Party Trade Research Articles

John Smith's settlement? The work of the 1992–93 Labour Party—Trade Union Links Review Group

AbstractIn this article, I examine the work of the 1992–93 Labour Party Trade Union Links Review Group. I ask whether the measures it proposed amounted to a new, durable settlement that governed internal relationships within the party. I detail disagreements amongst trade unions over the format that parliamentary selections should take; I evaluate the demands for reform of the party‐union link; I ask whether support for reform and for one member, one vote was falling in the early 1990s; I consider whether unions launched a ‘no say no pay campaign’ with regard to the Labour Party; I assess how much restraint was demonstrated at this time by Labour's affiliated unions and I consider what might have been at stake in these debates more generally. I conclude that there was considerable antagonism in party‐union relations during the early 1990s and that the work of the review group did not amount to an enduring settlement.

Interlocking Factor Market in Agrarian Economy of Sri Lanka

Informal credit market plays a crucial role in the rural sector in developing countries. Prices of goods and services, in general, in the competitive markets are determined by the market forces but, prices of factors of production in agrarian economy are interlinked, thus reward of land, labour and credit also are determined by the interlockers.. An interlinked transaction is one in which the parties trade in at least two markets on the condition that the terms of all trade between them are jointly determined (Bell and Srinivasan, 1989). Agriculture sector is the foremost economic activity in Sri Lanka. Nearly 70 percent of total population living in rural areas depends completely or partially on agriculture sector. The main objective of the study is to examine the incidence of different types of linkages prevalent in the developed and backward villages among paddy farming households in Sammanthurai Divisional Secretariat area of Ampara district in Sri Lanka. This study is based on primary data and the data related to the year 2011-2012 (2011 Yala and 2011-2012 Maha). According to the results 95 per cent of the households in backward villages and 65 per cent of households in developed villages are involved in interlinked credit transactions, Hence, the result exhibits that interlinked credit transaction is higher in backward villages than that of developed villages. The results further reveal that Cash-to-Labour and Kind-to-Labour transactions in developed villages are allowed free of charge. Kind-Cash and Input-to-Output transactions are completely seen in the backward villages. Input-to-Output market link which is foremost in the backward villages and it is found to be exploitative to the paddy farmers.

The Role of Bank Payment Obligation under SWIFTNet's Trade Service Utility

This thesis examines the performance and improvement strategy of SWIFTNet TSU’s BPO for computerization and suggests the following results: First, the URBPO should be legally complemented, and the SWIFT and banks need to keep improving the systems to meet trade parties’ diverse needs. Second, the SWIFTNet TSU’s BPO should have an institutionally unified sharing platform with security, stability and convenience. In other words, it is needed to develop services which meet e-payment paradigm and international and regional environments through continued analysis on market changes and flow. Third, in order for the SWIFTNet TSU BPO to evolve into a perfect global system, there should be an innovative payment solution which can meet all trade parties all over the world. For this, technology standardization for a worldwide e-trade payment system is essential. Lastly, based on the results derived from this study, an analysis framework with which more diverse and practical environmental variables can be analyzed should be developed.

How Well is US Intrafirm Trade Measured?

Using two independent data sources—the intrafirm trade data from the US Bureau of Economic Analysis and the related party trade data from the US Census Bureau—I construct and compare measures of US intrafirm exports and imports. I find that, in general, the two datasets provide similar measures of US intrafirm trade, particularly for exports. Understanding the differences that do exist in measurement will likely require study of the confidential micro data at both the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Census Bureau.

Court of Appeal quashes creative interpretations of Article 5(1)(a) and remits Interflora for retrial

In this decision, the Court of Appeal remitted Article 5(1)(a) of the Interflora litigation to the High Court for retrial, based on the first instance judge's erroneous interpretation of the law and assessment of the evidence in this complex area. In so doing, the Court of Appeal considered the key concepts of the average consumer, the burden of proof and initial interest confusion, as well as whether there is a duty for junior users to avoid confusion through negatively matching against third party trade marks in their online advertising.

France in limbo: On the struggles over accumulation strategies in models of capitalism – The case of the pacte de responsabilité

In January 2014, France’s socialist president announced a major turn in his crisis exit strategy, the pacte de responsabilite, providing up to €35 billion in tax reductions to companies. By analysing the discourses of different actors of the left bloc (trade unions and parties), I seek to show how France is currently struggling with the accumulation strategy at the base of the French model of capitalism. While some actors of the left bloc pursue the continuation or strengthening of an accumulation strategy led by internal demand, others are accepting of or pursuing the export orientation favoured by supranational actors like the EU. Meanwhile, it remains to be seen whether the path of capital-friendly austerity that bolsters export orientation will be a successful strategy for Hollande and for France’s political economy.

An Analysis of the Actual Utilization Conditions of Surrender Bill of Lading among Korean Trade Parties

An Analysis of the Actual Utilization Conditions of Surrender Bill of Lading among Korean Trade Parties

Trade, societal interests, and political parties

We argue that international trade affects party systems but that this impact is conditioned on the types of societal interests trade brings about. When factor mobility is high, trade promotes class-based grievances that are unlikely to affect the structure of the party system. However, when factor mobility is low, trade will increase the diversity of group interests and policy preferences, thereby pressuring structural change in the party system. A consequence is an increase in the effective number of political parties. The empirical analysis supports these expectations. This paper contributes to our understanding of the political impact of economic liberalization on representative democracy.

MERCHANTS, MARKETS, AND THE STATE

The end of the cold war witnessed the emergence of a commercial web sprawling from the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region in western China and extending into Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan), Pakistan, and Russia. Running parallel to the state-managed exchange in hydrocarbons, raw materials, technology, and infrastructure, this new Eurasian trade had an informal component as everyday consumer items manufactured in China were imported into neighboring countries, bypassing formal regulatory mechanisms. This inter-Asian trade began as shuttle trading by itinerant merchants for local markets; by the mid 1990s, shuttle trading was overshadowed by largescale export for national markets in neighboring countries without losing its informal character. This informality extending across national boundaries defined the post–cold war commerce in innermost Asia; at the same time, it also signaled a return to pre-cold war trading structures. Moving away from the “retreat of the state” thesis that found traction following the cold war, the author attributes informality in this inter-Asian trade to three factors: (1) a restructuring of state power where informal trade was a new comparative advantage sought in an evolving geopolitical climate; (2) the actors in this inter-Asian trade—party and regional officials in China, along with traders and intermediaries—who found and exercised agency through this exchange; and (3) a chain of inter-locking, commercial macro-regions, which are economically sustainable and which transcended international boundaries. Working in conjunction, these factors constitute a dynamic inter-Asian trade and challenge static state imaginaries of a “New Silk Road” or “Eurasian Continental Bridge.”

The Second International: The Impact of Domestic Factors on International Organization Dysfunction

This article explores the role of domestic factors in international organization dysfunction, exemplified by the failure of the Second International to agree on a common stance and policy for the prevention of the First World War. Focusing on the French and German socialist parties, the two most powerful forces in the Second International, it assesses how domestic factors, such as differences in the dependency on the electorate, internal party structure and party—trade union relationships affected the policy preferences of these socialist parties. It concludes that these domestic differences were the source of discrepancy and lack of orchestrated action among the members of the Second International. As a result of these differences, the Second International failed to coordinate and produce a binding resolution that would commit its members to a uniform action against war, hence culminating in international organization dysfunction.

Introducing OMOV: The Labour Party–Trade Union Review Group and the 1994 Leadership Contest

AbstractMost scholars conclude that the introduction of one member, one vote (OMOV) into the electoral college that chooses the Labour leader demonstrates a new, reduced role for the party's affiliated trade unions. This article examines the adoption of OMOV by Labour. It looks at discussions in the Labour party–trade union review group that moulded the decision to adopt OMOV during 1992–1993. Drawing on the full breakdown of results, it goes on to examine the outcome of the 1994 leadership contest. The distribution of votes, union by union, indicates that, contrary to the conventional view, trade union leaderships retained the capacity to shape the pattern of voting through their ability to nominate candidates. The article concludes that the introduction of OMOV did not reduce the role of trade union leaderships in Labour's internal affairs in the manner that many scholars have concluded to be the case.

Designing Automated Allocation Mechanisms for Service Procurement of Imperfectly Substitutable Services

Self-serving assets (SSAs) are a new interpretation of the intelligent product technology, set to transform product lifecycle management through automation. SSAs are engineering assets that autonomously monitor their health and expiry dates, search for suppliers, and negotiate with them, while they are still in use by the customer. The concept enables more timely and transparent supplier decision making while eliminating central database transactions and tedious manual effort. Autonomous self-interested agents that act on behalf of their stakeholders naturally give rise to an allocation problem, under the assumption of private information held by trade parties and capacity constrained suppliers providing imperfectly substitutable goods (ISGs). In this paper, we develop and compare three automated competition mechanisms, constructed as iterative games, and test them in the context of the aerospace service supply chain. The competition mechanisms include a prioritized selection mechanism, extended Vickrey, and reverse Dutch auctions. Our context drives us to seek mechanisms that will not only perform well in terms of economic theory, but also in terms of computational performance. Key findings are that extended Vickrey auctions can handle multiple criteria and provide higher market efficiency at lower computational cost, especially in small to medium markets. As scalability is an issue in large markets, the use of auctions is recommended only for complex high value assets or under uncertain market scenarios. As business-to-business (B2B) environments are becoming the norm for many global companies, our study aims to be exemplary to those who would like to implement automated auction mechanisms in highly complex environments.

Organizing the Global Value Chain

We develop a property-rights model of the firm in which production entails a continuum of uniquely sequenced stages. In each stage, a final-good producer contracts with a distinct supplier for the procurement of a customized stage-specific component. Our model yields a sharp characterization for the optimal allocation of ownership rights along the value chain. We show that the incentive to integrate suppliers varies systematically with the relative position (upstream versus downstream) at which the supplier enters the production line. Furthermore, the nature of the relationship between integration and downstreamness depends crucially on the elasticity of demand faced by the final-good producer. Our model readily accommodates various sources of asymmetry across final-good producers and across suppliers within a production line, and we show how it can be taken to the data with international trade statistics. Combining data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Related Party Trade database and estimates of U.S. import demand elasticities from Broda and Weinstein (2006), we find empirical evidence broadly supportive of our key predictions. In the process, we develop two novel measures of the average position of an industry in the value chain, which we construct using U.S. Input-Output Tables.

African Economic Blocs and Trade: Case Study of COMESA and Sudan

African Economic Blocs and Trade: Case Study of COMESA and Sudan

An agenda-setting model of electoral competition

This paper presents a model of electoral competition focusing on the formation of the public agenda. An incumbent government and a challenger party in opposition compete in elections by choosing the issues that will key out their campaigns. Giving salience to an issue implies proposing an innovative policy proposal, alternative to the status-quo. Parties trade off the issues with high salience in voters’ concerns and those with broad agreement on some alternative policy proposal. Each party expects a higher probability of victory if the issue it chooses becomes salient in the voters’ decision. But remarkably, the issues which are considered the most important ones by a majority of voters may not be given salience during the electoral campaign. An incumbent government may survive in spite of its bad policy performance if there is no sufficiently broad agreement on a policy alternative. We illustrate the analytical potential of the model with the case of the United States presidential election in 2004.

No free rein to advertisers--but brand owners left in the lurch

This decision provides carte blanche to resellers to use third party trade marks as keywords for internet searches so long as they do not confuse the average internet user by threatening to damage the essential function of the trade mark.

Keyword Advertising – Settled Points and Open Questions

The permissibility of optimizing online advertising by using third parties' trade marks as keywords is one of the topics that have been currently discussed within the last years and which have been subject to several partly contrasting decisions in a number of European countries. Following the submissions of several European courts concerning Google's Ad-Word system the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has laid down the criteria under which keyword advertising constitutes a trade mark infringement. The limits of keyword advertising set by third party trade marks are, however, subject to case-to-case decisions of the national courts. Though the ECJ has established that using trade marks as keywords for advertising constitutes a use in the course of trade in relation to goods or services, the question whether there is an adverse effect on the functions of the trade mark basically depends on an assessment of the link between the results of the search engine and the advertisement optimised via the keywords. Therefore, the criteria established by the ECJ are subject to precision by the national courts. National courts as well as professional literature assessed the different conditions of a trade mark infringement in different ways. Keyword advertising mainly raised the question whether there is a use in the course of trade (I.) in relation to goods or services (II.) as well as the question whether this use was liable to have an adverse effect on the functions of the trade mark (III.). While the ECJ is quite clear on the condition of use in the course of trade in relation to goods or services, the adverse effects on the functions of the trade mark caused by keyword advertising are likely to be subject to further decisions defining the limits of infringing use more precisely.

The Moderation Theory Revisited

An influential political science literature argues that integration of radical political parties within the political system leads to their moderation. These parties trade off their ideological platforms for electoral viability and political legality. Radicals become moderates through strategic interests. In this article, I revisit this thesis and apply it to the Islamic political actors in Iran and Turkey by employing the comparative method of agreement. Three conclusions are reached. First, moderation helps explain the evolution of Islamists into Muslim reformers. Second, moderation is a double-edged sword, especially in regimes with strong un-democratic characteristics. Moderation of radicals may result in their domestication — a situation that does not contribute to democratic transition or consolidation. Finally, change in the ideologies of political elites is central in our understanding behavioural change. The data sources include ethnography, primary language sources and historical narratives.

Trade unionists and the Labour Party in Britain: the bedrock of success

The trade union-Labour Party link has been contentious with the pre-1914 socialists and the post-1994 New Labour Blairites as well as with Labour’s political opponents, the Conservative and Liberal parties. Yet, for the Labour Party the trade unions have provided support in hard times, as in the face of National Labour in the 1930s and the break-away of the Social Democrat Party (SDP) in the 1980s. In 1945-51, the support of the trade union movement to what it saw as “its” government in the massive task of reconstruction exemplified the close Labour Party–trade union relationship. But in the “winter of discontent” of early 1979 the trade unions and strikes became a major liability for the Labour Party. The relationship seems to have deteriorated since then; however, nationally and locally, the trade unions have provided both finance and activists which have been a bedrock of support for the Labour Party.

The online advertising free-riding free-for-all

The article reviews the case law in the USA, France, Germany, and the UK; on the use of third party trade marks to trigger the display of sponsored search advertisements on search engines.; The article; analyses the application to this practice of the ECJ's requirement in Arsenal v Reed that offending uses of trade marks must affect their function, in particular their essential function as a badge of origin, and considers the effect of the recent ECJ decision in O2 v H3G. The legality of the practice is a grey area in most jurisdictions, with few coming to any firm and consistent conclusions.; In Europe, member states have differing views, despite the presence of harmonized trade mark laws.; The best authority available; in the UK is arguably weak and given the conclusion of the ECJ in O2 v H3G may not now be correct.; In any case, the French Cour de Cassation has referred pertinent questions on the practice to the ECJ, and so an answer should be coming, if not for a while. Keyword advertising is big business for search engines and their advertisers, with the majority of online advertising budgets spent in this way.; But brand owners are not happy with third parties using their trade marks in the hope of increasing custom, while potentially diverting it from the trade mark owner.