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This paper considers the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA)1 and its impact on Information Technology (IT) based businesses. We summarize the factual background to, and contents of, the agreement, and then review those parts of the agreement (or omissions from the agreement) that are relevant to the IT field. IT is of interest both because of its potential importance as a contributor to business (and social) growth, but also because of the lesser international roles accorded to it in comparison with its sister, intellectual property (IP). The IT-related provisions of DR-CAFTA reflect international IT (and IP) controversies. But DR-CAFTA also raises questions of the place of agreements between states, their legal validity and their impact upon international relationships and global development. The primary objective of this paper was to explore the extent to which DR-CAFTA impacts upon IT based businesses; the implications of this; to assess how much these issues, and associated economic and legal questions, had been addressed; and to lay the foundations for further legal and interdisciplinary work. We have sought to introduce all the issues covered in DR-CAFTA, and arising in respect of other agreements of this nature the issues, provide preliminary comment, and provide a list of resources for further study. There are important issues to be developed regarding all free trade agreements and IT. We propose investigating the present and future impact of UDRP provisions in DRCAFTA countries, and liability of Internet Service Providers (ISPs). These can raise important questions combining IT, e-commerce, IP, trade, human rights and competition issues; both for DR-CAFTA countries and those contemplating their own agreements. There is a need for international and interdisciplinary collaboration for this work to be done, including through empirical research with ISPs and domain name owners. We propose holding an international meeting of experts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Tropical Medicine & International Health is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper identifies the Trump administration's violent practices toward Central American and Mexican asylum-seeking families as a defensive response to the legal framework that grants them this protection tool in their relationship with the State. Through in-depth interviews and participant observation with migrant families in Tijuana during 2017-2020, it is concluded that the various measures implemented sought to limit asylum as a right and to configure an illegal subject based on suspicion, criminalization, and trauma. In this way, it was sought to reverse the character of legality that protects asylum seekers and rebuild a dominant vertical relationship of racialized subjection. The analysis seeks to contribute to migration studies by understanding the tension between the legality of asylum and the Trump administration's actions to disrupt this framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although foreign policy between great power patrons and their client states is often studied, those of client states and third states within the context of patron-client relations receive little attention. We address this gap through a comparative historical analysis of Israel and Taiwan's defense ties with Central American states from the 1970s until 2019. We argue that clients' initially make decisions based on the preferences of their patrons, but subsequent defense relations with third states depend on how they benefit clients, which may not align with the patron's preferences. Our study, besides adding further theoretical and empirical context to the existing scholarship, compares Israel and Taiwan's long running defense ties with Central American countries, to reveal that both client states began supplying arms and training as surrogates of their patron U.S., but the type of defense goods they subsequently supplied and whether they institutionalised ties were contingent on their expected gains, be it economic, diplomatic, or security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the author's views regarding military aid given by the U.S. to countries in Central America. It says that the U.S. credibility is in question. What matters to U.S. President Ronald Reagan is that Nicaraguans' support of a revolution that repudiates U.S. imperialism and Central American-style capitalism is likely to be viewed as a loss for the U.S. and a gain for world communism.

This paper analyzes the Official Development Aid (AOD} that has as its source Taiwan and as its destination Central America. It has three basic aims: Firstly, there is a huge bibliographic vacuum on the topic of these pages. Beginning filling it is an academic need. Even some intellectuals feel that they should lean against either Beijing or Taipei, that if they write on Taiwan they should defend or attack one of the contending parties. Here it is seen that a study close to objectivity is possible. Secondly, most of the research in International Relations has been focused on topics related with power itself or with just elements related with hard power. AOD is both hard and soft power, therefore this paper shades light to the dark side partially viewing international relations from a theoretical perspective were interactions help to construct identities and cooperation is an essential variable of world politics. Finally, it will be seen below that the Taiwanese cooperative-economic actions are helpful to the progress of poor parts of the Central American region and are helpful to create domestic markets with strong links with the world market deepening the economic integration both regional and global. Aid from Taiwan and some other countries, mainly through the transmission of know how, could be of assistance in surmounting huge troubles. Aid is vital because some of Central American's problems are being exported mainly to México and the United States under the form, just to give an example, of Mara Salvatrucha gangs source of violence and drug trafficking. It is not meaningless to stress that Taiwanese ODA is by far not enough and is very small in the international context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transboundary conservation is a strategy developed by international conservation organizations to safeguard biodiversity along and across borders and to enhance peace-building among nation-states and border communities. Currently, there are over 200 transboundary conservation cases worldwide, suggesting that the strategy is a significant yet under-researched area in International Relations. Based on empirical research and mapping, this article examines the relationship between transboundary conservation and international relations in the case of the Maya Forest, which refers to the tropical rainforest borderlands between Mexico, Guatemala, and Belize. By analyzing transboundary conservation and its international relations, the article reveals how the strategy reinforces nature states. As a strategic complex composed of heritage sites and biosphere reserves, the Maya Forest is constructed as a shared biocultural landscape. However, national borders are simultaneously fostered by internationally adjoining protected areas to maintain the status quo. In conclusion, this strategy assists in building complex and subtle environmental international relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Latin American Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Latin American Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Comments on an article on the U.S. quagmire in Central America, published in the March 1983 issue of the 'Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.' Global approach to the Central American question; U.S. policy on the four focal points of communist infection.

China's rise as a global power corresponded with a diminution of Taiwanese diplomacy, which has left Central America as the last region to host a continuous bloc of countries that recognize the ROC. In this article, we argue that China's success in gaining diplomatic recognition from Taiwan's former allies has largely resulted from China's economic policy, specifically its promises of large-scale infrastructure projects and the integration of Central American economies with Chinese markets. However, there are limits to how far China has advanced in gaining full recognition from the region. The competing political and economic interests of China, Taiwan, the United States, and the Central American countries themselves, continue to influence patterns of diplomatic switching. More specifically, we argue that the threat of punitive measures from the United States combined with a turn in Taiwanese diplomacy toward assistance efforts to combat Covid-19 may deter future switching in the short to medium-term. Our analysis offers case studies of four Central American countries (Costa Rica, Panama, El Salvador and Nicaragua) to illustrate the multi-year processes by which China's economic strategy leads to diplomatic switching and examine the paths ahead for the remaining holdouts facing the prospect of economic and political penalties by the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Latin American Studies is the property of Cambridge University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines the state of scientific research and development in Central America, highlighting the potential contribution of international partners. It separates Central America from the larger region of Latin America and the Caribbean to underscore its differences and how these affect scientific and technological capacities, priorities and possibilities. Using primarily data from the Ibero-American Network of Science and Technology Indicators and the United Nations Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization Institute for Statistics, current research and development trends in the region are explored, as defined by international Frascati norms, and juxtaposed against broader scientific and technological parameters. Challenges within this environment include educational quality and completion rates; low public and private funding of scientific research; lack of institutionalization; limited understanding of the potential returns associated with research; and the fact that the region operates almost entirely in Spanish, limiting opportunities for global publication and exchange. In addition to national efforts, collaborative international initiatives that appear to be yielding dividends against these obstacles are multinational and intergovernmental supported research training and monitoring partnerships; cross-border university- and research institute-led programs; and international joint publishing projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares the effects of the mechanisms of the European Union (EU) on the promotion of regional civic organisations, especially funding opportunities, in two regional settings (Central America and Europe). It is argued that the EU is exporting a specific model of relationships between regional institutions and civic organisations, giving priority to the promotion of regional integration, democracy and social inclusion. This article shows that EU funds have significantly contributed to the shaping of the civil society landscape in both regions, especially enhancing the participation of excluded groups in the policy process at the regional level. It is also important to determine if the EU is acting as an internal or external promoter of civic organisations. Even if the economic, social and cultural context is not neglected, the differential impact is primarily related to different types of European requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of Global Social Policy is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article examines the concepts and practices of global governance as a definitively liberal project. It provides an analysis of how TFCAs intersect with wider neoliberal debates about the efficacy of global environmental governance, and explores the power and limitations of that governance. In particular, this article investigates the complex local contexts which global environmental governance schemes such as TFCAs encounter; in so doing it highlights the ways that local activities subvert and challenge global-level conservation schemes. Through an analysis of transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs) in Central America, it contends that specific forms of global environmental governance require some rethinking to accommodate their potentially fragile and uneven nature, and that it is more open, opaque or uneven than many theorists suggest. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Do Caribbean Basin states influence U.S. immigration policy? Although the terrorist attacks of September 2001 eventually derailed migration talks, before that time Mexico and the United States appeared poised to negotiate a major bilateral agreement, largely on Mexico's terms. Drawing on 88 detailed interviews conducted with Mexican and other Caribbean Basin elites, this article examines sending-state preferences for emigration and their capacity to influence policy outcomes. The informants considered migration to be the most problematic issue on the bilateral agenda, but also saw migration policy as relatively open to source-state influence. A case study of Mexican emigration policymaking details the national and transnational changes that make migration increasingly an intermestic policy issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the impact of the Plan Puebla Panama project promoted by the Mexican Government and supported by Central American states which aims to regionalize Southern Mexico and Central American with the purpose of promoting economic development. Significance of the project as a manifestation of the accelerated and borderless circulation of commodities and capital; Questions raised by the project regarding the position of Mexico as a semi-periphery nation.

The article examines the evolution and implications of the U.S. war on Nicaragua to assess U.S. President Ronald Reagan's probable place in history and the significance of the so-called Reagan Doctrine of rollback. The author believes that Reagan's administration has proved that the U.S. can wreak death and destruction upon a revolutionary experiment in Central America. He also points out that the quest to win hegemony in the Third World through a doctrine of covert wars can only result in a loss of prestige, credibility, power and influence for the very system of government which such policies are apparently, meant to advance. He then concludes that the U.S. is as much a casualty of the Reagan Doctrine as is the Nicaraguan revolution.

The article provides information related to the Israeli foreign policy in Central America. The author relates that the Israeli involvement in Central America is complex, intense and multi-dimensional. The author added that Israel is also involved in significant commercial ventures in Central America. Some Israel firms have established subsidiaries for the production of military equipment while others engage in construction and agri-business, while others are involved in the distribution and sale of Israeli-made products.

Investigates the transition in U.S. policy towards Central America when George Bush succeeded Ronald Reagan as president. Expectations that Bush will pursue a Central American policy that was both low-key and more pragmatic than Ronald Reagan's; Mid-level positions in the national security bureaucracy that dealt specifically with Latin America.

The article analyzes peace negotiations in Central America to bring stability to the conditions in the area. The prevailing perspective in Washington put stress on the fear of the introduction of a Marxist-Leninist ideology into Central America, with support from the political and military involvement of the Soviet Union and Cuba. It has been found that the internal conflicts throughout Central America are largely a consequence of the economic, social, and political divisions within societies.

This study examines public opinion in Costa Rica and El Salvador regarding regional integration in Central America. Recent efforts at regional integration as well as the response of the governments of the above countries to those efforts are reviewed. Public opinion toward regional integration is significantly more positive but less structured in El Salvador than in Costa Rica. Differences in the international and domestic contexts help to explain the differential responses in these two countries. Likewise, contextual factors help to account for differences between Central American and European publics in attitudes toward regional integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers a review of the history of Soviet thinking and policy toward Central America. It intends to specify the boundaries of future Soviet policy based on the novel political thinking introduced by Mikhail Gorbachev. The author discloses the principles that cover the development of Soviet relations with the West and its policies concerning global problems such as regional conflicts including the recognition of the Soviet government regarding the interrelatedness of the security of all countries and the inadequacies in a foreign policy. He also highlights the Soviet Union's willingness to accomplish its responsibility of withholding arms supplies to the crisis area of Central America to assure the management of its peace and international security.

The article offers a discussion on United States George Herbert Walker Bush's administration and his idea of bipartisanship between Congress and the executive in foreign policy-making. Since the term of President Ronald Reagan, the idea of bipartisanship has already been implemented. In fact, he appointed bipartisan commissions for alternative policies in Central America. However, the disagreements between the executive and legislative branches and the reports show that things are not going according to plan. In the administration of Bush, although he was into the idea of bipartisanship, his approach was different. He advocated bipartisan in foreign policy-making at his administration's outset.