Documents found
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2321.More information
The article is a case study of the relationship between the American government and US multinational corporation. It argues that while the state - MNE relationships vary from country to country, the US pattern is one of a very limited transnational role for government. Main factors in this pattern are the division of powers between the various branches and agencies of the US government, and changes in administrative staff following each national election. Few cases of government effort at business guidance are found: antitrust policy, foreign aid to friend governments, ineffectual protests again nationalisation of foreign subsidiaries of US MNE, exceptional cases of purposeful intervention, and the US adherence to international guide lines to MNE conduct sponsored by OECD. The article studies in more detail the case of oil, in which the US government is supposed to have intervened in a more direct way. The article concludes that US foreign policy is too complex to be understood simply in terms of government support of US multinational abroad. Besides us industry and the American government are themselves too split to produce a single and homogeneous pattern of policy.
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2326.
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2327.More information
The article situates official French policy during the crisis in the general framework of its international relations. It was somewhat surprising to see a country close to Iraq join the coalition. The first part is a reminder that France was, after the United States, the most zealous of the coalition members, and that its stated objectives did not correspond to its real aims. The second part takes stock of Franco-Iraqi relations in order to assess their state in August 1990. Business dwindled after the 1970s and stagnation set in as a result of the war against Iran and the downturn in oil prices. On the eve of the crisis, relations were at a standstill while accords to settle arrears in payments went into effect. The third part puts Franco-Iraqi relations in the context of the general reorientation of the French economy. At the time of the Gulf crisis, France was turning the page on the era of megaprojects in developing countries and integrating more thoroughly in the developed economies. The article concludes that French policy during the crisis, a short-term political event, was in accord with economic changes occurring over the intermediate term, without being their direct consequence.
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2330.More information
The strength of rational choice theory and the decision models derived from its axiomatic base (e.g., expected utility, game theory, deterrence, etc.) has always depended on the degree to which the theory's underlying assumptions offer at least a close approximation of reality. Proponents of political psychology have compiled what appears to be an impressive body of evidence against the utility of theories derived from these assumptions. Decision-makers, particularly in a time of crisis, are either unwilling or unable to live up to the demands of rationality. Conflicting empirical evidence from rational choice theorists continues to fuel the debate. In the absence of any attempt to identify areas of consensus, theoretical progress on the question of how to effectively manage international crisis mil remain elusive. In the conviction that this ongoing debate has become counterproductive to the development of crisis management theory, the following paper attempts, in part, to identify areas of consensus and to develop an alternative research agenda around Prospect Theory.