International Policy Issues Research Articles

A proposed Multi Criteria Analysis decision support tool for international environmental policy issues: a pilot application to emissions control in the international aviation sector

Abstract Policy making at the level of international environmental problems appears to lack a transparent, multi criteria based, decision support ‘tool’. This is due mainly to the highly political, volatile, and contextual nature of issues at this level. The environmental problem of how to regulate emissions from international civil aviation due to their transboundary nature, and the participation of international and domestic players, makes it a ‘wicked’ international environmental problem where policy making has proved problematic. This problem has been used as the basis for developing and pilot testing a tool for contributing to international policymaking, the Multi Criteria Decision Support System (MCDSS). This tool is based on simplifying and integrating key components of Multi Criteria Analysis with a Decision Support System. A preliminary application of the tool explored three options for progressing the reduction of aviation emissions. Testing was based on the allocation of weights to environmental, social, economic and institutional categories, which were each then internally weighted to reflect key criteria in the policy process. Finally, likely performances of each option, against the criteria, were evaluated against Likert scale measures. The outputs from each of these steps were combined to generate a summed best policy option. Conclusions have been drawn and they indicate that the tool is potentially useful especially in the initial stages of policy development. The MCDSS is not an alternative to the international policy process, but rather complements, and makes explicit key tradeoffs in, that process.

Energy for the 21st century: a comprehensive guide to conventional and alternative sources

As concerns over rising energy prices and potential shortages continue to grow, this comprehensive handbook provides a detailed analysis of the past, present, and future of all the principle energy sources - biomass, coal, oil, natural gas, hydro and nuclear power - as well as sustainable sources, especially fuel cell technology. Equally useful for students of energy and energy policy as well as policy makers and professionals in the field, Energy for the 21st Century begins with a fascinating survey of the early history and use of energy sources and the colorful expansion of Big Oil. It examines the evolving technologies for each source of energy, national and international policy issues, the effects of Middle East wars, disruptions from hurricane Katrina, and the growing energy demands of India and China. Written by an expert who is both an energy professional and a business educator, the book offers a comprehensive examination of the most current energy policies under consideration, with special attention to environmental concerns.

Tertiary Education for Students with Impairments: A Code of Practice at the Beginning of the Journey

In this article we review recent innovations in policies and practice for inclusion of tertiary education students with impairments. During 2006 New Zealand’s first code of practice, Kia Ōrite (Achieve, 2004) was widely available, though it was just beginning to affect practice. This review centres the arrival of the Code in the context of tertiary education access and greater focus in government policy, particularly from the Ministry of Education and the Office of Disability Issues. Discussion of policy and practice in Aotearoa New Zealand is set within wider international policy and research issues. We conclude with a brief discussion of likely future directions.

Perspectives on Australian foreign policy, 2005

The year 2005 was notable for the Howard government's embrace of China. Spectacular resource deals were accompanied by the government's optimistic public declarations that China's rise could be accommodated in the current Asia–Pacific power structure. Alliance relations, which were the cornerstone of the Howard government's foreign policy, were boosted further by the decision to strengthen the Australian Defence Force's capacity to contribute to future US operations. The central challenge for this government arising from its decision-making in 2005 was to manage both major power relations in tandem. This was a year where the connection between international policy and domestic issues stood in stark relief. Terrorism concerns provided the context for the government's foreign policy but it also drove stringent domestic legislation. Australia's relationship with Indonesia improved but the commitment to Iraq remained problematic. Not the least of these difficulties stemmed from the exposure of the Australian Wheat Board's corporate dealings in Iraq which had operated counter to the government's international policy.

Burden sharing in a greenhouse: egalitarianism and sovereignty reconciled

The allocation of emission entitlements across countries is the single most controversial issue in international climate policy. Extreme positions within the policy debate range from entitlements based on current emission patterns (sovereignty) to entitlements based on equal-per-capita allocations (egalitarianism). This paper shows that gradual convergence from sovereignty towards egalitarianism could provide a pragmatic solution to the equity debate: When combined with international emissions trading, the convergence approach stands out for offering the developing countries substantial incentives for participation in the international greenhouse gas abatement effort without imposing excessive burdens on the industrialized countries.

Le statut de la victime dans la lutte contre la traite des femmes

The Status of the Victim in Combating Trafficking in Women Although trafficking in human beings has appeared regularly on the agenda of Western governments, European institutions and international organizations since the beginning of the 90s, research devoted to this issue remains scarce. This article intends to remedy the relative disaffection of political sociology for trafficking issues by showing how they have become a European and international policy issue over the past ten years. Analyzing influences of the discursive dialectic between security and humanitarian approaches leads to posit a marginalization of the victim in European and international beliefs and practices. To what extent can a common policy against human trafficking be devised to counterbalance the competition of interests and a lacking sociology of the victim by conferring on the EU the role of mediator and catalyst ?

Commentary: A Merck Perspective on the Doha Round

Commentary on the Doha Development Round from a representative of Merck. Thomas Bombelles is Director, International Government Relations, for Merck & Co., Inc. His responsibilities include definition and advocacy on important international business and policy issues for the company focusing on government agencies and other institutions in Washington, DC. Prior to joining Merck, Bombelles was the Assistant Vice President International at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the professional association representing the American research-based pharmaceutical industry globally. He has also worked as a private sector consultant, as a trade analyst in the Department of Commerce, and in the US Congress. He received an M.A. degree from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, and a B.A. degree from the honors program at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Understanding land-use change to reconstruct, describe or predict changes in land cover

Department of Geography, University ofLouvain, Place Louis Pasteur, 3, B-1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium (Tel: +32-10-472992, Fax: +32-10-472877;E-mail: serneels@geog.ucl.ac.be)Key words: interactions and feedbacks, land cover, land use, modelling, scenariosIntroductionIn the past centuries, land-cover and land-use changehas been accelerating (Lambin et al., 2001). It has beenconsistently singled out as a key element of many areasof global change research and is central to many othernational and international policy issues (Steffen et al.,2003). Yet, in spite of the growing need for preciseestimates of rates of land-cover changes to support sci-entific research and policy development, the availabilityof comprehensive and systematic information on a glo-bal or regional basis is limited. There is thus a need forbetter assessments of land-cover change and to integratethese data in diagnostic models that incorporate our up-to-date understanding of all relevant processes leadingto these changes and that allow us to project futurechanges and interpolate historic changes in regionswhere data is scarce.This special issue provides an overview of land-useand land-cover change reconstructions, descriptions andprojections. Global and regional examples are presentedin which different approaches are used to reconstructhistoric patterns, to describe and explain current pat-terns, or to predict future changes. All papers addressthe evolution of complex patterns that result from hu-man activities but in different ways. Sometimes thesepatterns are analysed statistically, sometimes withempirical models and sometimes with simulation mod-els, which also capture important interactions andfeedbacks between systemic components of land-usechange.Spatial and temporal linkage of observed land-useand land-cover change and their direct and indirectdrivers allow identification of circumstances underwhich these changes are most likely to take place. Well-calibrated spatially explicit empirical models can assistin developing short-term projections of hot spots (i.e.areas with a high risk for immediate land-use and land-cover change). These models use recent rates and spatialpatterns of land-cover change to predict how they couldprogress. Integrated system models go one step further.These state-of-the-art models combine biophysical as-pects with a wide range of socio-economic and politicaldriving forces that play a role in land-use and land-coverchange processes. They thus dynamically representcausal relationships and provide a more comprehensiveapproach to understanding land-cover change and, atthe same time, provide an opportunity to developlonger-term projections.Background papersIn this issue, Verburg et al. review existing model ap-proaches to identify priority issues for future land-usechange modelling research. This discussion is based onthe six different notions that are important to land usemodelling: level of analysis; cross-scale dynamics; driv-ing factors; spatial interactions and neighbourhood ef-fects; temporal dynamics; and level of integration. Foreach of these notions an overview is given of the varietyof methods used to implement these concepts in opera-tional models. The authors recommend future researchdirections towards a new generation of improved land-use models.A new multiple resolution statistical approach thatmeasures the goodness-of-fit between reference mapsand simulated maps is presented by Pontius and Pach-eco. The statistic is based on multiple-resolutions, fuzzyclassification, sampling without replacement and explicitseparation of factors of quantity versus location of land-use change. It can be used as a tool to assess the pre-dictive ability of models, rather than the goodness-of-fitof the calibration only. Its utility is demonstrated in acase study of forest disturbance in the Western Ghats,India. The overall aim of this approach is to improveunderstanding and explanation of the variation inthe regional dynamics of land change, including

The Maximally Exposed Individual—Comparison of Maximum Likelihood Estimation of High Quantiles to an Extreme Value Estimate

The dose to human and nonhuman individuals inflicted by anthropogenic radiation is an important issue in international and domestic policy. The current paradigm for nonhuman populations asserts that if the dose to the maximally exposed individuals in a population is below a certain criterion (e.g., <10 mGy d(-1)) then the population is adequately protected. Currently, there is no consensus in the regulatory community as to the best statistical approach. Statistics, currently considered, include the maximum likelihood estimator for the 95th percentile of the sample mean and the sample maximum. Recently, the investigators have proposed the use of the maximum likelihood estimate of a very high quantile as an estimate of dose to the maximally exposed individual. In this study, we compare all of the above-mentioned statistics to an estimate based on extreme value theory. To determine and compare the bias and variance of these statistics, we use Monte Carlo simulation techniques, in a procedure similar to a parametric bootstrap. Our results show that a statistic based on extreme value theory has the least bias of those considered here, but requires reliable estimates of the population size. We recommend establishing the criterion based on what would be considered acceptable if only a small percentage of the population exceeded the limit, and hence recommend using the maximum likelihood estimator of a high quantile in the case that reliable estimates of the population size are not available.

What Type of Competition Policy and Law Should a Developing Country Have? 1

This article addresses a crucial policy question—what sort of a competition law and policy should a developing country have? The underlying thesis that we embrace is that the development dimension is key. The article looks at the objectives of competition law and policy across countries, followed by a discussion of key competition policy concerns that have bearing on consumer welfare, economic efficiency and competitiveness of domestic enterprises. It also provides a brief sketch on the contours of competition policy and a benchmark for the enactment and effective implementation of competition law from a developing country's perspective. The article also touches upon international competition policy issues to the extent they have a bearing on domestic competition concerns. The analysis that follows, shows that each developing country should have its sui generis com petition policy and law—tailored to suit its country-specific requirements, and that no one size fits all.

Science-based animal welfare standards: the international role of the Office International des Épizooties

AbstractThe Office International des Épizooties (OIE) is a Paris-based, inter-governmental organisation with 164 member countries. Since its establishment in 1924, the OIE has made a major indirect contribution to animal welfare, at a global level, via the organisation's role in epizootic disease control. The OIE animal health code includes a chapter on minimum animal welfare standards for trade and a standard-setting role has also been played in respect of animal transportation. In 1994, the publication Animal Welfare and Veterinary Services was included in the OIE Scientific and Technical Review Series, and provides a valuable State Veterinary Service perspective on animal welfare capability and specific animal welfare issues. In drawing up its strategic plan for the period 2001 to 2005, animal welfare and food safety were identified as two areas for future OIE involvement and these were formally accepted as strategic initiatives at the 2001 OIE General Assembly meeting. An international expert group was established to provide specific recommendations on the nature and scope of the OIE's animal welfare role. The expert group's recommendations were reviewed and adopted, as Resolution XIV, at the May 2002 OIE General Assembly meeting. A permanent international working group was established and met for the first time in October 2002. This paper provides a background to animal welfare as an international trade policy issue and provides an update on progress to date in developing an OIE animal welfare mission statement, supporting guiding principles and policies, and an agreed modus operandi. Priority areas for OIE involvement are identified, and emphasis is placed on the importance of making use of all available expertise and resources, including those from academia, the research community, industry, animal welfare organisations and other relevant stakeholders.

Liverpool Law Review

The Liverpool Law Review is a tri-annual journal dedicated to the examination of contemporary United Kingdom, European, and international legal and social policy issues. The journal features articles, commentaries, and reviews across a wide range of theoretical and practical legal and social policy matters. Topics include public and private law, civil and criminal justice, international law, ethics, and legal theory. In recognition of its many international subscribers, the journal regularly publishes important contributions from both the United Kingdom and abroad. Quick submission to publication ensures that articles and commentaries are current.

The Prospects of a North American Project

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, the governments of Canada and the United States were into the final weeks of fevered negotiations on the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA). Proponents claimed the dawning of a new age of economic prosperity; detractors bemoaned the end of Canadian sovereignty. Five years later, the three governments of North America, including Mexico, placed the last touches on what was to become the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In August of this year, the Couchiching Institute decided it was time to bring together some of the founders, detractors and commentators of the day, as well as current leaders in government, academia and the private sector, to assess the impact of those agreements on the North American community. More importantly, participants in the conference Continentalism: What's in it for us? examined the likelihood of closer and greater continental integration and the impact that it would bring to North American life.The Couchiching Institute on Public Affairs has hosted an annual conference on domestic and international public policy issues for 72 years. Born in the social and economic flux of the early 1930s, Couchiching brings together decision-makers from the public and private sectors, representatives of the academic, cultural and not-for-profit sectors, students, and interested Canadians from every walk of life to engage in spirited debate, constructive dialogue, and no-holds-barred argument over the direction and focus of public policy. Unlike some other prestigious conferences, Couchiching's doors are open to anyone who wishes to register. Couchiching's objective is to create in Canada a force for greater citizen engagement in public discourse. Couchiching reaches out to Canadians through its annual conference, its televised proceedings, year-round events in Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver, and its Web site, encouraging Canadians to become engaged in issues of critical importance to their lives, to the social and political fabric of the country and of the wider international community. Each summer, more than 250 delegates spend four days at a YMCA conference centre just outside of Orillia, on the shores of Lake Couchiching, to listen, engage and debate. Canada is a richer place for it.The summer of 2003 brought together speakers and delegates from Canada, the United States and Mexico to look at the issue of North American continental integration. Canadian perspectives were given by David Dodge, Governor of the Bank of Canada; well-known author and nationalist Mel Hurtig; Hassan Yussuff of the Canadian Labour Congress; Chief Economist Renee St-Jacques of Industry Canada; the Honourable Michael Wilson; Judith Maxwell of the Canadian Policy Research Networks; writer and retired journalist Anthony Westell; the Honourable Lloyd Axworthy; Elizabeth McDonald of the Canadian Film and Television Production Association; Ron Atkey Senior Partner at Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP; Alan Nymark, former deputy minister of Environment Canada; and the Honourable Bill Graham. American speakers included Robert Fauver, former G7/G8 sherpa; Stephen Kelly, Deputy Head of Mission at the US Embassy in Ottawa; Anthony DePalma of the New York Times; Stephen Handelman of Time magazine; Ambassador Thomas Graham Jr.; Edward Asner (who was most entertaining and needed little introduction); and former Undersecretary of State Frank Loy. Finally, we heard insight and perspective on Mexico from Ambassador Andres Rozental, President of the Mexican Council on Foreign Relations; Undersecretary for Economic Relations and International Cooperation Dr. …

Human cloning laws, human dignity and the poverty of the policy making dialogue.

BackgroundThe regulation of human cloning continues to be a significant national and international policy issue. Despite years of intense academic and public debate, there is little clarity as to the philosophical foundations for many of the emerging policy choices. The notion of "human dignity" is commonly used to justify cloning laws. The basis for this justification is that reproductive human cloning necessarily infringes notions of human dignity.DiscussionThe author critiques one of the most commonly used ethical justifications for cloning laws – the idea that reproductive cloning necessarily infringes notions of human dignity. He points out that there is, in fact, little consensus on point and that the counter arguments are rarely reflected in formal policy. Rarely do domestic or international instruments provide an operational definition of human dignity and there is rarely an explanation of how, exactly, dignity is infringed in the context reproductive cloning.SummaryIt is the author's position that the lack of thoughtful analysis of the role of human dignity hurts the broader public debate about reproductive cloning, trivializes the value of human dignity as a normative principle and makes it nearly impossible to critique the actual justifications behind many of the proposed policies.

AN INTERVIEW WITH MARTIN FELDSTEIN

Martin Feldstein is one of the most influential empirical economists of the late twentieth century. In the 1960's, as a research fellow at Oxford University, where he earned a D.Phil. in Economics, he pioneered the empirical analysis of production functions for hospitals and for other health care providers. In the process, he helped to launch the modern field of health economics. In the 1970's, shortly after moving from Oxford to Harvard, his research expanded from health economics to a broader range of social insurance programs, particularly Social Security and unemployment insurance. He developed theoretical models for analyzing how these programs affected the incentives facing households and firms, and then marshaled empirical evidence to document the substantive importance of these program-induced distortions. Feldstein's work sparked an active public policy debate on the economic effects of these programs, and this debate continues to the present day.Feldstein was one of the first to use household-level data from surveys and administrative records to analyze how taxes and government transfer programs affect household behavior. His research contributions, and his pedagogical role in training dozens of graduate students, accelerated the diffusion of new empirical strategies in the field of applied economics. Researchers in public finance still make widespread use of the TAXSIM computer model, a household-level program for computing tax liabilities, which Feldstein began to build during the 1970's.In the early 1980's, Feldstein spent two years as the Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers. During that time, he warned frequently of the long-term economic costs of large budget deficits, even though this was a very unpopular view on political grounds. Feldstein's time in Washington expanded his interests still further, to encompass international economic policy issues as well as domestic questions. When he returned to Harvard and the NBER in the mid-1980's, Feldstein directed several projects on the sources of, and policy responses to, international economic crises.Throughout the late 1980's and early 1990's, Feldstein continued to make central contributions to his primary field of public finance. In a series of papers on how taxable income responds to changes in marginal tax rates, Feldstein developed a new framework for evaluating the efficiency cost of income taxation. These papers also contributed in a very significant way to the debate on how congressional tax analysts should compute the revenue effects of tax reforms. He also continued his long-standing interest in social insurance policy. His 1995 Ely Lecture to the American Economic Association was a clarion call drawing economic researchers to the analysis of Social Security reform proposals, and it anticipated the very active policy debate of the last half decade.Feldstein has been actively involved in both undergraduate and graduate teaching during his 35 years on the Harvard faculty. He has served on the dissertation committees of more than 60 graduate students, and he has trained many of the current leaders in the field of public economics. He currently directs and lectures in Harvard's Principles of Economics course, which is the largest undergraduate course at Harvard.Martin Feldstein has made landmark contributions in many subfields of applied economics. He has also played a critical role in shaping the direction of economic research more generally in his position as President of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a post he has held since 1977. Feldstein has made the NBER a clearinghouse for a wide range of current policy-relevant economic research, and he has directed numerous research projects that have generated important new economic insights. During Feldstein's tenure as NBER president, yellow-covered NBER working papers and, increasingly, the NBER internet site, www.nber.org, have become standard starting points for researchers investigating many topics in applied economics.In 1977, Martin Feldstein received the John Bates Clark Medal from the American Economic Association, recognizing him as the outstanding economist under the age of 40. Twenty-five years later, in 2002, he was elected president of that association.This interview was conducted at Martin Feldstein's office at the NBER. One wall of the small conference room in which we worked is decorated with original drawings of some of the political cartoons that lampooned Feldstein's deficit worries during his time at the Council of Economic Advisers. Outside the conference room, a glass case contains literally hundreds of books that are the results of NBER research studies dating back to 1920. The interview follows a loose chronological pattern.

Contraction of Global Carbon Emissions: How Acceptable are Alternative Emission Entitlement Schemes?

The allocation of emission entitlements across countries is the single most controversal issue in international climate policy. Extreme positions within the policy debate range from entitlement based on current emission patterns (CEP) to equal-per-capita (EPC) allocations. Convergence (COV) from an initial CEP allocation towards EPC emission rights represents a reconciliation of the two. This paper maintains that the acceptability of alternative entitlement schemes depends on their implications for economic welfare and uses a dynamic multi-region general equlibrium model for a comparative economic asessment of the above allocation rules. We find welfare implications for the various regions to be strongly influenced by changes in the terms of trade. Especially, regions may experience considerable welfare losses even under entitlement schemes which impose no binding emission constraint on them. Among the arrangements examined, COV cum emissions trading stands out for offering the developing countries substantial incentives for participation in the international greenhouse gas abatement effort without imposing excessive burdens on the industrialized countries.

The concept of hope in nursing 6: research/education/policy/practice.

This article, the last in the series, focuses on future international research, education, policy and practice issues that centre around the concept of hope. While a growing literature is accumulating, it needs to be acknowledged that the area of hope and hope inspiration remains under-researched and is consequently not well understood. However, this article highlights future research questions around hope which have been grouped under the broad headings of: (1) the structure of hope; (2) the assessment of hope; (3) the enhancement of hope; (4) the potential outcomes of hope. The article also declares how our current body of knowledge relating to hope has had limited visibility outside professional journals, has not received the funding necessary, and has not been reflected in relevant policies within our healthcare and educational institutions. If the goal is to conduct interdisciplinary research across countries and to gain a global understanding of hope, then greater resources are needed. There is a need to prepare nurses and other healthcare professionals to deal with the challenge of enhancing and maintaining hope in those that they care for in their practice, as well as in themselves.

SETAC GOES GLOBAL

On January 1, 2002, the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) formally will become a global organization, governed by the SETAC World Council. SETAC North America, SETAC Europe, SETAC Latin America, and SETAC Asia Pacific will become SETAC geographic units. You may have read about these changes in SETAC Globe and in past Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (ET&C) editorials. SETAC members worldwide voted to approve these changes earlier this year. These changes are critically important as SETAC members work to advance and improve environmental toxicology and chemistry around the globe. What you are most likely to see as you read our journal and participate in annual meetings and workshops, however, is little change. That is by design. SETAC's administrative affairs will continue to be handled in the same efficient fashion as always. ET&C will continue to be one of the most influential journals in the field. Our annual and regional meetings will continue to provide a world-class forum for information exchange, dissemination, and networking. SETAC will be a global organization providing a professional home to scientists around the world while meeting the needs of individual scientists at the local and regional levels through our geographic units. SETAC will encourage and strengthen environmental toxicology and chemistry in developing nations and regions. SETAC will improve communication among scientists across national and international borders. SETAC will provide better educational opportunities for environmental toxicologists and chemists. And SETAC will bring science to bear on international regulatory and policy issues as well as issues at the local, regional, and national levels. Our work does not end with globalization. We face challenges on all fronts, from the mundane to the profound. Technology is advancing unmercifully, and SETAC must keep up, with PowerPoint projectors at annual meetings (we do try to get it right!) and revolutionary approaches to communication such as internet publishing, virtual meetings, and e-seminars. Environmental toxicology and chemistry also continue to change, and SETAC must direct as well as respond to that change. We are exploring a new journal that could become a venue for individuals engaged in applying science to management and decision making. As travel budgets and schedules get tighter, regional chapters may become the meeting venue of choice for many SETAC members, particularly local government employees and students. We must respond by ensuring value to members wherever and however they meet. For example, we should recognize that the issues being addressed at a regional chapter meeting in Calgary may not be that much different from issues being addressed at a chapter meeting in Brussels. As a global organization, SETAC is in a perfect position to bridge communications among chapters and ensure that each of us is aware of what is going on in our backyard as well as on the other side of the planet. Perhaps our greatest challenge, however, is ensuring that all of SETAC's efforts reflect the very highest quality science and demonstrate a balance among perspectives and philosophies. I am the first SETAC President to work for an environmental advocacy organization (sometimes referred to as an NGO, or nongovernmental organization). At times, SETAC has been unable to achieve adequate sector balance because scientists from the NGO community have not been represented. I am committed to ensuring that we have better NGO representation in all of our activities. At the same time, I consider myself a scientist, as do most SETAC members, whether they work for an NGO, government agency, business/industry, or academia. SETAC has an exemplary record of bringing good, balanced science to its publications, workshops, and meetings and even to the administration of the Society. But simply bringing good science to the table may no longer be enough. SETAC is broadening how it thinks (yes, our society thinks in the collective sense, through the Board, through its activities such as workshops, and through active members). Witness the recent workshop on Environment–Human Interconnections, with its heavy emphasis on the cultural, social, and economic components of environmental and human health issues. Witness also our consideration of a new journal that would likely emphasize environmental management rather than science. As we pursue issues outside of our scientific base, we must realize that political perspective and philosophy will permeate our discussions, in some cases very heavily. This is not bad per se. But if our discussions and deliberations are not balanced philosophically and if a variety of perspectives are not represented, our work may be tainted and our society harmed. Our goal of sector balance must remain unchanged. But we also must ensure that perspectives and philosophies are balanced as well. This is no small task for a global organization, but I believe that SETAC is up to the task.

The Encyclopedia of taxation and tax policy

From adjusted gross income to zoning and property taxes, The Encyclopedia of Taxation and Tax Policy, CD-ROM Edition offers the first complete guide to taxes and tax-related issues. More than 150 tax practitioners and administrators, policy-makers, and academics contributed. The result is a unique and authoritative reference that examines virtually all tax instruments used by governments (individual income, corporate income, sales and value-added, property, estate and gift, franchise, poll, and many variants of these taxes), as well as characteristics of a good tax system, budgetary issues, and many current federal, state, local, and international tax policy issues. Each essay provides the generalists with a quick and reliable introduction to many topics but also gives tax specialists the benefit of the best thinking of other experts in a manner that makes the complex understandable. Reference lists point the reader to additional sources of information for each topic. The CD-ROM edition is searchable by topic, author, and keyword. Published in cooperation with the National Tax Association.

Teaching Mineral Resources as an Aid to Understanding International Policy Issues

Human and mineral resources are the basis of economic and political power. Among other characteristics, mineral resources 1) have a localized occurrence, 2) are exhaustible, 3) lack certainty of discovery and reserves, 4) can be recycled, 5) require long term investment, and 6) have environmental consequences when exploited. All of these factors are critically important, but the first most profoundly influences international policy. The localized occurrence of mineral resources means that concentrations of desired minerals do not occur in all parts of all countries. A large country or a country that controls the resources of a large area is more likely to have ample mineral supplies. Large countries like the United States, China, and the USSR have dominated world politics in the latter half of the twentieth century. In order to gain or maintain power, countries must develop foreign policies to ensure mineral availability.Warfare has been used repeatedly throughout history to increase geographic holdings and, thus, the mineral supplies of various countries. In some cases, peaceful policies have led to the sharing of minerals as, for example, in the European Common Market countries. U.S. foreign policy toward, for example, South Africa has been profoundly influenced by mineral availability.