The Alpha Barrier was officially featured at a Roundtable discussion facilitated by the National Defense University, Washington D.C. on April 7, 2010. On that occasion, strategic planners, policy personnel and decision makers representative of the highest levels of government discussed and offered perspectives on the arguments put forward in the book. Within 2 days of the Roundtable, two strategically timed and calibrated visits were launched to countries that were identified in the publication as key geo-strategic players that should be of immediate concern to the United States, 1. The visit of Defence Secretary Robert Gates in April. The visit of Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton in June The successive itineraries were specifically intended to bolster and consolidate accords in the area of defense cooperation, to reaffirm the commitment of the Obama administration to the promotion of cooperation and partnership and to render tangible support for the Caribbean Basin Security Initiative in the form of a $73 million Congressional budgetary allocation. The latter would fuel a collective regional offensive against the trafficking of drugs and firearms and effectively stymie the cross-border flows of illicit proceeds derived from the drug trade. These high-profiled visits have lent salience and relevancy to the arguments advanced in The Alpha Barrier...that there is a political imperative for the Obama administration to reinvigorate relationships between the United States and specific players in the south and thereby redress the legacy of diffused interest that typified the post 9/11 era. This compels the application of a new brand of statecraft that is compatible with a drastically altered strategic environment. Key components of this statecraft must necessarily be multilateralism and consensual decision making. The selective delivery of aid packages is merely a first step. The Alpha Barrier is an insightful book that touches on the above topics in detail, and offers clear-minded discussion on these very important issues.

The conventional wisdom that political and economic actors in colonial countries are passive and reactive is undermined by Goldberg's close examination of the decisions and calculations of leading political and economic actors. Goldberg shows how critical decisions affecting Egypt's integration into the world economy were based on clear understandings of what policies were most likely to advance the interests of leading interest groups, with results that continue to bedevil Egypt's political economy today. Drawing on core concepts in political economy, Goldberg focuses on how Egyptian cotton growers decided to invest in the development of product reputation, developed institutions to protect that reputation, and engaged in coalition politics to protect their interests. The result was a heavy reliance on child labour and thus the failure to provide education and skills necessary for economic development, undermining subsequent attempts to industrialize Egypt and move it away from the production of primary goods. This is a tale of paradoxes and unintended consequences of rational action.

Following substantial policy reforms in many countries, the past decade has been characterized by a remarkable increase of long-term private capital flows to the developing world. However, the bulk of these investments has concentrated on a few economies at the intermediate level of the international income distribution, while the large number of low-income countries has been mostly neglected by international investors. Starting from these observations, International Investment, Political Risk, and Growth analyzes the potential growth effects of liberalizing investment regimes in developing economies and offers an explanation for the apparent bias of private capital flows towards middle-income countries. It demonstrates that the removal of investment barriers may liberate an economy from a vicious circle of poverty, unproductive saving, and low growth, and presents a novel approach to analyzing the role of political risk as a major impediment to greater private capital inflows. Offering a combination of theoretical models and empirical analysis, and discussing both the historical evidence and the recent literature, this book contributes to a better understanding of the determinants and consequences of international investment in developing countries.

There are no miracles in Latin America, says international consultant Louis Nevaer--only opportunities--and with economic integration well underway, these opportunities are more promising than ever for U.S. businesses. Trade barriers fell at the Summit of the Americas, and even the Mexican meltdown failed to dim the Latin American promise. How U.S. businesses can participate in these processes of democratization and liberalization in Latin America is the subject of Dr. Nevaer's wide-ranging discussion. With attention not only to economic and trade considerations, but also to social, political, and cultural events and characteristics of the Latin American business scene, Dr. Nevaer provides readers with unusually rich up-to-date insights into how business is done there and how U.S. businesspeople can do it. This is important reading for corporate management at all levels, economists, international bankers and investors, and for their colleagues in the academic community who share their interests.

Dr. Nevaer starts with a general discussion of American business and business people in Latin America, and then puts the Latin American business scene in historical perspective. He looks the same way at the Mexican meltdown, focusing not only on Mexico's recovery, but on the residual social and economic problems as well. He then discusses strategies for turbulent markets throughout Latin America, Central America, and the Caribbean Basin Nations, with fascinating insights into the things that U.S. businesspeople can--and cannot--expect in their day-to-day interactions with their Latin American counterparts. Of special interest are the fourteen appendices. Together they provide a detailed list of sources for business information--an easily accessed guide that executives with special needs and concerns will find essential, and which will also be of help to scholars and academic researchers.

This book examines the relationship between globalisation and regionalism through a detailed analysis of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) project. It analyses how the interaction between globalisation and domestic politics shaped the evolution of AFTA over the past 10 years, arguing that although AFTA was triggered primarily by the pressures of globalisation, it was a tussle between the imperatives of growth and domestic distribution that shaped the way economic cooperation unfolded and the forms it took.

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Depression and Protectionism considers the case of the oldest advocate of free trade and its greatest exponent, Britain, and examines the developments that led to the reversal of that policy in the 1930s. It also discusses the consequences of the protectionst policy for the domestic economy. * Discusses the most important debate in international economics * Using an explicit economic framework, the book examines the economic origins of the industrial tariff in Britain.

Covering the period 1550-1939, this book examines the history and development of theories of international pricing and trade. The work of the following economists is covered: Locke; Barbon; Vaderlint; Harris; Hume; Smith; Ricardo; Malthus; Bosanquet; Mill; Torrens; Marshall; Haberler; Austin; Stirling; Chevalier; Carines; Jevons; Leslie; Goschen; Bagehot; Wicksell; Sidgwick; Pigou; Viner; Heckscher; Ohlin; Keynes; Taussig; and Pareto.

Asia constitutes a large portion of the world's population and this new book provides a good selection of contributions that cover trade, equity and development in the continent. With contributions from such leading experts as Clem Tisdell, T.N. Srinivasan and Gustav Ranis, the book's chapters cover countries from Pakistan and India to Korea and Indonesia. This book should be required reading for those interested in the economic growth and development of Asian countries.

China, with the world's largest population, is set to become the second largest market in the world by 2010. The importance of understanding the environment for foreign direct investment (FDI) in China has never been more apparent.
With this as a context, this book examines FDI in China with the emphasis on the 'where to locate' question. Japanese direct investment is used as a case study elucidating the key locational determinants and characteristics thereof. This is the first book focusing on the 'where to locate' question with respect to the China market. All companies with a China strategy and all university business departments will find this book of vital importance.

In today's global economy, NAFTA continues to present unprecedented opportunities for companies in cross-border commerce. 'Uniting North American Business: NAFTA Best Practices' focuses on best business practices and lessons learned in the years since the NAFTA agreement was first signed, and their impact on both the economy and society. 'Uniting North American Business' provides you with the skills and competencies necessary to become more effective business managers and citizens in NAFTA countries by considering: * What is the scope of the NAFTA agreement itself?* What are some of the positive benefits of NAFTA?* What is really causing job loss attributed to NAFTA?* What should we know about Canada, the United States, and Mexico to better understand the culture and management philosophies of our partners?* What will society look like if current trends continue?

This volume brings together some of the most influential scholars in development economics to explore how to improve the well-being of the poor, how to design effective structures and institutions for poverty reduction, and what the role of economic, political and social dimensions are (and should be) in global development. Issues addressed include globalization; both its governance and a historical perspective; inequality, of income, and the potential for conflict; trade and labor practices in a transitional and developing world; and the natures and characteristics of institutions and markets.

Globalization and increasing international trade are becoming a fact of life, bringing increasing tensions and conflicts over their impacts on societies, livelihoods and the environment. The impacts are felt in industrialized countries but are often most harsh in developing economies. The growing debate involves not only professional economists and lawyers, but a broad range of academic disciplines as well as civil society and citizens' groups around the world. This text presents the most important contributions to the debate, and to the understanding of how sustainable international trade could be achieved. It should provide a useful sourcebook and guide to academics, practitioners and activists involved with these issues.

Despite the Doha declaration of November 2001, the failure to start a new round of global trade negotiations at Seattle in December 1999 and the hostility of protesters to the trade liberalization process and growing global economic and social disparities was a wake-up call for the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The ambitious goal of this ground-breaking book is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of liberalized world trade, in particular in the agricultural sector, and to investigate to what extent the current WTO agreements provide the necessary fail-safe devices to react to trade-related negative impacts on sustainability, environmental protection and food security. The background and interrelationship between the WTO, the tenets of sustainable development and the unique features of the agriculture and forestry sectors are explored, and conclusions regarding the deficits of the world trade system and its conflicts with basic societal goals - such as sustainability - are drawn. Agriculture and forestry have a particular affinity with what the authors call "strong sustainability" and are to be among the major agenda items in forthcoming WTO negotiations. The book proposes that sustainable agricultural production techniques such as integrated and organic farming provide a series of related services to community and environment which could be severely prejudiced by wholesale trade liberalization and the imposition of the large-scale production methods of the mega-trade giants of the USA and Europe. And yet the concept of sustainability is referred to only tangentially in the existing WTO agenda. The WTO, Agriculture and Sustainable Development argues that, without a formal recognition of this failing, the premise that free trade is inherently advantageous for all countries is a falsehood. Further, unfettered liberalization is unsustainable and a social and environmental multilateral framework must be agreed to reinterpret or adapt a host of WTO regulations that are at odds with sustainable development. The core problem is that, under the current system, import duties can only be differentiated by direct goods and services and not by their means of production - sustainable or otherwise. Therefore, a range of environmental policy measures in the agricultural sector, such as the consideration of product life-cycles, the internalization of external costs and a coupling of trade liberalization with ecological obligations are proposed by the authors. In addition, they argue that unsustainable economic short-termism must be curbed and the use of the stick of trade sanctions and the carrot of financial benefits for good environmental performance be permitted to promote sustainable agricultural practices. This book will contribute greatly in addressing the lack of basic theoretical arguments at the intersection between trade and sustainable development - a failing that has already been bemoaned by trade policy-makers. It is highly recommended reading for all those involved or interested in the WTO negotiations, whether from multilateral organizations, governments, industry or civil society.

Designed as a primer for policymakers and students, this volume focuses on two critical problems the United States faces as we move into the 1990s: the unprecedented size of U.S. trade deficits and the nation's declining international competitiveness. The author uses contemporary data to identify and explain the linkages among trade deficits, budget deficits, international competitiveness, the future of manufacturing in the United States, the U.S. debtor position, foreign direct investment, and other related economic and political problems. Particular attention is given to the critical role of the manufacturing sector in determining the nation's international competitiveness and to the effects on the manufacturing sector of tax and fiscal policies that alter international capital flows. The author's central unifying theme is that U.S. trade deficits and the nation's international competitiveness are related but different problems requiring separate policy consideration and sometimes different policy prescriptions. In fact, the author demonstrates, some policies that could improve U.S. trade balances would actually reduce our international competitiveness.

Divided into four parts, the book begins by defining international competitiveness, separating it from the trade deficit problems, and identifying its major determinants. Part II deals with the decline of U.S. trade performance in the 1980s and traces the growth of the deficit, its causes, the effect of remedial policy actions, and the implications for U.S. manufacturing. The resulting escalation in U.S. international debt is also discussed and analyzed. In the third section, the author examines the difficult adjustments that both the United States and its major trading partners must make to narrow unsustainable U.S. deficits and the complementary surpluses of some trading partners. The final section explores the key policy alternatives for dealing with the trade and competitiveness issues in the 1990s and provides a broad agenda of actions to deal with both problems. A separate chapter describes flaws in the organization of the U.S. government which hinder the conduct of U.S. policy and U.S. international economic leadership. Written in nontechnical language, "Beyond Blue Economic HorizonS" is both an invaluable assessment of U.S. trade and competitive prospects for students of international finance and a call to action for policymakers charged with developing sound economic and trade policies for the 1990s.

Series Information:
Harwood Fundamentals of Pure & Applied Economics

The WTO has laid the foundations for a new era of trade relations, and increased trade liberalization has improved global efficiency in production and consumption. The strengthening of trade rules, however, has increased the scope for disputes over interpretations of more extensive and complicated agreements, and has spilt over into environmental and scientific matters. One of the unforeseen consequences of the WTO agreements has been controversy over risk. This volume explores aspects of risk with special reference to the WTO, where national instruments to reduce risk may conflict with international trade rules. The book is divided into sections dealing with: * accounting for risk in trade agreements * risk and the WTO * managing risk in policy making * negotiating experience with risk * national risks and quarantine standards * managing biotechnology. The chapters offer many perspectives on risk assessment and benefit from a rich diversity of approaches as befits contributions from authors with backgrounds in law, economics, political science and environmental and natural science as well as policy making. Globalization and the Environment is a fascinating book that will draw its readership from these fields.

Series Information:
Harwood Fundamentals of Pure & Applied Economics

This book provides a careful account of the leading propositions about the welfare gains associated with international trade and investment under differing institutional arrangements and policy choices.

Trade, Environment and Sustainable Development explores the linkages between the objectives of liberalised international trade, protection of the environment and sustainable development. It is an anthology of essays by leading experts, key government officials and political leaders from the South Asian region, supported by officials of the OECD, UNCTAD and non-governmental organisations. Trade, Environment and Sustainable Development outlines the concerns of the developing nations of the South Asian region about the impacts on their trade and development from the environmental policies of the North. A range of country case and sector studies are presented, along with analysis of key regional issues.

The intersection of risk and trade has resulted in protracted and acrimonious trade conflict that questions the right of sovereign states to address the threat of harm. When regions such as Canada, the US and the EU have disagreed over the legitimacy of risk perceptions, they have placed science at the centre of international trade conflict. In these moments, scholarly attention has focused on the WTO's Dispute Settlement System. However, formal trade disputes occur as a last resort after states have exhausted other avenues for trade conflict resolution. By looking across cases disputed and informally resolved, David Hornsby offers to deepen understanding of how interests, institutions and ideas involved in risk based trade conflict interact and explain transatlantic differences. Through giving explicit attention to the role of science in these moments, a new variable for understanding trade conflict over risk based issues is considered.

Modern biotechnology - the controversial manipulation of genes in living organisms - has far-reaching implications for agriculture, human health, trade and the environment. Against the odds, an international treaty governing biosafety and trade in biotechnology was adopted in 2000. The Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety of the Convention on Biological Diversity deals with one of the most important and challenging issues thrown up by developments in biotechnology. This volume is a comprehensive review of the protocol and the process that led to its adoption. It includes contributions from many of the key players involved and analyses the commercial and political interests at stake, the operations and implications of the protocol, and prospects for the future.

Presenting new material and a fresh perspective, Technology, Trade and Growth in OECD Countries, provides a unifying framework for the exploration of the role played by specialisation in economic growth and international competitiveness.

This book provides institutional information and uses analytical tools to explains why governments should intervene in economies affected by globalization. With analysis of current country experiences and issues, this book is an essential read for all interested in the demands on economic policy in globalized age.

Learn the ins and outs of the export-import business!Export-Import Theory, Practices, and Procedures is a comprehensive and in-depth analysis of international trade theories and techniques. International trade professionals, researchers, students, and members of chambers of commerce will benefit from concepts and theories that explain international trade operations and give clearly defined goals and procedures for your business. This excellent text offers chapter summaries, references, World Wide Web addresses, and features learning aids such as figures, tables, vignettes, and other illustrations to help you compete in the global marketplace and better educate students in the field.With this informative text, you will explore trade agreements such as the GATT/WTO, NAFTA, and the European Economic Community (EEC), and how they affect trade. For example, you will read about the investment and intellectual property policies, as well as rules on government procurements, safeguards, and services of NAFTA. Export-Import Theory, Practices, and Procedures examines export-import marketing and strategy concepts from setting up businesses to solving typical international logistics and transportation questions. Other areas you will examine include: documentation, risks, and different forms of insurance price setting in international trade export sales contracts documenting export-import trade the risks of foreign trade exchange rates and international trade methods of payment for exporting and importing goods the benefits and theories of countertrade the entry process for imports import relief to domestic industryExport-Import Theory, Practices, and Procedures covers everything you need to know to start and run an export-import business. With over 100 tables and figures and a plethora of Web sites and Internet addresses to visit, this excellent text assists you in understanding the theories, practices, and procedures of exporting and importing to help you make informed and profitable business decisions.