International Policy Regime Research Articles

Econometric modeling of tobacco exports in the milieu of changing global and national policy regimes: repercussions on the Indian tobacco sector

IntroductionTobacco, an important commercial crop, plays a crucial role in farmers' incomes and livelihoods to a sizable population and contributes significant exchange earnings to the Indian economy. Currently, India is the second-largest tobacco producer after China, with a production of 758 million kg (13% of global production) and exports of ~190 million kg of tobacco (9% of global tobacco export volume). However, there are uncertainties surrounding the tobacco sector, such as growing public health and environmental issues associated with tobacco production and consumption and changing national and international tobacco-related policy regimes. In this context, the current study investigates the determinants of tobacco exports and geographical shifts in export destinations over the years.MethodsThe statistical models employed are co-integration, and vector error-correlation models to test the short-run and long-run dynamics relationship between tobacco exports and the explanatory variables, and the Markov chain approach to find out geographical shifts in export destinations.Results and discussionThe econometric model estimated the relationship between the tobacco export volume with domestic production, export price, and global demand for Indian tobacco, and investigated the geographical shift in export destinations of tobacco in the context of changing global and national policy regimes on the sector. The econometric modeling framework confirms that there exists a statistically significant relationship between Indian tobacco export demand, domestic production, export price, and world demand for Indian tobacco. The geographical shift was evident in major export destinations during the post-WHO-FCTC (Framework Convention on Tobacco Control) regime. The model findings direct that India should take advantage of the export price, and global demand for tobacco as India ratified WHO-FCTC; there is no scope for horizontal expansion of the area under tobacco. This modeling framework aids as a tool to direct and explore the possible options with a greater emphasis on export-centric farming system in tobacco production by augmenting crop compliance and quality to meet the standards of international markets.

Double dividend? Transnational initiatives and governance innovation for climate change and biodiversity

Abstract Growing recognition of the need to tackle climate change and biodiversity loss together is leading to shifts in the global environmental governance landscape such that these two traditionally separate domains are increasingly interlinked. This process is taking place not at the level of the international policy regimes but rather through the work of transnational governance initiatives (TGIs) that connect state and non-state actors and which form an increasingly formalized part of the hybrid regime complexes through which global environmental governance is conducted. Central to these dynamics are ‘nature-based solutions’, interventions designed to work with nature to achieve multiple sustainability goals. In this paper, we demonstrate the ways in which TGIs frame and implement nature-based solutions. We show how this is leading to an evolution in market and asset-based responses to addressing these twin challenges and consider the wider consequences for how we understand what effective responses to the interlinked problems of climate and biodiversity entail.

Challenges of cooperation for development: A case‐study analysis of Cuban health solidarity programmes in Nigeria

AbstractCuba has long‐standing development partnerships with many African countries. In Nigeria, this includes medical staff training, interventions in malaria disease and death. Using a two‐tiered analytical framework and elite interviews, we problematise ideological conceptualisation of development and its praxis, particularly capability and willingness to explore alternative approaches or partnerships for development. We argue that what occurs between rhetoric and reality of this case is characteristic of entrenched structural and operational dynamics to layers of institutionalised development agenda‐setting sustained by international development policy regimes. This research highlights the need to explore alternative development approaches that engender mutually beneficial and equal partnerships.

Managing the compliance of national federations: an examination of the strategies of international Olympic sports federations

ABSTRACT Research question The influence of international sports federations (IFs) on domestic settings through their member federations is palpable, but the mechanisms by which these influences are exercised and the ways in which IFs manage the compliance of their member federations are not widely studied. This research aims to contribute to identifying the ways IFs, specifically those responsible for summer Olympic sports, secure the compliance of their member federations and to examining the issues arising from their compliance strategies. Research methods The study uses Haas’ [1998. Compliance with EU directives: Insights from international relations and comparative politics. Journal of European Public Policy, 5(1), 17–37; Haas, M. P. (2007). Choosing to comply: Theorizing from international relations and comparative politics. In R. B. Bilder (Ed.), Commitment and compliance: The role of Non-binding norms in the international legal system (pp. 43–63)] seven institutional inducements of compliance, namely ‘national concerns’, ‘monitoring’, ‘verification’, ‘capacity building’, ‘horizontal linkage’, ‘nesting’ and ‘institutional profile’, as our analytical framework through which semi-structured interview guidelines were developed. Eight Olympic IFs were selected via purposive sampling and 12 of their staff members were interviewed based on the interview schedule. Results and Findings Five key compliance management strategies were identified: (1) raising awareness, (2) offering capacity-building resources, (3) evaluating national federations, (4) strengthening resources, (5) reinforcing sanctioning capacity. Implications This research uniquely revealed an empirical perspective of the process of Olympic IFs managing the compliance of their NFs and explored to pave the foundation for future studies to measure the effectiveness of international sports policy regimes.

Re‐placing welfare neoliberalism: The neglected role of geography in neoliberal public policies

AbstractNeoliberalism has become interwoven through international public policy regimes in recent decades yet the spatial implications of their design, outcomes, resourcing and user experiences remain neglected in key ways. In response, the present article uses the case study of the UK’s Work Programme – an international vanguard experiment of neoliberal public policy‐making par excellence – to examine these issues. The conceptual framing highlights the risks of neoliberal public policy‐making for the reinforcement of existing spatial inequalities whilst the original multivariate spatial analyses using the official outcomes data demonstrate the realisation of those risks. These original empirical findings highlight the enduring yet frequently neglected importance of local context to national policy designs and outcomes, and raise serious concerns around the continuing international popularity of neoliberal public policy‐making for spatial justice.

Improving the distribution of FDI benefits: The need for policy-oriented research, advice, and advocacy

This article explores the different ways in which governments can increase the benefits of FDI and manage the relationship between governments and international investors in a mutually beneficial manner. It focusses on three concrete policy fields in which discussions are afoot that bear on this issue, and where opportunities to exercise influence exist: encouraging more sustainable FDI; enhancing the distribution of benefits associated with FDI; and anchoring sustainable FDI, corporate social responsibility, and responsible business conduct in the international investment law and policy regime and, specifically, in the context of the negotiations of an Investment Facilitation Framework for Development at the WTO. These are examples of policy areas that warrant attention, with a view toward scholars seeking to influence the way in which they are tackled, through applied multidisciplinary policy-oriented research, concrete recommendations, and targeted advocacy.

Combined innovations in public policy, the private sector and culture can drive sustainability transitions in food systems.

Global food system analyses call for an urgent transition to sustainable human diets but how this might be achieved within the current global food regime is poorly explored. Here we examine the factors that have fostered major dietary shifts across eight countries in the past 70 years. Guided by transition and food-regime theories, we draw on data from diverse disciplines, reviewing post-World War 2 shifts in consumption of three food commodities: farmed tilapia, milk and chicken. We show that large-scale shifts in commodity systems and diets have taken place when public-funded technological innovation is scaled-up by the private sector under supportive state and international policy regimes, highlighting pathways between commodity systems transformation and food-system transitions. Our analysis suggests that the desired sustainability transition will require public policy leadership and private-sector technological innovation alongside consumers who culturally value and can afford healthy, sustainable diets.

Сервитизация промышленности: новая реальность

A significant increase in the use of services is observed for some industries in GVCs (Global Value Chains). The paper has shed light on important dimension of the servitization which is the sale and export of services by manufacturing firms, often bundled together with goods. Firm-level data confirm that many firms are involved both in the production of goods and services and that there are complementarities between these activities. Not only manufacturing firms are involved in the distribution, transport and logistics services needed for their international operations in GVCs but also, they provide installation, maintenance, repair services as well as a variety of other business support and complementary services that increase value for their customers. The servitization has important policy implications, particularly when taking into account the fact that trade in services is generally more restricted than trade in goods. As the lines between goods and services are blurred, economic policy today might be more challenging than in the past, particularly for companies moving to new business models that imply more interactions with customers and a more intensive use of digital technologies. Services themselves are split into different modes of supply for which there are different levels of economic policy. A closer look at the mechanisms of value creation in the case of services suggests that there are still the needs of new economic policy addressed at business models described as value networks or value shops. As technologies become more disruptive and more companies move to ‘servicified’ GVCs, the need for a more consistent international economic policy regime, particularly at the multilateral level, will become more urgent.

More Attention to Policies! Improving the Distribution of FDI Benefits: The Need for Policy-Oriented Research, Advice and Advocacy

This article explores different ways in which governments can increase the benefits of FDI and manage the relationship between governments and international investors in a mutually beneficial manner. It focusses on three concrete policy fields in which discussions are afoot that bear on this issue, and where opportunities to exercise influence exist: encouraging more sustainable FDI; enhancing the distribution of benefits associated with FDI; and anchoring sustainable FDI, corporate social responsibility and responsible business conduct in the international investment law and policy regime and, specifically, in the context of the negotiations of an Investment Facilitation Framework for Development at the WTO. These are examples of policy areas that warrant attention, with a view toward scholars seeking to influence the way in which they are tackled, through applied multidisciplinary policy-oriented research, concrete recommendations and targeted advocacy.

The Legal Response to Pandemics

Abstract The pandemic of ‘severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2’ (sars-CoV-2) has raised unprecedented challenges for most international legal and policy regimes and we cannot yet foresee its long-term consequences. The legal and institutional regime to prevent and control the international spread of disease, based on the World Health Organization and the International Health Regulations (ihr 2005) has also been severely tested. Critics have challenged who’s apparent politicization and the ineffectiveness of the ihr 2005 as a tool to coordinate the international response to covid-19. The ihr 2005 have codified the operational model of the who Secretariat at the time of their revision, but the assumptions about who’s epistemic authority and the willingness of states parties to conform to who’s lead have proven overoptimistic. Still, addressing some of the major weaknesses of the ihr 2005 could give them renewed momentum and nudge states towards a more coordinated and effective response to epidemics.

Parents, schools and the twenty-first-century state: comparative perspectives

ABSTRACT This article introduces a collection of papers comprising the special issue, Competing interests: Parents, Schools and Nation States. Drawing on the seven papers in the collection, and situating them in recent developments in the sociological field, the article discusses globally shifting relations between families, schools and the state across a range of nations in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries (Australia, Germany, India, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA). The article proposes that the school is a crucial site for relations between family and state, and argues that a significant focus of the material and occupational investment of contemporary parents is the formal education of their children, re-shaping not only the relationship between parents and schools but also the nature of parenthood itself. In the contemporary context of global neoliberal education reform, parents are analysed both as local actors in schools and as subjects of national and international policy regimes.

Beyond tabulated utopias: Action and contradiction in urban environments

In this commentary I reflect upon the possibilities for action to deliver sustainable and just urban environments. I depart from the questions that inspire this special issue: what is it about cities that enables them to make a substantial contribution to environmental dilemmas? And how did cities become the darling trope of the international environmental policy regime? I use the metaphor of ‘the Crystal Palace’ to situate proposals for sustainable urbanism in a spectrum of options between naïve idealism and full-fledged cynicism. I argue that between those two extremes there are multiple alternatives to advance sustainable futures. Urban political ecology (UPE) is in a privileged position to reveal the contradictions inherent in the current incarnation of sustainable urbanism. That is why UPE scholars cannot miss the opportunity to produce context-relevant research to change urban sustainability policies and beliefs. In the second part of this commentary, I explore a case study already presented elsewhere in the special issue. The case of the successive unsuccessful projects for Olympic candidacy in Jaca (Spain) shows the impact of a series of speculative design exercises to build a technocratic eco-city. However, Jaca’s Olympic dreams have historical and cultural roots in the town. Its inhabitants have both propelled and contested the Olympic project at different moments over the evolution of the project. Progressive forms of environmentalism also emerge from the encounter between urban history and utopian thinking.

Asylum Migration to the Developed World: Persecution, Incentives, and Policy

The European migration crisis of 2015–2016 and the migrants from Central America gathering on the US border since 2017 have created headlines and presented challenges for Western governments. In this paper, I examine the trends in, and determinants of, the number of asylum seekers applying for refugee status in the developed world. This must be understood against the background of an international policy regime that evolved in response to refugee crises and geopolitical imperatives. While policy has drawn a sharp distinction between refugees and other immigrants, that difference has become increasingly blurred among asylum migrants. In this light, I examine the interplay between migration pressures, public opinion, and asylum policies in recent decades.

Deploying Plural Drug Policies after the ‘War on Drugs’: A Geographical Perspective

Abstract There is a growing consensus that acknowledges the failings of the prohibitionist ‘war on drugs’ model of international drug policy. Concomitant drug policy reform literatures have been characterized by the advocacy of policy pluralism, experimentation, evidence gathering/evaluation and the avoidance of drug fetishization. This paper builds upon these literatures and explores some of the complexities of drug policy pluralization, including challenges associated with drug policy asymmetries and repatriation and the, largely unexplored, potentials of deploying drug policies in combination. It argues that the drug policy reform literature has tended to favour evaluation of policy alternatives over discussion of their geographical deployment under a more plural international policy regime. It considers models to inform the deployment of plural drug policies. Conceptually this paper draws on geographical literatures and attempts to rethink drug markets and drug policy reform in geographically sensitive, regional and relational ways, highlighting scalar and relational challenges to drug policy pluralization. It concludes by outlining an extensive set of research priorities that speak directly to the challenges identified through this geographical lens.

From oil as welfare to oil as risk? Norwegian petroleum resource governance and climate policy

ABSTRACT Norwegian welfare and prosperity have thrived in step with a growing petroleum sector dominating Norway's economy. However, new knowledge about the limits of the world's carbon budget and how this might render some fossil fuel reserves ‘unburnable’ now presents carbon as a potential risk. Carbon risk may be climatic, in that petroleum extraction contributes to global greenhouse gas emissions; or it could be economic, as current investments might end up as ‘stranded assets’ in a world seeking to move beyond oil. Since at least 2013, policy advocacy coalitions have employed the carbon risk concept to challenge two fundamental institutions in Norwegian petroleum resource governance: the licensing of offshore exploration areas and the petroleum tax policy. Drawing on official documents and media statements, as well as workshops and interviews with a broad range of stakeholders in Norwegian climate and petroleum policy, this paper analyses policy processes in which notions of carbon risk have been at the centre of disagreements between opposing advocacy coalitions challenging or defending the status quo of Norwegian petroleum resource governance. We identify a growing mismatch between a discernible change in Norwegian public discourse, on the one hand, and inertia in the petroleum resource management regime, on the other. Increased rhetorical connections between carbon risk and petroleum policies have caused tension and debate that challenge the governance of Norwegian petroleum production. Key policy insights Petroleum policy and climate policy have been institutionalized into separate policy fields at the national level in Norway. This separation is increasingly challenged by advocacy coalitions pointing to the climatic and economic risks of future oil and gas production. While the coalition highlighting economic risks has been more successful than the one pointing to climatic risks of oil production, neither has so far had material effects on the practices of Norwegian petroleum governance. The existing international and EU-level climate policy regime helps legitimize a continued separation between climate- and oil policymaking in Norway.

Stock market co-movement, domestic economic policy and the macroeconomic trilemma: the case of the UK (1922–2016)

This article explores the global cycle hypothesis by testing whether the US stock market serves as an explanatory variable for the evolution of expansions and contractions in the UK stock market from 1922 until 2016. Alternatively, it tests an index that groups the stock markets of advanced economies to identify whether this driving force is international. Second, regarding co-movement with the US, the article explores whether its time-varying nature is contingent on the domestic and international economic policy regimes. I find evidence that there is a strong and contemporaneous co-movement between the US and UK stock markets. Additionally, through a VAR model, I identify that the movements in the UK stock market cause, in the Granger sense, changes in the index for advanced economies up to two years later. Furthermore, in the short-run co-movement between the US and UK stock markets is contingent on the macroeconomic trilemma while, in the long run, both domestic and international policy regimes affect the relationship. A final contribution is the design of a new methodology for describing the evolution of financial time series as risk-adjusted above or below average returns to different time horizons: the Local Bull Bear Indicators (LBBIs).

“BashudaivaKutumbakkam”- The entire world is our home and all living beings are our relatives. Why we need to worry about climate change, with reference to pollution problems in the major cities of India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan

Getting the Climate Science Facts Right - discusses climate change science with reference to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Addressing climate change is the most important public priority of the 21st Century. Unlike many issues, however, this issue is being driven by both science and its interface with politics. The main institution for bridging this division between science and international politics is the IPCC. As such it is the main source of the facts from which climate change policy is developed. This book describes the ways in which the IPCC arrives at these facts and so can be sure they are complete and evidence based. Seldom in history has science had such a direct relationship with politics. The negotiation of an international policy regime requires, at its outset, an agreement on the facts. In this case, the facts are scientific, complex and contentious. Governments have recognized this and have, by using the IPCC, set up institutional machinery to provide facts from a source and in a manner that they can accept. The way in which the IPCC functions is unique in that it melds the way in which science achieves consensus with the way governments do at the international level. Starting with a process to examine, review and debate scientific findings leading to a consensus about scientific fact, usually expressed as probabilities that the findings will hold over time, the IPCC then concludes by using the kind of consensus-development mechanism that the United Nations typically uses to achieve agreements leading to the formation of policy regimes. The book examines the structure of the IPCC, its composition and its procedures in order to achieve an understanding of its role and future. This book addresses how climate change science was developed; how climate change impacts have been analyzed by various scholars, agencies, and other stakeholders; what roles international, nongovernmental and governmental organizations play in addressing climate change issues. The book incorporates climate change deniers’ arguments and counter arguments. It also does not shy away from some problematic results (for example the immature data interpretation of IPCC, particularly in its 2007 report). Finally, the book also presents a case study of climate change impacts, including air, water and soil pollution, in major South Asian cities.

Global Public Policies: New Tools for Governance

The globalization process creates new framework of multilevel policy-making, implies new actors, such as public and private actors and redefines the concept of public policy within an international and international policy regimes. Therefore, a difference in the policy process under globalization would appear to be that “policy transfer” and the global policy networks are on the increase. In this sense, on the one hand the paper describes and analysis the concept and process of policy-making develop under globalization driving forces in order to reveal the policy-making changes imposed by internal and external context, and on the other hand assets the importance of global public policy networks for solving global problems through global policies. From a methodological standpoint, and taking into consideration the theoretical framework, the study adopts a review conceptual approach to advance its arguments.

Multinational Enterprises and the Global Investment Regime: Toward Balancing Rights and Responsibilities

The question of balancing rights and responsibilities of MNEs and host states is of cardinal importance for the legitimacy and stability of the international investment regime. Many of the shortcomings of the regime are the result of its expansion during a period when the focus was almost exclusively on the responsibility of host countries, as well as the speed with which the regime developed over the past 30 years or so. The rebalancing that is underway, and the various improvements that are being discussed, will help to rectify this situation, and hence need to be pursued vigorously. This chapter takes stock of where we stand in the evolution of the investment regime. It also shows that finding the proper balance regarding the rights and responsibilities of all stakeholders in the international investment regime is an ongoing struggle. Particularly now, the regime is very much in flux, given the various changes in the international economy: we are in the middle of a dynamic process in which key actors are reassessing their interest situations and objectives, including in the light of changing attitudes vis-a-vis FDI and changing expectations regarding the role of the regime. In the end, we might well have to transcend the combination of international investment agreements, customary international law, judicial decisions, authoritative statements, and voluntary rules that make up the international investment law and policy regime today and move toward a binding Multilateral Framework for Investment that comprehensively accommodates the rights and responsibilities of the various stakeholders in a manner that provides legitimacy to the entire regime.

Does Mussel Farming Promote Cost Savings and Equity in Reaching Nutrient Targets for the Baltic Sea?

Mussel farming has been suggested as a low-cost option for reducing nutrient content in eutrophied waters. This study examines whether mussel farming contributes to reductions in total nutrient abatement cost and increases in equity for achieving nutrient load reduction targets to the Baltic Sea under different international policy regimes (cost-effective, country targets set by the Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP), and nutrient-trading markets). A cost-minimizing model is used to calculate the cost savings, and the analytical results show that mussel farming is a cost-effective option only when the marginal abatement cost is lower than for other abatement measures. The numerical cost-minimizing model of the Baltic Sea indicates that the largest abatement cost reductions from introduction mussel farming, approximately 3.5 billion SEK (9.36 SEK = 1 Euro), are obtained under the cost-effective and nutrient-trading systems. Equity, as measured by abatement cost in relation to affordability in terms of gross domestic product, is improved by mussel farming under the cost-effective regime but reduced under the BSAP country targets and nutrient-trading regimes.