THE ICT IMPACT ON THE ARAB REVOLUTION UNDER THE PRISM OF THE GLOBAL POLITICAL ECONOMY AND THE US-CHINA

Pantelis Sklias

Associate Professor, Dept. of Political Science & International Relations, University of Peloponnese, Corinth, Greece

E-mail: psklias@hotmail.com

Tel.: +30271040040, fax: +30271040050

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to propose an enriched framework of analysis to assess and analyze complex social, political and economic phenomena, such as the developments that took place in the Arab countries. I call this framework of analysis Elaborated Realism and I present its main epistemological elements hereby. In this framework, individual variables such as the role and the impact of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) are considered as being only a part of an overall set of variables, a Feedback Mechanism in which the state national interest is the main catalyst for the formation of state behavior. Such a Feedback Mechanism constitutes the framework out of which the main elements of the global political economy, meaning the network of global political and economic relations are formed. In my opinion, although ICT as well as other social, political and economic variables should be assessed, developments in the Arab countries should be considered under the prism of the global political economy, and more precisely the USA-China economic contest which is the core axis of this frame. ICT can be considered as an accelerating factor but not as the root neither the cause of the events that took place. I claim that such an enriched framework of analysis and approach can also be applied in other similar cases in which national interest is very much influenced by a hierarchical structure of power as it is captured by global political economy structure.

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EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND THE STRATEGY ‘EUROPE 2020’

Olga Gioti Papadaki

Associate Professor

Department of Economic and Regional Development

Panteion University

opapadak@panteion.gr

Abstract

The evolution of European environmental policy is examined in this paper in conjunction with the objectives of developmental strategy ‘Europe 2020’. The possibility of being mutually supportive with the objectives of environmental policy is a key issue in this paper. It might be argued that the current economic crisis has negative impacts upon the overall achievements of the European Union. In this light, the success of the implemented strategy can be said to be a necessity. The approach in this paper is based on the contention that adopting environmental protection objectives, apart from moral and sustainable reasons, is amongst the most important apparatus for overcoming economic downturn, given that the European Union is able to reduce its dependence on imported energy resources and take advantage of its leadership on environmental technology.

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CGE Analysis of Transportation Cost and Regional Economy: East Asia and Northern Kyushu

Hiroshi SAKAMOTO

Research Associate Professor

The International Centre for the Study of East Asian Development (ICSEAD)

11-4 Otemachi, Kokurakita, Kitakyushu, 803-0814 JAPAN

Tel: +81 93 583 6202; Fax: +81 93 583 4602

E-mail address: sakamoto@icsead.or.jp

Abstract

This study develops a multi-region computable general equilibrium model (CGE model), which analyzes the influence on a regional economy of a reduction in the transportation cost. The reduction in transportation cost is, in a word, reduction of the logistics cost. Logistic competition has accelerated with recent economic development. The Northern Kyushu region, which is the focal region of this study, is located near East Asian countries, including China and South Korea, but this area has fallen behind in the logistic competition. Therefore, immediate countermeasures are needed.

This study analyzes the economic effect on the Northern Kyushu region and on surrounding regions of the cost reduction caused by the logistic policy of the Northern Kyushu region. To achieve this purpose, several assumptions were made in the CGE model. First, the study analyzes 10 regions, namely Fukuoka City, Kitakyushu City, the rest of Fukuoka Prefecture, and Yamaguchi Prefecture (the northern Kyushu area consists of these regions), the rest of Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, ASEAN countries, and the USA. Second, in the production system, the transportation industry engenders transportation costs and these are added to the price of the commodity. Third, increasing returns to scale which Fujita et al. (1999) suggest was utilized for the manufacturing industry. Fourth, the number of firms belonging to industries with increasing returns was calculated endogenously based on the above assumption.

As a result, the logistic improvement will be shown to have had an economic effect, including an increase in the number of firms in the Northern Kyushu region.

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