Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: This paper examines sectoral differences in the centrality of transnational corporations between 1983 and 1998, as indicated by networks of global interlocking directorates. Fortune Global 500 firms are first classified by economic activity. We then identify the interlocking directorates both within and across sectors to determine what type of company is most central at these two periods.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: It has been demonstrated by researchers such as Mintz, Kentor, and Mills that there exists a power elite that maintains a monopoly on capital and political influence in the world. This inequality has profound consequences for the distribution of wealth and resources. One indicator of this power differential is membership on the boards of large corporations.

While Mintz and Kentor have thrown light on the tendency for a single individual to be a member of more than one board at a time, I propose elucidating a somewhat different relationship: that of informal ties between individuals and corporations they represent. Individuals clearly have influence on and information from the board on which they personally serve, but they may also have a similar relationship with the boards their relatives and friends are on.

I intend to concentrate on familial, college and fraternity/sorority relationships within Fortune 100 companies in the United States. By narrowing the focus to the largest American companies, data will be easier to obtain and more reliable. Board members of these companies and their respective family and educational histories are available to the public. Fraternal/sororal rolls for each college are obtainable by contacting each chapter.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Through large political contributions, corporations possess disproportionate influence over political candidates- and therefore legislation- in the United States government. Interlocking directorates, where one person sits on the board of two or more corporations, have been examined both for their network properties and to question the presence of an elite or inner circle of businessmen in the American corporate world. What has been missing is an analysis of the corporate political donations made with reference to the interlock networks. The correlation of donation practices with mutual board members would signify some degree of conscious collusion among these actors or an unconscious consensus to support those politicians who aid business. My work examines the structure of the network of corporate interlocks in Fortune 1000 companies in 1990, 2000, and 2004, and compares them with campaign donations made by each company in that year. The motivating question is whether proximity in the interlock network is correlated with similar in donation practices, defined here as donating similar portions of overall funds to the same politicians. This comparison permits a test of the elitist and pluralist theories of the American party system currently debated in Political Sociology, and aptly uses network methodology to test the existence of an elite group of board members in control of a large percentage of corporate political donations.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: 9/11 and the war on terror seemed to expose the limits of a truly common foreign and security policy, as the big three EU member states ? Germany, Britain and France ? scrambled for national influence in the war in Afghanistan at the expense of EU unity. Each claimed to speak for Europe, given that the EU CFSP lacked the capabilities of going beyond declarations of solidarity with the US, but did so against the objection (and over the heads) of smaller member states as well as the Belgian Presidency and the CFSP High Representative Javier Solana. Given the continuous efforts since the creation of CFSP in 1993 to construct a common foreign policy, the question that arises from these events is whether the events of 9/11 and the US-led war on terror have exposed the limits of Europeanization understood as a convergence of views towards a common foreign policy, or whether the changed geo-strategic landscape and US military dominance have not fundamentally changed national commitments to CFSP. This paper will analyse the policies of Britain, France and Germany towards CFSP using the war in Afghanistan as a case study. It will explore the attitudes of the three member states towards CFSP to determine whether the British, French and German foreign policies were a sign for the permanent re-assertion of informal directorates in CFSP or a national struggle for assertion in a changed geo-strategic landscape at the expense of CFSP, and what consequences this is likely to have on the institution itself.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The World Bank always faces a number of managerial dilemmas in determining how best to organize its staff to deliver its institutional and in-country programs. These dilemmas offer different ways in which the Bank can be legitimately organized to strike a balance between competing perspectives. The dilemmas include:•The technical or sectoral perspective that insists projects are well designed and the country perspective that seeks to meet the needs of the country or region;•The choice between a centralised staff based in Washington and the staff located in the countries or regions where they will be more accessible , and more responsive, to the wishes of the client countries;•The balance between research and operations, with the different demands that each makes on the staff.In these debates the Country Directors often act as the pivots of the Bank’s activities. This paper will explore the way that Country Directors bridge the demands from the headquarters in Washington and those from national governments. They interact with governments, commission work, buy services from research and sectoral divisions, play a major role in shaping the Country strategies, choose among projects and determine the balance between them. They can set their mark on the country strategies in a way that invalidates any easy notion of the Bank as a single unit with one view or one strategy. They can put the flesh on the generalized directions identified in Washington. Using a combination of principal/agency analysis and institutional theory, the paper will examine the levels of discretion and freedom they have to develop and implement the strategies at the national level. It will also put its findings in the context of debates about the capacity of international organizations to shape their own world.