CIAO DATE: 12/01

Journal of International Relations and Development

 

Vol. 4, No 3 (September 2001)

 

Articles

• "Humane and Market-oriented": An Explication of the Western, Humane, Market-oriented Concept of International Exploitation in the International Co-operation between the Rich and the Poor
  by Timo Kivimäki

The article discusses the market-oriented logic and the concept of distributive justice and tries to to relate them with theories of exploitation. The author develops a humane, market-oriented concept implicitly expressed in the discourse of moderate liberal economic exchange. The conclusions this deductive study has attempted to bring forward are important. One is that distributional issues still have relevance in Western debate on North-South relations. Further, to sustain the fair distribution of benefits in North-South co-operation does not mean that the realities of market forces are ignored; yet the principle of equal opportunities must be brought to the core of North-South co-operation if the Western, market-oriented ethics of international relations is to become just and humane.

• Locating the "Minority Problem" in Europe: A Historical Perspective
  by Petra Roter
  

The article challenges popular beliefs that seem to be prevailing especially in the wake of the Yugoslav crises, that minorities are problematic in the East, whereas there is no such "problem" in the West. In order to show that such beliefs appear to be out of touch with reality, the article traces, with the help of historical analysis, the origins of the "minority problem" in Europe. It shows that the "minority problem" was first a conflict between different religious communities, whereas it is centred on ethnic identity groups in the era of nationalism. The nation-states of Europe have indeed been brought about in different circumstances, roughly corresponding to the geographical division between the West and the East. Accordingly, minorities were created differently in the states that were formed according to the Western or Eastern models of nation-building and state-formation.

• "Learning by Interacting" and Catching up in Central and Eastern European Countries: Evidence from Outward Processing Traffic
  by Julie Pellegrin

The article looks at Outward Processing Traffic (OPT) between the European Union (EU) and Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs) to provide evidence on whether and how international trade and production contribute to raising CEECs' competitiveness. Adopting a "learning and innovation approach", it finds that OPT has been characterised by its unanticipated enduring persistence with important implications for the terms on which East-West interdependence is expanding. Developing mainly at the instigation of large German companies in the context of rationalisation strategies at the regional scale, OPT has become in some circumstances an instrument of "learning by interacting", helping local firms to upgrade their capabilities and boost their competitiveness. However, the "learning mechanisms" that the arrangement triggers are developing unevenly throughout sectors and countries, with the resulting further entrenchment of development potential in the region.

• The Globalisation Debate: Dead-ends and Tensions to Explore (Review Essay)
  by Anna Leander
  

The books under review stress the tension between a political system founded on territorially based states and increasingly diffused and deterritorialised political authority, created by "globalisation". In so doing, the books also move beyond the economism and Manicheanism that has beleaguered the discussions on globalisation. Taken together, the books indicate the real import of globalisation debates for thinking about present day international politics.

Book Reviews

• The Foreign Policies of EuropeanUnion Member States By Radek Khol
  by Ian Manners and Richard G. Whitman (eds)

• Europe and the Breakup of Yugoslavia: A Political Failure in Search of a Scholarly Explanation By Mark Peggs
  by Sonia Lucarelli