The Political Economy of Israeli-Palestinian Interdependence

The Israeli and Palestinian economies are asymmetrically interdependent. Some scholars argue that the Palestinian economy cannot be viable alone. Others believe that economic links with Israel will promote peace. Supporters of separation argue that these links distort Palestinian development. I show that the current interdependence is associated with a cyclical Israeli-Palestinian violence and Palestinian economic decline. Assuming that an independent Palestinian state forms in most of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, I argue that Israeli-Palestinian relations require economic separation to be stable. Economic separation will deteriorate Palestinian welfare in the short run. Policies to make it viable are considered.     

Argyle Diamonds: The Political Economy of a Lost Resource

The discovery of the Argyle diamond field in the north of Western Australia during the late-1970s heralded a new phase in Australia's mining history. Initial forecasts rated Argyle's potential output as internationally significant. Even before full-scale mining commenced it was clear that production from Argyle would pose a serious challenge to the South African-based diamond marketing cartel - De Beers. De Beers, through its strategic holdings in a range of foreign and Australian mining companies, worked to bring Argyle production under its control. Despite its strong criticism of the manner in which the Fraser government dealt with the development of Argyle, when in government, Labor too seemed unwilling to exercise regulatory controls. Eager to encourage foreign investment the Federal and State Governments permitted South African mining interests to arrange the terms and conditions for the mining and marketing of Argyle diamonds free from significant public scrutiny.     

Of Coconuts and Kings: The Political Economy of an Export Crop

The Philippines is the world's leading coconut exporter. The benefits of this trade for Filipino producers have been circumscribed by declining terms of trade in the world market and by highly unequal distribution of coconut-sector income at home. A case study of the Philippine coconut trade illustrates the crucial importance of linkages between wealth and power in determining the size and distribution of income in export agriculture. ‘The time has come,’ the Walrus said, ‘To talk of many things: of shoes — and ships — and sealing wax — Of cabbages — and — kings — And why the sea is boiling hot — And whether pigs have wings.’ Carroll (1922: 186)     

The Political Economy of Comparative Environmental Policy

Brendan F.D., Barrett and Rikti Therivel Environmental Policy and Impact Assessment in Japan .
Alemneh Dejene, Environment, Famine, and Politics in Ethiopia: A View from the Village .
David Goodman and Michael Redclift, eds., Environment and Development in Latin Ameruca: The Politics of Sustainbiliity .
Roberto P. Pryde, The Ecopolitics of Development in the Third World: Politics and Environment in Brazil .
Philip R. Pryde, Environmental Management in the Soviet Union .
Lester Ross, Environmental Policy in China .     

The Political Economy of Electrical Power Generation

This article examines the procurement practices of Canada s three largest electric power utilities, Ontario Hydro, Hydro Quebec, and B.C. Hydro in terms of their impact on the technological development of the electrical power equipment industry in Canada. The theoretical underpinnings of this analysis are that under certain economic, technical and institutional conditions, procurement as managed by large publicly owned corporations with a high level of technical capacity can be a powerful instrument of industrial innovation. The paper describes how in the face of weakening market power following the twenty-year expansion phase in the industry (1960–80) and global restructuring among electrical power equipment suppliers, the three utilities have been forced to reassess conflicting commercial and technological objectives. The authors point to Hydro Quebec's signing of a recent series of strategic production agreements with key suppliers as an example of a new approach lo procurement through concentrated use of limited market power in critical product areas. The paper concludes that the distribution of risks involved in technology development between buyers and sellers is dependent on market structures. Secondly, the nature of these client-supplier interactions in management of risk will reflect the internal coherence of an organization's commercial and technological strategies.     

The Meaning of Local in a Global Economy: The 'Region's Advocacy of Local Interests' as a Necessary Component of Current Global/Local Theories

Today's corporate strategy is resulting in the creation of a network enterprise. As geographic space is integrated in this strategy, it is not only the network enterprise that functions in a polycentric way, but also space. Therefore, a networked territory exists as another reality alongside the existing socio-political entities. In a global/local perspective, recent models of local economic development emphasize the role of the 'local' in local economic development. These theories stress the importance of socio-cultural environment, institutions and networking in local economic development. Without denying the importance of these characteristics, it is clear that even perfect 'local' conditions are not infallible localization forces. Just as globalization is not a kind of mystical force, neither are the forces of localization. To understand why there are winners and losers, localization forces must be regarded from the point of view of existing or absent common local interests and the local capacity to organize them. They are not mystical but they have very much to do with relationships of power not only within, but - resulting from the emergence of a networked territory - also outside the region. From this perspective the existence and the safeguarding of common local interests are not apparent. Local advocacy is therefore a necessity from the region's point of view.     

The Political Economy of Inappropriate Technology: Industrialization in Sub-Saharan Africa

The failure of public sector investment projects in Sub-Saharan Africa can often be described in large measure as a technological one, where technology is defined not just in the narrow sense of alternative factor proportions, but in the wider terms of scale and import intensity as well. In confining itself mainly to the economic dimensions of the problem, the existing literature fails to consider the reasons for the extraordinarily rapid and widespread expansion of the public sector in Sub-Saharan Africa and it hence ignores the possibility that this expansion might itself be related to the observed patterns of technological behaviour in the sector. Such a possibility, I suggest, resides in the political and institutional compulsions that drive industrial firms in the public sector to increase the size of their operations.     

Morality Policy and Individual-Level Political Behavior; The Case of Legislative Voting on Lesbian and Gay Issues

Researchers using the morality politics framework have focused on aggregate-level analysis, largely ignoring the behavior of individuals wlthin political institutions. My research fills this gap by examining legislative voting behavior on lesbian and gay issues in the U. S. House ofRepresentatives. The theory of morality politics is used to extract a number of hypotheses concerning legislative voting behavior. The morality politics framework suggests that legislative voting on lesbian and gay issues will be driven by partisanship, ideology, religious beliefs, constituency opinion, and perhaps interest groups. The results of multiple regression analysis demonstrate that while the morality politics model does a good Job of explaining legislative voting behavior, some revisions may be in order. Based on my findings I argue that actually there may be two forms of morality politics, euch ofwhich is dependent on how the issue is framed. The dominant issue frame, moreover, may impact the ability of opposing interest groups to influence decisionmakers in thepolicy process.     

The Political Economy of State Subsidies in Europe

In this article, I examine the reasons behind public aid to industry in 12 European countries during the period 199–93. 1 build a model based on societal demands for producer subsidies and the wiliingness and constraints of national governments to provide them. The main contribution of this study is the attention to the institutional context within which demand for and supply of public policy takes place. Institutions not only help shape actor preferences to extract "rents" but also fundamentally condition the level and distribution of subsidies.