila,among others. With aggressive relocation to communities with stagnant economies and a passive[read: nonexistent} approach to providing incentives to the slumdwellers, the government is literally putting its citizens between a rock and a hard place.

urban upgrading success stories

I'm all for relieving the slum populace, but ideally, the government would provide agricultural subsidies if indeed the agricultural sector grew by 5.8% in the first half of 2011 as stated by the Philippines Bureau of Agricultural Statistics. Additionally, the government could also try to provide or source small-business incentives with micro-credit programs. The more ambitious architects and developmental economists are pursuing variations of urban upgrading , a term coined by MIT to describe the improvement of slums to bring them up to living standards. Urban upgrading aims to add the necessary infrastructure to slums in an effort to avoid forced relocation of slumdwellers to rural communities.

The best solution is likely a combination of both urban upgrading and incentive-driven voluntary relocation outside the over-populated capital, as globalization has a well-earned reputation of producing more slumdogs than millionaires.

Blogs of Note

I have recently discovered some excellent blogs worth noting :

• Andrew Bacevich is an International Relations  professor at Boston University and is blogging for the World Affairs Journal {where I dream to be published someday}.Among other works Bocevich has authored The Limits of Power and more recently American Empire: The Realities and Consequences of US Diplomacy. His no-nonsense blog is titled Anti-Imperialist

• Jagdish Bhagwati professes at Columbia University and is a preeminent economist, especially in the realm of free trade and is also blogging for World Affairs journal. Magnanimous as ever, his blog is titled Globalization Has a Human Face 
• *His most recent post 'The Dalai Lama, Obama, and China' is less cynical and rather optimistic, compared to the one I opined regarding Obama's recent meeting with the Dalai Lama

• Rethinking Development by Sumita Kale consistently reports and provides discourse on this crucial subject.

Internet Freedoms in China - Part 2 of 3

Has the use of mass media in China and Singapore changed over time, or have new technologies simply been used to further traditional mass media enterprise?

PART 2

Dr. Chin-fu Hung of the National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan reminds us that the mass media has traditionally been used by authoritarian governments as tools of propaganda (20). China may not be specifically generating propaganda, but by disallowing any idea opposed to the ruling political party, a silent form of propaganda is maintained. Repressing the political ideas of those who do not absolutely agree with the Four Cardinal Principles creates a reinforcing cycle of ignorance. Pioneers, scholars and youth who may have novel ideas do not get to share them and simultaneously, those who may be interested in their ideas do not get access to them. The amount of academic, socio-cultural and political information in the country's circulation is stagnated as long as it represents the ancient views of the ruling party which has been in power for the recent history of China’s self-governance . While technological advance may continue in such an environment, it does not benefit from the creative participation of society.

Singapore's political propaganda comes in the form of its restrictive policies on electoral campaigning via the internet. Survey and poll data can no longer be published for campaign purposes as of 2001, as supported by the Minister for Information and the Arts, Lee Yock Suan. In a public speech to Parliament, Suan claimed that surveys and polls "gave the illusion of reflecting public opinion but were often based on small sample sizes, bad question design and improper sampling, which led to inaccurate and slanted results" (Gomez 137). Those in opposition saw this as an attempt to curb the success of their campaigns; however the more important issue is that without what few objective polls may have existed, the information provided by the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) will likely be biased. Biased information purported to be objective public opinion is essentially masked propaganda and at any rate, an even cloudier illusion.

In addition to censorship of political and socio-cultural ideas, both China and Singapore use filtering systems to screen information incoming to their networks, before it ever reaches internet users. OpenNet Initiative is a non-partisan organization that studies internet filtering and surveillance practices in countries across the globe. According to their website OpenNet.net, China has allocated billions of dollars to building one of the largest and most advanced filtering systems in the world. The studies also reveal that the Chinese government focuses resources on restricting access to any content that potentially undermines the state's control or social stability, by enforcing strict supervision of domestic media, imposing liability on online content providers, and increasingly, a propaganda approach to online debate and discussion (OpenNet.net). James Gomez summons us to consider which one of these national priorities are threatened by the gay and lesbian community. In 2001, the Chinese government proposed the use of website-rating systems as an additional measure of over-reaching oversight. In Hong Kong, the most internet-liberal region of China, the government began rating websites representing the gay and lesbian community as "harmful media" and required that this rating be displayed on the websites by the owners. Filtering software for minors was also required to be installed by the owners, with imprisonment as a consequence of refusal (Gomez 135). These measures are inappropriately harsh, as they do not address the stated priorities of national and public security. In its effort to create and maintain social stability, the Chinese government is enforcing a cultural mandate that not only shelters its society without society members’ consideration but also oppresses a part of that society.

The Chinese government has no intention of performing all filtering tasks on its own. Website hosts are installing keyword filtering software under pressure, and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) as well as Internet Content Providers (ICPs) also filter “politically sensitive" websites (Chung 734). ISPs and ICPs gain access to the internet through inter-connecting networks created during the Golden Bridge Project. The networks are owned by the government, so the ISPs and ICPs are forced to cooperate with the government in order to stay in business. Along with internet café owners, they are entrusted to report anyone involved in the creation, replication, retrieval and transmission of information that falls under nine categories. These categories include material that spreads rumors, promote cults and feudal superstitions, and materials that insult or slander others (Hung 11-12). It seems that for every appropriate measure taken by the Chinese government, another politically inconsonant one is tacked onto the same regulation. Pairing insult with slander or terrorism with gambling in the same regulation or under the same priority is the equivalent of pork barreling measures used in democratic legislative bodies; all are efforts to mislead others into approving of something they otherwise might not.

The MDA in Singapore has significantly less conservative regulations on internet filtering. According to the OpenNet Initiative, filters are used mainly for pornographic websites, and in fact not all such websites are blocked, rather the most popular ones. This reveals that the MDA generally aims to make a statement about its disapproval of this material, but does not focus extensive technological resources on actually filtering every single website, as is the case with China. An alternative preferred by the SDP and the MDA is a combination of legal and political persuasion, both of which result in the intended objective of self-censorship. To see the influence of the pair, one can review the effect on all media providers, as shown by Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) {Reporters Without Borders}. RSF is a Paris-based NGO promoting world press freedom, which discloses press freedom statistics worldwide in an annual online report. In 2009, Singapore’s press freedom is ranked 133thrd (up by 7) out of 175 countries, and China was ranked 168 (down by 9). The report supports that although Singapore’s filtering system for political, religious, and ethnic content is primarily low-tech, it is effective nonetheless.

Threats of lawsuits, fines, and criminal prosecution are enough incentive for Chinese and Singaporean internet users to censor themselves, but yet another measure is utilized. Licensing is used in both countries, at as many levels as bureaucracy will allow. The government of Singapore requires that ISPs, ICPs and any political or religious groups with websites to register with the MDA .They must obtain a license before operating a website and as licensees; ISPs and ICPs are bound by the MDA’s Internet Code of Practice. As recently as 2005, the Chinese authorities tightened its controlling grip by implementing the Computer Information Network and International Internet Security Protection and Administration Regulations, which require that all website operators register their sites with the local Public Security Bureau within thirty days of operation(Hung 14).

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Wang, Stephanie. "China | OpenNet Initiative." ONI Home Page | OpenNet Initiative. 15 June 2009. Web. 20 Oct. 2009. <http://opennet.net/research/profiles/china#footnote38_1j5nfzr>.

Chung, Jongpil. "Comparing Online Activities in China and South Kore." Asian Survey 8.5 (2008): 727-51. Ww.ucpressjournals.com. University of California. Web. 20 Oct. 2009. <http://ucpressjournals.com/journal.asp?j=as>.

Gomez, James. "Dumbing Down Democracy: Trends in Internet Regulation, Surveillance and Control in Asia." Pacific Journalism Review 10.2 (2004): 130-50. Auckland University of Technology. Web. 20 Oct. 2009. <http://www.pjreview.info/>.

Hassid, Jonathan. "Controlling the Chinese Media: An Uncertain Business." Asian Survey 48.3 (2008): 414-30. Web. 19 Oct. 2009. <http://proquest.umi.com.proxy.library.vcu.edu/pqdlink?index=3&did=1507544931&SrchMode=3&sid=1&Fmt=6&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1256691609&clientId=4305&aid=1>.

Kalathil, Shanthi. "Dot.com for Dictators." Foreign Policy 135 (2003): 42-49. Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, LLC. Web. 19 Oct. 2009. <www.jstor.org>.

"The Media and Asia." Speech. World Affairs Council. Los Angeles. 19 Oct. 1998. Los Angeles World Affairs Council. Web. 19 Oct. 2009. <http://www.lawac.org/speech/pre%20sept%2004%20speeches/yew.html>.

"Media Development Authority - About Us." Media Development Authority - Home. Media Development Authority, 29 July 2009. Web. 19 Oct. 2009. <http://www.mda.gov.sg/wms.www/aboutus.aspx>.

"Press Freedom Index 2009." Reporters Sans Frontières. Reporters Sans Frontières. Web. 19 Oct. 2009. <http://www.rsf.org/en-classement1003-2009.html>.

"World Economic Forum - Global Information Technology Report." World Economic Forum - Home. Ed. World Economic Forum. 26 Mar. 2009. Web. 20 Oct. 2009. <http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Global%20Information%20Technology%20Report/index.htm>.

Yang, Gubon. "The Coevolution of the Internet and Civil Society in China." Asian Survey 43.3 (2003): 405-22. 2 Dec. 2003. Web. 19 Oct. 2009. <http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/pdf/10.1525/as.2003.43.3.405>.

You and What Army?

You know what they say- you should never provoke anyone who can answer that question with confidence. In the past few years, there has been a tug of war for public support between The People's Republic of China and a single man- the Dalai Lama. I doubt The Dalai Lama teases the Chinese Republic by proposing liberties then responding to discouragement by saying "you and what army?"...still - The Dalai Lama has been working overtime to keep civil liberties among the list of international conversation topics for governments and citizens alike.The civil liberties of the Tibetan people are a special focus for him, thus given the bitter history between Tibet and China, the end of the battle is but a thought. China's most visible stratagem has been the discouragement of meetings between the Dalai Lama and heads of governments across the globe.A few months back, the Dalai Lama claimed that he had a meeting arranged with President Obama for a future, albeit  uncertain date, and it appeared most doubted him, viewing it as an appeal than a confirmation. On Thursday Feb 18th,2010 The Dalai Lama met with President Obama at the white House, where he restated his hope for the recognized autonomy of Tibet with a succinct distinction from independence for Tibet.

The purpose of the meeting itself was not 'characterized' by the White House press secretary although a statement reveals that President Obama's "strong support for the preservation of Tibet's unique religious, cultural and linguistic identity, and the protection of human rights for Tibetans,".

President Obama did not respond in any manner  other than expected of the populist, politically correct,pacifier, while The Dalai Lama stood his ground on the Tibetan platform. I am curious as to why the president was happy to postpone his meeting with The Dalai Lama when he visited last fall in favor of meeting with Chinese president Hu Jintao, yet in the face of strained US-China relations, the president finds a blank spot on his calendar. I am inclined to believe that meeting with the Dalai Lama is an integral part of promoting and securing the reputation of President Obama as a genuine democratic concerned about the protection of democratic and civil liberties for all. A quick glimpse in a tv guide reveals upcoming specials by different networks , with the focus on evaluating President Obama's first year in office. After the first year, presidential approval and evaluation is often the media hot story, and the telling statistics may set the tone for the remainder of the term. The meeting was a strategically balanced move, to fortify the desired public opinion of the president , while providing a civil rights leader a platform for expression, despite lacking intent on the president's part to take definitive action. 

Appease the Tibetans and civil liberties activists a lot, and anger a the Chinese a little

According to CNN, Chinese officials have expressed to the US ambassador to China, their "strong dissastisfaction" in regards to the meeting. 

Nevertheless, for all intensive purposes, the status quo is maintained.

Restoring Legitimacy to the WTO - Part 7

- courtesy of http://simonworld.mu.nu/ 

 
In conclusion-

Albin describes five issues that are central to WTO procedure and that require jurisprudence. These are; the structures of negotiations, the negotiation process itself, procedures, outcomes/distributive justice, and the post-agreement phase. The 'structure of negotiations' refers to the overall environment in which they take place and aims to deal with the concerns of participation, representations, power relations and agenda-setting. Discouraged participation, insufficient representation, and power politics all de-legitimize the decision making process before it even begins.. The justice issue in the negotiation process refers to the way in which the various parties interact as they build consensus. I suspect that Albin is intimating about any coercive tactics used by nation-states to achieve their desired part of the agreement. This issue differs from the structural issue in that the structure of negotiations is an atmospherically state created by overlapping parties, while the issue of justice in the negotiation process is brought about by individual parties in their approach of others. Procedures in this case, and as before, refer to mechanisms of negotiation, and the justice issue arises when the succession of procedures has loopholes which can give one nation-state an unfair advantage over another.

Loopholes come in the form of non-existent regulation of information green room caucuses in which key decisions are made. The fourth issue of distributive justice refers to the "allocation of benefits and burdens in an agreement"(760). Neither Albin nor other scholars explicitly state that they expect developing countries to receive preferential treatment, so I deduce that this justice issue supports the consideration of relativity. What I mean is, a tariff that is affordable for one wealthy country may signal the halt of exports for another, and this should be considered in determining the numerical elements of trade agreements. After distributive justice is achieved, it must be maintained, otherwise justice issues arise in the post-agreement phase.  

The main concerns in this phase of WTO procedure are the  implementation of and compliance with agreements by member states. When a member state is non-compliant, the aggrieved party has the option of filing a complaint with the WTO's Dispute Settlement Board (DSB). DSB panelists are usually trade experts, economists and corporate lawyers who are either untrained or choose not to focus on the socioeconomic outcomes of the rulings they determine, NGOs , which typically represent social and environmental interests are not allowed access to DSB hearings to submit their proposals (534). It is imperative that economic, social and environmental concerns be incorporated into the ruling of disputes because these concerns are all intertwined. DSB decisions are legally binding, which means that the national laws of the respective parties must amend their laws in accordance with the rulings. In Deliberative Democracy and the WTO, Kapoor notes that this shifts the center of gravity of international trade rules from negative prescription to positive rule-making (528). What this means, is that the WTO essentially asserts itself at a higher position than the legislative bodies of the respective nation-state, and promises retaliation and charges of compensation in the case of non-compliance. The legal bind of the DSB rulings transform the WTO into a law-making body where the three-member DSB panel wields power, rather than a platform for trading nations where decisions are made by consensus.

After defining the measures of legitimacy and justice, and examining the procedures entailed in the WTO negotiations, I am convinced that the credibility of the WTO is in decline. All that is required to see that the WTO deviates from its democratic aspirations is objective analysis of the individual components that culminate in the trade agreements forged between member nations. The most glaring sources of de-legitimization are the undemocratic decision-making process, the inadequate deliberation of the DSB process, the structural inequities intrinsic to negotiation power, the deficient fulfillment of promises, and the hegemonic tendencies exemplified by the Quad. During the course of analysis of each of these delegitimizing concerns, this paper has suggested reforms which can remedy them with the goal of giving the WTO back its legitimacy.

Works Cited

Albin, Cecilia. "Using Negotiation to promote legitimacy; an assessment of proposals for reforming the WTO." International Affairs 84.4 (2008): 757-75. Print.

Restoring Legitimacy to the WTO - Part 6

As it were..

It would seem commonly sensible that the WTO would take it upon itself to educate its students {developing countries} with the lessons learned by the graduating class { developed countries} in order to legitimize the principles of liberal trade that it promotes. Rather than prescribing sweeping measures such as ' open up markets', it would be more worthwhile to educate {developing nations}in details such as efficient export processes and innovative enterprise management systems.

The differences described above are intended to be somewhat resolved with what the WTO calls technical assistance,. One of the conditions of the Uruguay Round of WTO negotiations was that developing countries would be offered increased technical assistance to make up for the differences between their technical capabilities and those of developed countries. While this sounded promising, the reality is that the budgeted amount is $7,000 per developed country. Just what this grossly insufficient amount can provide for is dependent on the respective state of course, but it can be agreed upon that this amount is not sufficient to close the technical gap between developed and developing countries. . Kapoor describes these technicalities as "structural inequalities that result in asymmetrical deliberative capacities: (530).They are structural, in that they are inherent features that are borne from the combination of social, economic and political facets of nations-states. Recently, the WTO decided to discontinue paper publication of a large portion of its information, in favor of publishing the information online. This is a commendable effort towards reducing the environmental impact of its operations, which nonetheless does not consider the accessibility of the internet.

Poor, developing countries have haphazard telecommunications infrastructure that makes consistent internet access difficult to attain Publication of important information on the internet means that those who have no access to it will be uninformed and thus become less effective in negotiation. All in all,nations have their unique educational systems and are economically developed to varying degrees, nonetheless if negotiation of trade agreements is to be fair these inequities must at least be considered. Ignoring them leads to an imbalance of negotiation power in procedure, and on the grand scale, to the infiltration of power politics into the WTO.

Those who do not recognize the inequities in WTO negotiation procedures, or simply do not believe that they need to be addressed might argue that the WTO is not commissioned with matters of justice, only those of trade negotiation. They might point out that the WTO is a platform for trade agreements and not primarily a judicial body purposed with settling moral or ethical injustices. Based on Thomas Franck's review of legitimacy in global institutions, Albin distinguishes between justice and legitimacy, saying that "justice is substantive fairness concerned with the distribution of benefits and burdens, and often with change" (759). As such, justice and legitimacy are two separate elements, albeit important ones, which must combine to create fairness. Franck intimates that the task of fairness is to integrate or balance both justice and legitimacy. Based on the global social, economic and environmental ramifications of outcomes, it is essential that an organization charged with facilitating international trade agreements be fair. Having established the meaning of legitimacy how it is built through procedural justice, we can examine justice in and of itself, so as to see how the pair are incorporated to create fairness.

TBC..

Works Cited

Albin, Cecilia. "Using Negotiation to promote legitimacy; an assessment of proposals for reforming the WTO." International Affairs 84.4 (2008): 757-75. Print.

Restoring Legitimacy to the WTO - Part 5

image courtesy of Anupam Chander 

Despite the repeated emphasis on equal representation and the WTO director-general's admission that reform is necessary, the Quad, a select group of four countries continue to command an ambiguous yet tangible authority over WTO affairs. For a long time, the Quad has consisted of The United States, the European Union, Japan and Canada. The Quad members often lead what are known as 'green room' caucus meetings, which regularly exclude developing countries.(Albin 761) There are no rules regulating the assembly of these meetings, which makes their outcome unfair, regardless of the parties affected. In addition, because these meetings are held almost surreptitiously, it is impossible to determine what effect they have on subsequent decisions. 

The combination of inadequate legitimating procedures and lack of qualitative deliberations makes it unlikely that WTO outcomes will be just in the middle of power politics, exclusion, bargaining, and uncritical knowledge. The consensus reached in this multilateral sphere is most likely to be coerced and one-sided- to the advantage of the western countries. Proponents for the Quad contest that other member states form alliances, however the latter are used to represent common socio-economic interests between geographically neighboring states, while the Quad is simply a coalition of the most economically developed member states, which for a  lack of transparency, lead us to believe that it is for the purpose of hegemony. The group should either state its primary purpose for formation and adhere to the highest standards of transparency, or be dissolved. 


In a lecture to the UN Audiovisual Library of International Law on 15 June 2008, Director-General Pascal Lamy stated that a decade ago, the Quad may have been a core group used for the purposed of testing new rules first, however, the major group today is the G-4, comprised of the US, EC, India and Brazil. Despite declaring the current membership of the major group, the director-general still does not shed light on what the designation means, rather he states that it is, "not possible to propose any new rule without testing the waters with countries like China , South Africa, and Indonesia, just to name a few" (Kapoor 530).

Fairness is of immense importance because of the diverse interests of nations-states and the various comparative advantages that they have in fields affected by the WTO such as technology, investment, and education .Developing countries, budgeted on extremely low appropriations often cannot afford to host as many representatives as other developed countries in Geneva or any other locations where WTO representatives may need to be permanently situated. This affects the representation of the respective nation-state at meetings and within the organization in general. The absence of any nation's representatives further reduces any chance that the interests of that nation are considered at the brainstorming or negotiation procedures.  Representatives from developing countries may also have less extensive education, yet have to collaborate with lawyers and other professionals from developing countries who have more extensive education. Professionals in developing countries, especially from the Quad also have the advantage of being trained and being familiar with the business lexicon and processes of meetings. While these differences may seem subtle, variances in education and a home court advantage can have a tremendous effect on the negotiation process and ultimately, the trade policies implemented by a state.

TBC.. 

Works Cited

Albin, Cecilia. "Using Negotiation to promote legitimacy; an assessment of proposals for reforming the WTO." International Affairs 84.4 (2008): 757-75. Print.

Restoring Legitimacy to the WTO - Part 2

- by of Steve Greenberg

WTO FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS ≥ FALSE ADVERTISING

Negotiation of trade agreements is a key purpose of the WTO but the appropriate implementation of the agreements also falls under its umbrella of responsibility. Trade agreements which pass the test for consensual decision-making have still drawn criticism for the way in which they have been carried out. Thompson states, "As the African continent has increased its exports, the industrialized countries importing these goods have maintained or increased their trade barriers. The World Bank estimates that if the North America, Europe and Japan eliminated all barriers to imports from sub-Saharan Africa, the continents exports would rise by 14%, an annual increase in revenue of $2.5 billion" (322). Sub-Saharan Africa is the poorest region in the world, being comprised of 50 countries with a collective GDP of $774 billion in 2008. The numerical figure sounds adequate at first,, but in perspective, it is only 28% of China's GDP and yet has to be divided among 50 nations, rather than one. If the WTO aims for trade liberalization, then it must work towards eliminating all trade barriers, especially if they can have such a profound effect on poor countries.


A key factor as to why industrialized countries have been able to increase trade barriers without drawing the attention of the WTO is the use of non-tariff trade barriers. NTBs such as anti-dumping policy, safeguards, and surveillance have been used for long by developed nations, but in recent years, developing nations have learned from the example set for them. According to Drope, two decades years ago, the most popular NTB, anti-dumping(AD), was used exclusively by only three developed nations, and fifteen years later was being used by about forty developing nations (402). South Africa and Mexico have made A.D policy a regular part of their trade policies to the detriment of the trade relationships they have with other nations. A.D policy was first developed as a protective measure against foreign firms who 'dumped' their product in a country's markets at costs lower than manufacturing costs or lower than the domestic price. Foreign firms use dumping to either establish themselves in a new market, or eliminate the domestic firms as competition. While GATT originally allowed the use of AD policy to buffer markets for these reasons, Drope has found that many nations continue to use the policy out of habit, and as a last resort of barring trade(402.


The decision by South Africa and Mexico to use AD policy as an NTB is detrimental because throughout history, nation-states have been shown to use the equivalent retaliation strategy of game theory. This means, that inter-state relationships are conducted similarly to a game, in which the main strategy is tit for tat. Nation-states react to other nation-states in similar manner, and so by using AD policy, developed nations provoked retaliation by developing nations, and the strategy became cyclical in the game of international relations. Unfortunately, developing nations have more to lose by over- protecting their markets from foreign competition. The WTO must address the use of NTBs in present day trade relations, by looking back at the GATT policies which were never revised after WTO formed in 1995. The policies which may have worked three decades ago when globalization had not yet entered its current cycle have vastly different ramifications today. Globalization undoubtedly adds to the interconnectedness of global markets, and policies which generate destructive cycles of negative retaliation must be eliminated.

TBC..

Restoring Legitimacy to the WTO - Part 1

-courtesy of Lalo Alcaraz

CORPORATE INTEREST → GATT → WTO → CORPORATE INTEREST

The WTO was formed in 1995 as the successor of the GATT and it its nineteen years of existence has built itself to be a global institution to be reckoned with. Nation-states developed and developing, big and small, all know the importance of belonging to the WTO, for the benefits of forming trade agreements that can help nations grow out of poverty, expand their economies, and better the standards of well being for their citizens. Trade agreements are supposedly forged in the WTO through a democratic, consensus decision-making process. On its website, the organization names among 4 qualities that a trading system should have, two of which I will address in this paper; the lack of discrimination, and more beneficial provisions for less developed countries. Despite the rapid growth in size of the organization, the WTO has been increasingly questioned in recent years on issues such the legitimacy of its affairs, the fairness of its central processes, and its overall credibility as affected by the former two factors.

One of the criticisms of the WTO is that it is a platform for hegemonic trade manipulation in favor of the large, developed, western nation-states and ignorant of the less developed ones. In proving this, my research will first establish the importance of reviewing this organization and the criticism it faces, and then define the meaning of legitimacy and fairness as they apply. Subsequently, this paper will stipulate the specific areas in which the WTO is lacking by reviewing recent and current developments as well as permanent characteristics of the organization..The thesis of this paper is that international trade agreements are skewed in favor of western nation-states and the WTO, the organization charged with multilateral, democratic negotiation falls short of accomplishing the purpose for which it was created. The ultimate goal is to propose reforms that can restore credibility to the organization in hopes of better reaching the goals for which it was created.

The self-stated purpose of the WTO is to liberalize trade, facilitate the negotiation of trade agreements, and help settle trade disputes between member countries. Based on this, a comparison can be made between the expected and realized outcomes of membership. Developing countries especially have much to gain from the WTO, and after gaining membership, have visibly attempted to implement the advice given them by the WTO. African countries for example, have heeded the advice of others to increase production of horticulture and to increase exports, but at the same time, as other developing countries have done the same, the result has been a backfire. Carol Thompson states that the simultaneous expansion of exports has led to increased quantities in the world economy and thus reduced prices for the products of developing countries, culminating in reduces revenues. This is an example of generalized advice that has been successful for developed nations and that is being given to developing nations without regard for the intricate variances respective to their economies.

A wealthier nation with a developed economy can handle a decrease in export revenues due to an influx of product on the global market, much more effectively than a poor, developing nation. The economy of a developed nation is already integrated with the global economy and has the flexibility to counter a loss of export revenues with foreign investments or the export of services, Kapoor points that that the TRIP (Trade Related aspects of Intellectual Property Rights) and TRIM (Trade Related Investment Measures) programs which are endorsed by the WTO for global investments, assume that developing countries are on the same playing field as western developed countries. It is common knowledge that western developed nations dominate the global finance and technology arena's, so there should be provisions that level the field for developing countries(535).Developing countries do not have diverse economies, so if significant efforts are directed toward manufacture and agriculture for export,, a loss of export revenue is a disastrous blow. These are the kinds of variances between WTO member nations that must be considered, before guidance is issued.

TBC..

Works Cited

Albin, Cecilia. "Using Negotiation to promote legitimacy; an assessment of proposals for reforming the WTO." International Affairs 84.4 (2008): 757-75. Print.

Drope, Jeffrey M. "The Political Econmy of Nontariff Barriers in Emerging Economies." Political Research Quarterly 60.3 (2007): 401-14. Print.

Kapoor, Ilan. "Deliberative Democracy and the WTO." Review of International Political Economy 11.3 (2004): 522-41. Print.

Rose, Andrew K. "Do we Really Know that the WTO Increases Trade?" The American Economic Review 94.1 (2004): 98-114. Print.

Satapathy, C. "Trade Sanctions and Other Barriers to Free Trade." Economic and Political Weekly 34.51 (1999): 3583-585. Print.

Thompson, Carol. "Decade of "Trade Not Aid"" Review of African Political Econonomy 30.96 (2003): 321-23. Print.

The Sociology Series: Part 1- Gender Inequality

The Payoff from Women's Rights

Based on the article by Isobel Coleman

Foreign Affairs, Vol. 83, No. 3 (May - Jun., 2004), pp. 80-95

Published by: Council on Foreign Relations

Isobel Coleman, a Senior Fellow at the Council of Foreign Relations attributes many aspects of society wealth to women and their role in society. Reducing gender disparity is correlated to fighting poverty, economic progress and a generally better quality of life. While these are grand results from simply reducing gender disparity, Coleman  focuses mostly on the democratizing effect of educating women . In the article, increasing girls' and women's education lowers birth rates & infant mortality rates provides for better birth outcomes (higher birth weights)  and leads to better child nutrition. These are just some of the health benefits, while economic ones include more family-focused investments of household income , higher per capita income and even better outcomes from microfinance loans. Female education increases their civil liberties and Coleman assumes, would lead to other democratic reforms such as giving women a political voice as well as more control over economic resources. The current status of society in nations that have implemented policies to reduce gender disparity versus those that have not, is compared to show the differences. Turkey and Tunisia fall into the former category, boasting higher literacy rates for women, and women in positions of national political power. Nigeria, Indonesia, and some nations in the Middle East are not close to achieving either of the two progresses and encounter high tension whenever  the advancement of women is brought into question. Coleman states that "women are critical to development, good governance, and stable civil life" (82).

 

A key strength of this article, is that Coleman provides a full-circle illustration of the possible  positive outcomes of reducing gender disparity. The most obvious issues that come to mind on the subject of women's civil liberties is their political voice. While it is important that they voice their political opinions, it makes more sense to first educate women, so that they can voice well-thought, academically diverse opinions which may have a greater impact on improving their lives and those of their families. I believe that education is the foundation for a better quality of life, because the material factors that improve our lives all begin as ideas. Education serves many purposes, the two most important being; first stimulating the mind so that it is perpetually in a state of creation, and then exposing it to spheres of  information and experience which combine to build a knowledge base. Politicians of non-democratic governments who are in the position to create policies which increase women's education may be more concerned with the ignorant idea of repressing women so as maintain their stereotypical position as housewives and inferiors to men. Simultaneously, they may be facing the issue of rocketing birth rates without the economic resources to attend to a rising population. The correlation between supporting better primary education for women, and reducing birth rates in poverty-stricken parts of society, is not instantaneously obvious for many political leaders. The correlation however, at a large scale in India and other developing countries. A thought that comes to mind, is that education that affects the life cycle (birth rates, infant mortality rates etc) does not necessarily mean education focused on these subjects. For example, a women can be educated on the benefits of having fewer children, and make the same educated decision as a woman who simply attended secondary school. What I mean is, even the opportunity to be more educated in any area can be inspiring to a young woman,  who might otherwise find herself restricted to the role of caretaking. The first woman, who learned about the danger of having more children than she can care for may decide not to have more than two children, because her economic and emotional resources cannot allow it. The second woman, who may not have had the same lesson, but who graduated from primary school, may choose to have only two children, because she would like to continue on to secondary school as soon as the children begin attending school. In both cases, education has reduced the birth of children into homes where they may not have received adequate care. It is important to recognize this, because there are developing countries where there is a presence of reproductive education  that is not complemented by an even higher level of general education.

The conflict paradigm of sociology can be used to analyze the issue of gender disparity, because it associates social inequities with systemic flaws, rather than accepting them as part of society. The conflict theory focuses on the inequality of power in a society, which allows some to rise into dominant positions, and others to be dominated. When applied to gender disparity, it is revealed that the gender gap disallows women from even having the opportunity to escape the realm of those who are dominated. Lack of education, lack of control over economic resources, and repression of the female political opinion leaves women unequipped to compete with men for dominating positions. While dominance can be viewed in both positive and negative lights, there is no doubt that having women in dominant political and economic positions has more documented positive benefits over stereotypical chauvinist-engineered disadvantages.

This article has reminded me about the wealth of possibilities that women in developing can surpass and taught me about the rarely mentioned fortes of women in aspects such as money management. According to the article, Lawrence Summers, a former chief economist at the World Bank once stated that educating girls may be the investment that yields the highest returns in the developing world. Considering that women comprise a larger population than men in the world and in most societies, I agree with Summers, that focusing on this part of the population could manifest in tremendous ways globally.

Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet - Part 2 of 3

RESOURCE NATIONALISM;
A NEW DIRECTION.. OR ANOTHER FORM OF PRIVATIZATION?

So it goes that..
Natural resources have historically propelled nations into hysteria over acquisition of rich lands and turned men into greedy gold-diggers. Given a state government's control over military forces, can a government, {whether democratically or otherwise elected} be trusted by its people to resist the temptation to use military force in pursuit of foreign energy? Resource nationalism entrusts many responsibilities to a nation’s governors, especially in an age when the growth and success of a nation is symbiotic with its production and consumption of energy. The decisions made by those entrusted to, could lead to either the protection of a nation’s resources as exemplified by Vladimir Putin, or the advancement of personal agenda, as is evident with Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez. To apply military power to forcefully obtain foreign energy and to endanger civilians is to misapply a nation’s resources and interests. There is worldwide stipulation that President Bush's main motive for seizing control of Baghdad was to either directly obtain energy resources or to break the political and economical systems down, only to play a controlling/highly influential part in the rebuilding of Iraq's national oil legislation. This stipulation is backed by documents in The National Energy Policy passed by the Bush administration in 2001, specifically calling for "a more assertive government role in helping American energy companies overcome barriers to investment in foreign oil and gas ventures"(24).

It would seem that the efforts of the government in national energy management would be directed towards finding alternatives to foreign energy sources in-state, rather than finding methods to ‘bargain’ for more foreign energy. Later, in his 2006 State of the Union address, as Klare notes, Bush acknowledged America's addiction to oil and called for accelerated efforts in finding energy alternatives, although government spending tells a different story. While former President Bush may have spoken these words, the country’s military presence in Baghdad spoke louder about the interests of the administration. Even worse, the administration rallied public support under the guise of protecting Americans and the rest of the world from a tyrant hoarding weapons of mass destruction. The invasion required a substantial deployment of troops from the U.S. and its allies, some of whom remain in the oil rich lands of the Middle East. The average American or British citizen may understand the need for oil and even be aware of its diminishing supply, but they may not have supported the invasion of Iraq had they known that their country was invading another and imposing its political system on its people, with the intent to unfairly rob it of its natural resources.

Perhaps they would have, we may never know, for a vote is not democratic if it is based on misinformation. The lesson in this case is that resource nationalism could simply be a misleading term to describe state robbery and misapplication of national power to obtain natural resources, and that those who govern must be held up to the revealing light in whenever the governance is questionable.

Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet brings to mind the natural resource curse described by Joseph Stiglitz in Making Globalization Work, as having afflicted nations such as Nigeria, Venezuela and Sudan. These nations, although rich in natural resources, are populated by a majority of poverty-stricken people. The profits from the country’s boundless resources are distributed among corrupt government officials or the brutally selfish insurgents who overthrow them, or are carted back out in personal foreign investments and to Swiss bank accounts. To the low and middle class citizen of any country that is wealthy in natural resources, the biggest cause of concern is whether those who manage the wealth of a shared land will also share the harvest.

Ironically, the same laws created to give a person the right to own property, maybe the same laws that allows a tycoon or supersized institution to acquire all the land on which natural resources sit. Nonetheless, one can be hopeful, that if the resource nationalism were in place, the state would be inclined to distribute the profits somewhat equitably, rather than relying on the unlikely philanthropy of the private hands that seize the resources for their sole interests.


More on Michael Klare

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Philanthrocapitalism and the Bottom Billion- Part 4

RECIPE FOR SAVING THE BOTTOM BILLION:

MIX 1 PART PHILANTHROCAPITALISM & 2 PARTS..

Finally, bake in an oven at global warming temperatures for two or three decades..

If there is one word that is associated with Africa and the plight of most of its nations, it is corruption. A fact that is not known to many however and that Collier reveals is that developed and powerful countries typically play a role in the continuation of this problem. It is disappointing to hear that China which more than any other developing/developed country is given credit for adequately preparing for globalization and grasping the opportunities provided, is part of this despicable practice. This booming country is responsible for bailing out many unworthy individuals and institutions in exchange for natural resources which it does not possess. Bishop & Green speak about the effectiveness of philanthropy against political and social factors such as corruption which lie within the receiving nations. At one point, the two authors speak about the redundancy of these countries receiving aid only to have it robbed back in less perceptible and publicized ways.

Countries which are exploiting the three development traps discussed by Collier should be held accountable to their actions and exposed for the robbers that they are. This brings to mind a statement by Bill Gates, whereby the billionaire philanthropist promises to increase the level of transparency within his foundation in order to increase the honesty of its business. The same level of transparency should be the objective of all policymakers in the global community, beginning the most influential leading as role models. It is possible that the corruption between governments is just as detrimental, if not more than that which is occurring within governments, because inter-governmental affairs involve high-stakes contracts which barter millions of people and billions of dollars.

Collier confirms the damage that the robbers are doing, when he says, “Don’t count on trade to save the bottom billion” (87). This is a surprising admonishment, given the history that trade has for converging nations and stimulating the global economy. Given the revelation of corruption in Collier’s book, perhaps trade will be useless to the bottom billion because instead of nations trading commodities, the bottom billion who have already been robbed of their social, political and entrepreneurial freedoms will be robbed again, as they are now, when their corrupt politicians are once more paid to keep the state of affairs away from the international eye. In regards to trade policy, he states, "It is stupid to provide aid with the objective of promoting development and then adopt trade policies that impede that objective"(160). This is a stark reminder that trade agreements are negotiations. Wealthier nations are more influential and thus can negotiate terms that are more favorable to them. This seems like it would be the situation in any to party negotiation, but global trade agreements have immense consequences and will never be useful if they are created to demean the efforts of developing nations.

Collier proposes two notable solutions to lifting the bottom billion out of their predicament; ‘breaking the natural resource barrier’, and ‘breaking the reform impasse’ (177). In reference to breaking the reform impasse, one suggestion would be to offer protection to those who are brave enough to confront the corrupt and unjust individuals and institutions that govern their nation. As outsiders, influential countries should impose serious sanctions to enforce the human right to a better life as well adjudicating the transgressors in the International Criminal courts. Concerned global citizens must hold their policymakers accountable to representing the honest intentions of the majority. Citizens of developed countries who are able to attain higher level educations and social welfare protections can speak up for the bottom billion, where philanthrocapitalism is yet to affect, and celanthropists are yet to call attention. The global issues discussed by the two books will require freeing the bottom billion from their traps, the tools of philanthrocapitalism and most importantly, the attention of the other five billion.

Hope you have enjoyed my review.

More on Mathew Bishop, Michael Green and Philanthrocapitalism

Paul Collier

Philanthrocapitalism and the Bottom Billion- Part 3

RECIPE FOR SAVING THE BOTTOM BILLION:

MIX 1 PART PHILANTHROCAPITALISM & 2 PARTS..

Collier goes on to state that “Ethnic minorities are just as likely to rebel with or without discrimination" and that two Stanford scientists who conducted research on 200 ethnic minorities also found that the same is the case of inter group hatreds (20). This statement rests on the assumption that the previous one which finds no relation between political repression and civil war, is true. In this train of thought, if civil war was not incited by political repression, then it was not necessarily affected by discrimination either. There is a connection between civil war and discrimination which is missed however, because of the disassociation between political repression and discrimination. Typically and most recently, ethnic discrimination is viewed as a social issue, despite the fact that it was historically a politically based as well. The political component of society- the government- is then involved in either promoting or denouncing discrimination; the former choice is effectively a form of political repression. Civil war or regional conflict is inevitable after prolonged ethnic discrimination and political repression.

In the discussion of rebel recruitment, Collier names professor Weinstein of Stanford University whose findings indicate that rebel leaders find themselves in a position where they must choose between two types of recruits. There are those who are driven by a mission to actually bring out (perceived) social justice versus psychopaths on a path of destruction. According to Collier, an alarming 3% of the general population in any society are estimated to have psychopathic tendencies. Presumably, a large portion of the 3% is lining up to be recruited in the bottom billion countries during the seemingly never-ending cycles of civil war. These facts lead one to infer that the conflict trap creates its own web of institutional entrapment. For example, the psychopathic 3% of the population hoping to be recruited could otherwise seek medical care, rather than suffer the deterioration of their disease; but the conflict-bound region in which they live does not allow for hospitals to qualitatively serve the community. The portion of the remaining 97% that is in line is easily attracted by rebel theories likely due to the lack of employment and other positive social reinforcements in the community which stem from the inability to attract business owners and developers to a conflicted region.

After analyzing the conflict trap, the natural resource trap, the land lock trap and the governance trap, Collier asserts that the bottom billion have missed the boat of opportunity that was brought by the current wave of globalization. Unfortunately, he also surmises that the bottom billion will have to wait until the next wave in order to ride it and reap the benefits. Collier estimates that this wave will hit the shores of the bottom billion when the gap between Asia and the bottom billion is wide enough to attract business to the latter. Though no one can guess just how long this will take, instead of waiting for this next wave, the book might explore whether it is possible to induce the next wave faster so that the bottom billion may begin to catch up. The process could begin with the extensive review of the unsuccessful tools used previously in philanthropy combined with heightened awareness of the bottom billion, hopefully leading to a focused and united transition to philanthrocapitalism. The two books connect in this way; Collier identifies the bottom billion and why are they are who they are, and Bishop & Green discuss the people and methods capable of making a huge impact on uplifting the billion.

More on Mathew Bishop, Michael Green and Philanthrocapitalism
Paul Collier

TBC...