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The armed forces may no longer rule nations throughout Latin America, but they continue to influence democratic governments across the region. In nine original, thought-provoking essays, this book offers fresh theoretical insights into the dilemmas facing Latin American politicians as they struggle to gain full control over their military institutions. Latin America has changed in profound ways since the end of the Cold War, the re-emergence of democracy, and the ascendancy of free-market economies and trade blocs. The contributors to this volume recognize the necessity of finding intellectual approaches that speak to these transformations. They utilize a wide range of contemporary models to...
On 1 July 2000 regulations to liberalize trade flows between Mexico and the European Union came into force, after more than six years of diplomatic work and complex negotiations. These regulations are part of the "Tratado de Libre Comercio (TLCUEM), which is also one of the components of the Agreement on Economic Association, Political Concertation and Cooperation ("Global Agreement"). The Global Agreement through its three components - political dialogue, trade liberalization and cooperation- was at the time the most ambitious agreement ever constituted by the EU. The economic association component included in the Global Agreement - the TLCUEM- was the first overseas free trade treaty and served as an important precedent for later EU negotiations with other Latin American countries. The purpose of this essay is to analyze the reasons that led Mexico and the EU to the constitution of this treaty; to describe the main challenges of the Global Agreement negotiations of different components; and to briefly review the results of the first three years since the TLCUEM enforcement.
Economic and political integration have been a perennial and neuralgic issue in the Caribbean agenda. This paper draws on the literature on trade, growth and regional agreements to discuss the motivation behind the Caribbean drive for integration, the results obtained so far and what is in stock for the future. It argues, with the help of descriptive statistics, an empirical growth model and a gravity model, that the traditional, trade related gains from regional integration have been and are bound to be limited because of (i) the countries' high openness; (ii) the limited size of the common, enlarged market; and (iii) the countries' relatively similar factor endowments. It also argues, though, that gains in the area of non-tradables, due to economies of scale which cannot be mitigated by trade and openness, can be substantial.
In the post-Cold War era, why has democratization been slow to arrive in the Arab world? This book argues that to understand support for the authoritarian status quo in parts of this region--and the willingness of its citizens to compromise on core democratic principles--one must factor in how a strong U.S. presence and popular anti-Americanism weakens democratic voices. Examining such countries as Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, Palestine, and Saudi Arabia, Amaney Jamal explores how Arab citizens decide whether to back existing regimes, regime transitions, and democratization projects, and how the global position of Arab states shapes people's attitudes toward their governments. While the Cold War...
Historically countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia have faced a number of obstacles in their transition to democracy and market-based economies. These obstacles include higher levels of corruption, and greater administrative and regulatory burdens as they pass laws and implement programs to combat corruption and promote private sector development. This report uses the results of the most recent Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS) to examine trends in corruption and administrative burden of regulations on private sector firms in 29 Eastern European and Central Asian countries. The results show overall positive trends in the Eastern Europe and Central Asian re...