GLOBAL FINANCIAL REFORM
The International Financial System: A Flawed Architecture
Jerome Levinson
The international financial system and the dubious foundations upon which it is built are to blame for recent economic crises. State and international organization policies have placed undue burden on U.S. workers and borrower countries.
Bailing in the Private Sector: Burden Sharing in International Financial Crisis Management
Barry Eichengreen
International financial institutions’ recent bailouts of collapsing economies raise concern that such efforts shield investors from the consequences of their investment behavior. Alternatives bail out the countries while bailing in investors.
The Asian Meltdown of 1997: The Role of the Financial Sector and of Bank Exit Policies
Warren Coats
The accumulation of unproductive investments led to a decline in international competitiveness. Increased bank portfolio risks heightened the danger of loan defaults as macroeconomic conditions deteriorated.
The Asian Financial Crisis: Lessons from Thailand
Laurent Jacque
The origin of the crisis lies in the private sector, which misallocated financial resources with government approval. Inappropriate Western-style policies-aimedto improve economic conditions–only worsened the situation.
Financial Fragility and the Risks of Crisis: the Case of Japan
Adam Posen
Even economic giants such as Japan cannot afford to pursue laissez-faire economic policies. Macroeconomic stabilization of consumer confidence, the financialsystem and the strength of the currency should be the top priority.
In Search of the Market Failure in the Asian Crisis
Cem Karacadag & Barbara Samuels II
The private sector’s inadequate country risk analysis is at the heart of the crisis. This led to high-risk cross-border lending and investment in the region as themarket lacked the information it required to function properly.
Islamic Finance: Alternatives to the Western Model
Gohar Bilal
The growing Islamic financial services industry provides sophisticated instruments for Muslim borrowers and lenders. These instruments give more importance to the valuation of anticipated profits than to collateral.
Ethics, Islamic Banking and the Global Financial Market
Jean-Francois Seznec
Islamic finances could serve as an alternative model for reintroducing ethical guidelines into the global financial market. This could help both individual depositors and developing countries in need of finance capital.
ISSUES AND POLICY
The Challenge to Democratization: Arafat and the New Elite
Charles Davidson
Despite encouraging strides toward self rule, many obstacles stand in the way of the full realization of democracy in the Palestinian territory. Paradoxically, theconditions of Israeli occupation gave rise to a thriving civil society, which the Arafat regime views as a potential threat.
The Fundamentalist Challenge to the Secular Order in the Middle East
Bassam Tibi
The competition between secular elites and Islamist counter-elites presents a new threat to security in the Middle East, necessitating new approaches to ensuring stability in the region.
The American Campaigns for Environmental Reforms at the World Bank
Ian Bowles and Cyril Kormos
Owing largely to input from environmental organizations, the U.S. Congress has, since the 1980s, used its influence to pressure the World Bank to address the negative environmental impacts of its lendings policies.
Quebec and Tatarstan in International Law
Babak Nikravesh
Quebec and Tatarstan’s increasing diplomatic and paradiplomatic activities bring into question the status of federal components in international law.
Book Reviews
A Tangled Web: The Making of Foreign Policy in the Nixon Presidency
by William Bundy
Allies Divided: Transatlantic Policies for the Greater Middle East
edited by Robert Blackwill and Michael Stuermer
Sources of Conflict in the 21st Century: Regional Futures and U.S. Strategy
edited By Zalmay Khalilzad and Ian O. Lesser
EU-US Relations and European Economic and Monetary Union
by Agnes Hubert
In Japan, Change is Already Evident
by Milton Ezrati