The nobility of English Gascony: the case of Jourdain de l'Isle

Among the greatest obstacles to effective English authority in Gascony was a criminal element within the nobility. Lawless, acquisitive, and defiant of all authority, such individuals were especially troublesome for Edward II whose control over Gascony would have been tenuous in any event. Among the most notorious in this period was Jourdain de l'Isle, younger son of a powerful Gascon nobleman. Holding extensive territories through both inheritance and marriage, Jourdain was a violent and aggressive man who attacked indiscriminately merchants, clergy, and even his fellow noblemen. Ignoring the efforts of the ducal government to control him, Jourdain appealed to the Capetian Parlement of Paris; but the French like the English had little use for him. His only supporter was his kinsman, Pope John XXII, who sought to assist Jourdain against both ducal and Capetian authorities, after the Gascon's crimes had brought him the enmity of both. While the pope's efforts had no result, neither the English nor the French succeeded in punishing Jourdain until in 1323 he defiantly came to Paris, where he was tried and executed for his sundry crimes. Jourdain's sorry career illustrates the problems that such men created for English rule in Gascony and makes clear that in at least this situation Plantagenet and Capetian authorities were in total agreement.     

WHAT ATTRACTS FOREIGN MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS? EVIDENCE FROM BRANCH PLANT LOCATION IN THE UNITED STATES

ABSTRACT. The location decisions of foreign multinational corporations (FMNCs) are analyzed using a conditional logit model with states as the choice set. We consider the establishment of new manufacturing plants and separately analyze the site selection of all MNCs, Japanese MNCs, and European MNCs. The results indicate that access to markets, labor market conditions, state promotional efforts to attract foreign investment, and state and local personal taxes are significant fadors in the location decision. The decision determinants for Japanese and European MNCs are found to be different.     

The Response of International Organizations to the Environmental Challenge: The Case of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)

This article examines the effectiveness of UNIDO in addressing the challenges of environmental degradation and in helping developing countries promote sustainable development paths. The analysis suggests that the slow process of integrating environmental concerns in UNIDO's activities was affected both by internal organizational factors, such as the shared professional values in UNIDO's institutional culture and its organizational flexibility and responsiveness, and by factors relating to the external context, including financial constraints and interagency conflicts. In contrast to studies of successful persuasion of ‘epistemic communities’ in international negotiations, this article looks at the factors which have impeded the process of persuasion. At the theoretical level, it seeks to analyse the difficulties of changing the policy agenda in a specific international organization.