Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: The 1990s financial crises have triggered changes to the international financial system, the so-called international financial architecture. While much affected, developing countries have had very little influence on the changes, which the formulation of the new Basle capital accord (Basle II, B-II) illustrates. We show that B-II has largely been formulated to advance the interests of powerful market players, at the expense of those of developing economies. For these countries, B-II can raise the costs of and reduce the access to external financing. Importantly, B-II can exacerbate fluctuations in the availability of external financing, an unfortunate outcome, given that developing countries already suffer from volatile capital flows.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Ethiopia invading Somalia in late 2006 was one of the most audacious acts by one sovereign African nation against another. Somalia, ungovernable, and buffeted by fifteen years of civil war, epitomized anarchy and probably seemed ready to be fatally overwhelmed by an organized army. Ethiopia took the bait. Scarred but battle-tested from her internecine conflict with Eritrea, Ethiopia seemed ready to crush Somalia rag-tag, clan-based guerrilla insurgents in one swoop and shore because Ethiopia is hopelessly bogged down. This paper examines how Ethiopia's seemingly quick invasion of Somalia has turned into a nightmare with unimaginable consequences not only for the hapless Somalis but also for Ethiopians living far away from the battlefront. The study cautions other African countries to resist invading another African country at all cost, even if the reasons to invade seem compelling.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This article aims to address the difficulties of understanding between countries on courses of action regarding the regime of Climate Change, focusing the position of Japan and Germany on one hand and Brazil and India on the other, in the process that has

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Abstract

Although understanding how media reflect country characteristics and how media affect the formation of individual’s country images are of critical importance, little study has been done so far. This study attempted to verify the effect of media products such as news, TV show, movie, advertising, book, music, Website, game, and mediated sports on shaping individual’s general country image (GCI) and product-specific country image (PCI). We assumed that the degree to which people are exposed to these media products positively affect their image of a given country. Using six countries’ data, causal relationships among media consumptions, GCI and PCI of South Korea, favorable behavioral intention (FBI), and favorable opinion expression (FOE) were examined using path analyses. For the study, six hypotheses and one research questions were suggested. Results showed that media consumption regarding a country was found to affect the formation of image toward the country. Also, the direct relationship between media consumption and favorable behavioral intentions was supported by this study. Second, this study showed that the degree of effect of media was different among media contents. Some contents such as advertisement, book, and music were found to be stronger than TV shows and movies in terms of effect toward country image. This result implies that some media contents should be preferred to the other contents as country image facilitating windows.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Political cycle theory hypothesizes that politicians alter economic policy and economic performance to improve their chance for reelection or to enact their partisan preferences. A recent wave of studies has posited that such effects should be stronger in developing countries than OECD countries, due to higher levels of poverty, lower levels of information, and lower levels of political institutionalization. In this paper I evaluate this argument by comparing political cycles in the OECD with political cycles in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. The analysis utilizes cross-sectional time-series, including quarterly data from 1975 to 2000 in 116 countries.
The findings suggest that with respect to wide variety of economic outcomes and economic policies, political business cycles are ubiquitous in Latin America yet rare in all other regions of the world. These findings suggest that it is not poverty per se that drives political business cycles, but rather something specific to the Latin American context. The concluding section notes that this finding is consistent with the ‘macroeconomic populism’ thesis that Latin American countries exhibit greater pressures for policy-induced macroeconomic disequilibrium than other regions of the world.

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