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| 1 |
ID:
119080
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2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
This article analyses the results of the most recent and largest cross-national survey on the international relations discipline. Completed by scholars in 20 countries, the survey covered the areas of teaching, research, foreign policy, the profession, and the relationship between policy and academia. From an Australian perspective, the key findings include the strong link between what academics teach and research; the narrowing epistemological gap between the USA and Australia; the curious pessimism of scholars on a wide range of foreign policy issues; and the ability of scholars to define research quality independently of other national settings. The most significant and alarming finding, however, concerned how the present structure of the field is undermining scholars'attempt to forge closer, more influential ties with policy makers in Canberra. In fact, it is clear from the results that what academics research and how they go about it is actually counterintuitive to this goal. The article concludes with three recommendations aimed at rectifying this problem.
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| 2 |
ID:
099206
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2010.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The imperative to pursue energy efficiency improvements is clearly on the political agenda at all levels of governments. This paper explores the lessons from past attempts at galvanising international efforts to expand energy efficiency activities through the use of international-level recommendations. Drawing on these lessons, the paper outlines the IEA response to the call for policy advice on energy efficiency through the G8 Gleneagles Plan of Action. Specifically, the paper outlines a 'necessary conditions' framework that was used to develop a set of energy efficiency policy priorities and describes the subsequent recommendations presented to the G8 in Hokkaido-Toyako Summit in 2008. The recommendations cover 25 fields of action in seven priority areas: buildings, appliances, lighting, transport, industry, energy utilities and cross-sectoral issues. Together, the suite of recommendations sets out an ambitious road map for global energy efficiency improvement. If implemented globally without delay, they could save around 8.2 GtCO2/yr or 96 EJ/yr by 2030. This is equivalent to roughly twice the current total EU energy-related CO2 emissions.
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| 3 |
ID:
084191
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| 4 |
ID:
087309
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2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Officially activated on 1 October 2008, US Africa Command (AFRICOM) is first and foremost an internal consolidation and reorganization of Defense Department personnel. Its primary mission is to help Africans address their security challenges. AFRICOMdiffers from other Defense Department organizations by focusing primarily on activities that contribute not to warfighting, but war prevention. Even so, it has struggled with controversy since its inception. The views of key constituencies range from lukewarm acceptance to outright hostility. The central lesson from this research is that the views of foreign audiences toward American foreign policies have a direct impact on the success of those policies. One of its most difficult tasks will be convincing key audiences - African governments and militaries, NGOs, international media, and not least other US government agencies and the Congress - that the effort and funding put into this command were worthwhile and should continue. Confusion still remains over exactly what AFRICOM is and what it wants to do. Sorting this out will require consulting, listening, and learning. Its leaders must develop and lead a new type of organization that runs counter to traditional instincts of senior personnel in the Department of Defense who continue to resist the notion of interagency coordination. In sum, we remain hopeful that the past need not predict the future of American policies in Africa.
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| 5 |
ID:
140332
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| Summary/Abstract |
This paper analyses the role of foreign aid in assisting development in two oil-rich countries: Indonesia and Nigeria. It seeks to understand the way foreign aid provided assistance to transform Indonesia from a ‘fragile’ state in the 1960s into one of the ‘Asian Tigers’ in the mid-1990s, and why it did not prevent Nigeria from falling into ‘African Tragedy’. The paper argues that foreign aid may help not only to finance development, but also to navigate policy makers’ policy choices. It shows how foreign aid may or may not help policy makers turn their policy preferences into action.
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| 6 |
ID:
077215
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2007.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The concept of 'mixed blood' is not a new one; however, it was not until 1982 that an unprecedented policy entitled 'The Amerasian Act' was created by the US government. Focusing on the author's ethnographic fieldwork in South Korea and the US, this article will unpack the assumptions underlying the seemingly religious statement 'the American thing to do' in terms of US policy, where ostensibly scientific notions of 'race', blood and identity are employed
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| 7 |
ID:
143404
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| Publication |
California, Annual Review, 2000.
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| Description |
xiii, 857p.hbk
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| Contents |
Vol. 25, 2000
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| Standard Number |
0824323254
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Copies: C:1/I:0,R:1,Q:0
Circulation
| Accession# | Call# | Current Location | Status | Policy | Location |
| 044621 | 333.79/SOC 044621 | Main | On Shelf | Reference books | |
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| 8 |
ID:
166717
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| Summary/Abstract |
Heat decarbonisation is the biggest challenge facing UK energy policy. This paper presents an area-based modelling approach to heat electrification using 17,741 dwellings in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne as a case study. The presented framework has been developed so as to address local energy policy questions on the impact of domestic electrical heating options. These questions reflect significant under-researched challenges such as the quantification of peak electricity demand for heat pumps based electrification options. The presented results show that the electrification of heat at city-scale will have a substantial impact on the local electrical grid infrastructure and provide a first indication of what the potential additional mean and (winter) peak household electricity demand ranges (i.e. 59–95%. This is significantly lower than what might be ascertained from existing literature). Furthermore, the results show that emission savings will be achieved with all electrification options studied but achieving the city's ambitious decarbonisation goals will require more exploration of the urban energy landscape. The paper further underpins the significance of sub-city modelling by enabling policy makers to identify housing neighbourhoods at LV sub-station for area-based delivery. Finally, an integrated modelling approach to cope with forthcoming energy system design challenges at LV scale is suggested.
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| 9 |
ID:
111084
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2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
How do policy actions affect the dynamics of deregulated electricity prices? We investigate this issue in the context of the Italian Power Exchange (IPEX), using data on the daily average day-ahead price (PUN) between April 2004 and December 2008.
Estimates of baseline time series models (SARMAX and SARMAX-EGARCH) and their forecasting performances suggest that the trend in natural gas prices, market power indicators, deterministic weekly patterns, perceived temperatures, persistence in conditional volatility, and the inverse leverage effect are essential features of the PUN dynamics. We then augment the best-performing models with dummies that account for changes in the market architecture, such as the introduction of contracts for differences (CfDs) to support renewables, trading of white certificates for energy efficiency, and the demand-side liberalization. The findings show that changes in the market architecture affected both the PUN level and its volatility. Specifically, wholesale electricity prices and volatility appear to have decreased upon the introduction of CfDs, only to be pushed upwards following the start of white certificates' trading and retail liberalization. Moreover, after controlling for reforms the inverse leverage effect vanishes, and the persistence in volatility is lower than in the baseline estimates.
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| 10 |
ID:
140722
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The Australia-US Free Trade Agreement (AUSFTA) required extensive changes to Australian copyright law. This paper assesses the impact of these changes one decade on. It considers, first, whether the costs and/or benefits predicted in 2004 have eventuated, finding clear evidence that AUSFTA has undesirably constrained domestic copyright policy, but no clear evidence either of the feared financial costs to society, or, importantly, the touted benefits to copyright owners. The most significant impact of AUSFTA’s copyright provisions, however, appears to have been on Australia’s copyright trade policy. Pre-AUSFTA, Australia promoted multilateral standards and mostly sought to comply with, but not exceed, international IP standards. Post-AUSFTA, Australia has pursued an approach akin to that of the US: endorsing international copyright rules that are significantly stronger, and more detailed. The paper queries whether this shift has been in Australia’s national interest, and raises interesting questions of path-dependence in policymaking and trade negotiations that warrant more, and broader attention in the literature.
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| 11 |
ID:
125773
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2013.
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| Summary/Abstract |
With the rapid economic growth and the improvement of people's living standards, China's building energy consumption has kept rising during the past 15 years. Under the effort of the Chinese government and the society, China's building energy efficiency has made certain achievements. However, the implementation of building energy efficiency in China is still far from its potential. Based on the analysis of the existing policies implemented in China, the article concluded that the most essential and the most effective ways to promote building energy efficiency is the government's involvement as well as economic and financial incentives. In addition, the main barriers in the process of promoting building energy efficiency in China are identified in six aspects. It has been found that the legal system and administrative issues constitute major barriers, and the lack of financial incentives and the mismatching of market mechanism also hamper the promotion of building energy efficiency. Finally, in view of the existing policies and barriers analysis, three corresponding policy proposals are presented.
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| 12 |
ID:
138160
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| Summary/Abstract |
Australia's engagement with Africa during the Rudd and Gillard governments was primarily driven by the national interest, which revolved around three issues: humanitarianism, support for mining corporations, and the United Nations Security Council seat. This article argues that there is a need for the Abbott government to retain the same depth and breadth of relationships with Africa. It is in the interest of both Australia and African states for the Australian government to remain committed to humanitarian objectives and to help African countries meet some of their Millennium Development Goal targets. Moreover, the continued support of Australian mining corporations operating in Africa, especially through the training of African policy makers in mining governance, is good for both Africa and Australia. Finally, Australia's continued success in multilateral diplomacy will depend on support from all parts of the world, including Africa. Australia's success at the multilateral level will, in turn, result in bilateral benefits in other regions, including the Asia-Pacific.
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| 13 |
ID:
112254
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2012.
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The current status and legal framework of biogas production in Portugal are analyzed and compared to that of five other European countries, characterized by wide-ranging diversity of substrates and biogas applications. With this comparison, and with the calculation of the biogas energy potential in Portugal, the authors want to assess the significance of developing the Portuguese biogas sector. This study illustrates that the highest biogas feed-in tariffs are applied in the countries with a more developed sector. In Portugal, despite the fact that the organic effluents are a relevant energy source (873 Mm3 biogas per year; 4889 GW h yr-1) and that new feed-in tariffs were established, biogas valorisation is still at an early stage. The importance of anaerobic digestion was only recognized in 2007 and the present installed power is about 10% of the potential electrical power (229 MW). Therefore, it is desirable to strengthen the national and regional biogas market.
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| 14 |
ID:
190605
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| Summary/Abstract |
Recently, social tipping dynamics relevant to sustainability have become the subject of a growing literature. Numerous publications seek to bring the concept of tipping (back) from the natural to the social system and make important contributions to its conceptualization, definition, and constant refinement. Yet, and despite its wide array, the current literature has a blind spot: it does neither adequately integrate, conceptualize, nor measure the role of the political sphere and thus underestimates its importance for social tipping processes. This is the starting point of our contribution, which not only emphasizes the political dimension's relevance to the analysis of social tipping, but also proposes two main ways to integrate it into such analyses: by conceptualizing the political sphere either as a trigger of social tipping, or as an element that can tip itself. Moreover, to capture the complexity of the political sphere, namely the interaction between networks, actors, and processes, we suggest analysing the political sphere along its three elements: polity, politics, and policy. We illustrate the empirical benefit of these refinements by presenting a comparative case study of the nuclear phase-out in Germany and Switzerland.
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| 15 |
ID:
176702
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| Summary/Abstract |
Green retrofit is an effective way of improving the performance of existing buildings to achieve low energy consumption and low carbon emission. To realize a successful building green retrofit, it is important to understand the barriers and to develop relevant policies for retrofitting existing buildings, especially in developing countries. As a typical developing country, China has a large number of aged buildings with high green retrofit potential. In terms of its government structure, economic development, and building stocks, China is unique in that it poses a unique set of barriers and policy strategies on the promotion of building green retrofit. Based on a critical review, existing retrofit policies in China were reviewed. Then, the barriers to building green retrofit within the context of China were identified. Based on the study of existing policies and barriers, relevant policies for addressing these barriers are recommended. The findings provide a valuable reference for policy makers in China to review current building green retrofit policies or to develop new policies that address the barriers. This study also provides a useful reference for other countries aiming to review their building green retrofit policies.
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| 16 |
ID:
142598
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| Summary/Abstract |
Himachal Pradesh outperforms other Indian states in implementing universal primary education. Through comparative field research, this article finds that bureaucratic norms—unwritten rules that guide public officials—influence how well state agencies deliver services for the poor. The findings call attention to the informal, everyday practices that generate state capacity.
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| 17 |
ID:
113964
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| Publication |
2012.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Telecommunications has been one of the success stories of economic reforms in India. From a teledensity of 2 percent in the not too distant past the sector has grown to a point where the teledensity exceeds 60 percent. The Indian cellular market is marked by strong competition, a large number of operators and some of the cheapest tariffs in the world. The sector experiences growth rates in excess of 80 percent in terms of the number of subscribers. However, all is not well in this sector. There have been a number of upheavals in the past and the latest one involves alleged favouritism in allocating spectrum.
This paper analyzes the state of competition in the cellular mobile industry in India. Standard measures of competition such as HHI and concentration ratios are used as well as market share, revenues, access to funds and profits. We also look at the degree of rivalry in the industry through changes in rankings in market share. We provide a brief discussion of the major developments in telecommunications and cellular mobile in particular after the introduction of reforms. Effects of policy making by different institutions within India are discussed in relation to their effect on competition and market development.
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| 18 |
ID:
166984
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| Summary/Abstract |
Thailand's ethanol policy is embedded in the Alternative Energy and Development Plan 2015 (AEDP 2015). The policy goal is to increase ethanol production and consumption in 2036 at 223% of the baseline in 2015. A large demand for feedstock supplies, mainly molasses and cassava to meet the policy target causes concerns over their sufficiency. However, oversupply of ethanol has been observed occasionally. Since ethanol production and consumption are relevant to a number of policies, incoherence and gaps may contribute to the shortcomings. By applying a combined coherence and gap analysis, it is shown that crop zoning is irrelevant to and ineffective in securing the supply of ethanol. On the other hand, demand saturation is primarily due to the ineffectiveness of the state mechanisms. Key factors contributing to the problem are low prices of crude oil, high prices of feedstocks, managing availability of and accessibility to certain types of blended fuels in favor of the low blended ones, incorrect understanding of consumers towards high blended fuels and the public's recent interest towards electric vehicles. Political factors may also account for the slow-growing demand. The developed method is proved to be useful in determining effectiveness of interrelated policies dealing with ethanol.
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| 19 |
ID:
077075
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2007.
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| Summary/Abstract |
The agenda of post-communist transformation seemed to have faded away in Central Asian countries until the tragic terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In the aftermath of the Iraq War, democratization in "failed" and authoritarian states has rapidly become the focus of U.S. foreign policy. Since the events in Kyrgyzstan, Central Asia has been added to the debate on third-wave democratization that has been witnessed in Georgia and Ukraine. In light of the increasing turbulence in Iraq and the unexpected death of Turkmenistan's President Niyazov, the challenges for democratization in Central Asia should be reevaluated. This article argues that the prospects for democracy in that region are vulnerable to internal and external actors as well as structural problems in the individual states, which possess vast energy resources and crucial routes for exporting them. Thus, to avoid the error of coddling dictators to serve its agenda, the United States should consider developing a longer-term policy that takes into consideration not only the strategic importance of Central Asia, but also the development of its civil society
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| 20 |
ID:
169336
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Among the greatest obstacles to the implementation of crewed space missions are human biological limitations. Difficulties were always envisioned in relation to both Earth's moon and Mars but more so for Mars because long spaceflights would also expose crew to prolonged microgravity conditions, in addition to radiation. The result could well be osteoporosis, bone fractures, and disability. In this article, we do not contest the validity of bone loss studies. Rather, we question a seemingly tacit assumption about the immutability of human nature. Indeed, new, invasive, and noninvasive techniques of human enhancement already allow humans to enjoy modifications that will enable lengthy space missions. The alteration of human DNA has not only aided cancer patients but, for example, by using the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing procedure, can also help to prevent damage to limbs and joints that a prolonged Mars mission could cause for the crew. Possible ethical objections to this solution are discussed, and trade-offs between risks and benefits outlined.
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