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This article analyses changes in diplomatic practices brought by twenty-first century communications technologies. There exists a close relationship between communications technologies and diplomatic practices. Since the invention of the telegraph at the end of the nineteenth century, diplomacy has been conducted at a progressively faster pace. The most recent technological developments associated with Internet have increased the speed and reach of communications, with consequences in international politics that International Relations scholars have yet to understand. Building on existing scholarship in diplomatic studies, the analysis adopts a historical perspective on the use of technology in diplomacy, examines the impact of digitalisation on diplomatic practices, and suggests new research questions that scholars need to answer. All this shows that International Relations scholars would be well-served by looking at the transformative impact of new communications technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the likelihood that Iraq even had the capability to produce nuclear weapons. Just two hours after U.S. warplanes began attacking Iraq on January 16, President Bush went on national television to report the goals of the assault. The prominence Bush gave to Iraq's nuclear "potential" repeated a theme that the administration began pushing vigorously last November as a rationale for the use of military force against that country. But after a months-long investigation of the requirements any country would need to build nuclear weapons, and an assessment of Iraq's ability to meet those requirements, we conclude that Saddam Hussein was many years away from developing usable nuclear weapons. Most evidence supported the view that Iraq remained far from possessing the infrastructure needed to produce nuclear weapons, and worst-case assessments such as the president's seriously overstated the risk that Iraq would soon detonate a nuclear explosive. To gauge the amount of time Iraq might have needed to build a pilot enrichment plant, it is useful to consider Brazil's unsafeguarded enrichment program, which has benefitted from a more sophisticated industrial and nuclear infrastructure than Iraq's. INSETS: Making the bomb: the shopping list;Making the bomb: the gas centrifuge;Making the bomb: the rotor assembly;Iraq's "nuclear complex"

Cultural variations across nations and organizational culture-based differences between organizations that are involved in the transfer of various kinds of technologies are considered two major factors that influence the success of transfer. Relevant contributions from cross-cultural studies on management and organizations are integrated into the literature on organizational culture and diffusion of innovations, and a conceptual model is developed. Implications for research in international and comparative management are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article seeks to explain the role of unborn technology known as civilian nuclear power in public affairs. According to the Geneva Conference for the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy, the viability of technology cannot be demonstrated unless a substantial amount of electricity are generated. It is inferred that shortage of energy, food and water supplies are some of the major deficiencies the society faces. In Great Britain and the U.S., roles of nuclear energy development and technological devices are intensively investigated.

The article reports on issues and topics related to the Point Four operations of the U.S. Foreign Operations Administration (FOA) since its inception in 1949. In the first quarter of the fiscal year 1954, the FOA allocated funds for Point Four operations at a rate of about $5.7 million a month, in contrast to $11.8 million a month during the two previous years. FOA operational policy emphasized the training and education of technicians in aided countries by U.S. technicians at home and abroad, and thus demanded an administrative setup separate from the Mutual Security Agency, then called the Economic Cooperation Administration.

Earth's life-support system is facing megaproblems of sustainability. One important way of how these problems can be addressed is through innovation. This paper argues that responsible innovation that contributes to sustainable development (SD) consists of three dimensions: (1) innovations avoid harming people and the planet, (2) innovations 'do good' by offering new products, services, or technologies that foster SD, and (3) global governance schemes are in place that facilitate innovations that avoid harm and 'do good.' The paper discusses global governance schemes based on deliberation as a means to foster such responsible innovation. These schemes can provide voluntary soft-law regulations that complement and extend national and international hard-law regulations and facilitate collective innovation that contributes to SD goals. The article addresses the facilitative role of governments and international organizations in overcoming problems of deliberation and offers illustrative examples of such governance schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses both on account technology as a factor in the twentieth-century relations of the United States and Europe and a view of transatlantic history through the lens of technology. It describes the trajectory of modernization through technology in certain characteristically transatlantic contexts - including the Cold War role, the advancement in military technologies and the international political competition. It demonstrates that technology development in many ways, provides structure for transatlantic cooperation and acting as a force reshaping political relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the international response to the nuclear reactor accident that occurred in April 1986 in Chornobyl, Ukraine. Renewal of international willingness to cooperate on nuclear safety; International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) creation of international nuclear safety standards; Plans to expand the authority of the IAEA.

En este trabajo se procura evaluar la producción, el uso y la difusión de tecnología en la estructura productiva de los países emergentes, en particular del Brasil, China, la Federación de Rusia y Sudáfrica, mediante el análisis de: i) usuarios y productores de tecnología; ii) contenido de investigación y desarrollo (I+D) en cada grupo de sectores, y iii) flujos de conocimientos técnicos entre esos grupos. Para alcanzar los objetivos fijados se utilizan matrices de insumo-producto combinadas con estadísticas de I+D sectoriales. Los principales resultados revelan considerables diferencias entre los países emergentes y también entre países en desarrollo y desarrollados, incluso en la jerarquía sectorial en cuanto a la producción y utilización de conocimientos tecnológicos, y en la dirección de los principales flujos de tecnología entre sectores. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the globalised world, the effective use of technology in the organisations has become indispensable. Technology has become an integral part of personal as well as professional lives. The easy availability of new technological tools has drastically changed the way the work is being done. It has become a virtually boundary-less world or a global village largely due to technology. Technological developments have improved the ways in which we communicate, has evolved the way we learn, and expand our capabilities. In view of these advances, focusing specifically on the human resource department, it has to function with a global mindset and be adept with the most advanced technology. Though, it has many benefits, it comes with its own challenges. While, the challenges of globalization and updated technology are innumerous, this paper narrows down to the challenges it posits to the organizations as well as the human capital of the organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia, Japan and the USA are all facing dual pressures that require them to do more with less. Internationally, they deal with the challenge of managing China’s rapid rise. However, domestically, they must cut government spending and reduce government debt. With internal balancing effectively ruled out as a long-term solution, the three states are seeking ways to optimise external balancing, or cooperation with like-minded states. This article focuses on Australian motivations regarding the recent proposal for submarine cooperation with Japan, and places it in the context of longer trends that poise the USA, Australia and Japan for even greater trilateralism in the future. Australia’s proposal to buy submarines from Japan, should it go through, would cement Australia and Japan’s fledgling security relationship in steel and coin. For Australia, it would help it to overcome its undersea capability gap, and Japan could set a precedent to re-enter the global weapons market if all goes well. Furthermore, Australia can use defence-technology cooperation with Japan to signal to the USA the seriousness of its commitment to burden-share in pursuit of regional security and determination to politically support the USA’s ‘Pivot’ to the Asia-Pacific. However, domestic politics have begun to play an important role in Australia, with a ‘spill’ motion against Prime Minister Tony Abbott barely overcome by a backroom deal with the opposition to build the submarines domestically, and this is an important development to keep an eye on. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Se propone una nueva metodología para evaluar las oportunidades de desarrollo económico asociadas a la presencia de las diversas industrias en la estructura económica de un país. Con tal propósito, se reinterpretan las herramientas de la literatura del "espacio de producto" a partir de conceptos neoschumpeterianos, procurando evaluar la sofisticación y transversalidad tecnológica de los sectores productivos, a objeto de caracterizar el actual paradigma tecnoproductivo y el papel de los diversos sectores en este. Mediante el trabajo con datos de exportaciones de 113 países y territorios en el período 2005-2009, se concluye que los "sectores clave" en la economía mundial son "Maquinaria Industrial", "Instrumentos Científicos y Médicos" y "Farmacéutica". Empero, los buenos resultados mostrados por sectores basados en tecnologías maduras sugieren la hipótesis de la sobrevivencia y superposición de sectores clave de diferentes etapas históricas --en una suerte de capas geológicas-- debido a la persistencia de los sistemas tecnológicos previos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information on a panel discussion, moderated by information security expert Rafal Rohozinski, during a cybersecurity Roundtable meeting is presented. Topics discussed include the implications of the changing character of warfare due to cyberspace as compared to the concept of sovereign defense, the challenges of national defense such as the use of Islamic State (IS) of the social media for global recruitment, and the government response new trends in information and cyber warfare.

The article explores the development of Iranian foreign policy on radical states and revolutionary movements among Middle East countries from 1978 to 1979. Topics discussed include the entrapment of the Lebanese Shii organization Party of God (Hezbollah), the collapse of Baath regime in March 2003 in Baghdad and the strategic partnership of Syrian leaders with the Islamic Republic. An overview with Syria's campaign to reinvigorate strategies is also noted.

The technological and military cooperation remains a viable solution for carrying out the current Revolutions in Military Affairs (RMA). The concepts of Smart Defence and Pooling and Sharing promoted by NATO and the European Union are part of the current Revolution in Military Affairs, where there are plans for the creation and implementation of evidence underlying the capabilities of the new RMA. Any project launched within the two concepts is a challenge for the NATO / European Union members to implement the RMA. The budgetary restrictions in recent years have had a major influence in completing certain stages set within the two concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Is technology competition between commercial rivals an impediment to international co-operation? Or could it instead help states collaborate? Our game-theoretic model suggests that technology competition impedes international co-operation when states hold ‘techno-nationalist’ preferences but have starkly asymmetric abilities to capture new markets. States that expect to lose refuse to co-operate, so treaty formation fails. However, technology competition may also facilitate co-operation. While states invest in new technologies out of self-interest, doing so also reduces consumer prices for other states. Comparative case studies of environmental co-operation demonstrate the model's utility. For example, European co-operation on climate policy was easier to achieve because forerunner countries, such as Denmark and Germany, implemented industrial policies that enhanced the competitiveness of their renewable energy industries. This technology competition reduced the cost of renewable energy for other European countries, and thus lowered the economic costs of their emissions reductions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Firms acquire external technological knowledge via different channels. In this paper, we compare the technology sourcing of foreign subsidiaries and domestic firms looking at domestic R&D outsourcing, international R&D outsourcing, domestic cooperation for innovation and international cooperation for innovation. We use data from the Spanish Technological Innovation Panel for the years 2005–2009 for 10,206 innovative firms operating in Spain. We apply a multivariate probit specification which allows for systematic correlations among the different choices. The results show that the different technology sourcing choices are interdependent and that foreign subsidiaries show a different pattern of external technology sourcing. Compared to affiliated domestic companies, foreign subsidiaries show a smaller propensity for external technology sourcing via R&D outsourcing from independent firms in the host country, for international R&D outsourcing and for international cooperation for innovation. In contrast, foreign subsidiaries show a greater propensity for domestic cooperation for innovation. However, foreign subsidiaries are not a homogenous group in this respect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Review of International Law & Politics / Uluslararasi Hukuk ve Politika is the property of International Strategic Research Organization 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 Journal of Entrepreneurship, Management & Innovation is the property of Wyzsza Szkola Biznesu-National Louis University 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.)

New technologies are changing how and when we learn about events and choose to respond to them. Mobile phones and the internet have altered how we engage with the world. With technology usage expanding rapidly in the developing world, new avenues of participation, engagement, and accountability are emerging. Globally, more people now have the opportunity to actively make use of these tools to participate in processes that impact their societies. This opportunity for participation is also an opportunity for engaging in new ways with peacebuilding processes. As the field of technology for peacebuilding grows, most attention has been paid to the potential of new technologies for bridging the gap between warning and response. Whilst the focus on the use of technology for early warning and response is important, there is more to this growing field. The empowerment of people to participate in localized conflict management efforts is one of the most significant innovations and opportunities created by new technologies. Technology can contribute to peacebuilding processes by offering tools that foster collaboration, transform attitudes, and give a stronger voice to communities. This article aims to give practitioners two related frameworks to understand how new technologies can enhance peacebuilding. The first section looks at the functions that technology can have in a peacebuilding program as a tool for data processing, communication, engagement, and gaming. We then examine the program areas that new technologies can best contribute to, covering early warning/early response systems, programs that allow citizens to voice their opinions and experiences, collaboration efforts, and programs aimed at transforming attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista MAD is the property of Revista MAD 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.)

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine how a firm's leading-edge technology affects the way international business is conducted. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents the issues faced by high-tech, small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from New Zealand in the internationalization process. Since the research is anchored within a realism framework, case studies and semi-structured in-depth interviews were applied. Findings – The research suggests that current foreign activities result in a stream of indicators closely related to the firm's technology, which are instrumental in shaping and driving future international activities. The paper demonstrates that firms tend to be influenced by the entry decisions made by other firms in the same/similar industry targeting the same market; and that a firm's technological capabilities and the advantages of specialized knowledge act as the constraints in the development of the firm's future international strategy. Practical implications – The paper helps to increase the understanding of how lack of foreign market knowledge can be perceived as an obstacle to carrying out international business. Originality/value – The paper presents the internationalization process as a dynamic process in an approach which is an extension of past thinking. However, past research has been motivated by generalizing findings across firms, to understand shared patterns in the process of internationalization. This approach overlooks the unique distinctiveness of firms in different sectors and contexts where idiosyncratic behavior is the norm rather than the exception to the rule. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the American World War I era ban on amateur radio, including how this ban was implemented, the reasons behind the government policy, and how violators were punished. The author discusses the history of radio in the U.S. prior to World War I and provides information on post-war radio development, explores the problems that must be addressed when attempting to regulate a new media technology, and argues that the government's claim that German spies were operating wirelessly within U.S. borders was most likely false.

Why did engineers and policy-makers together argue for a European electricity network? This article shows, first, how ideas of European cooperation were conceived in both circles, and second, how the two came together in an alliance that brought the idea for European grid into the League of Nations (LoN) and International Labour Organization. Non-government organizations in the field of electricity acted as intermediary platforms, and close links between some engineers and politicians enabled a next step. It argues furthermore that such an alliance was made possible through a set of shared ideas, stressing technical networks as an extension of international politics, viewing ‘Europe’ as an obvious unit of optimization, and relying on a ‘technical’ approach rather than political consultation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We investigate whether and how technical cooperation aid (TC) facilitates technological diffusion from developed to developing countries, comparing it with foreign direct investment (FDI) and external openness. Two robust findings emerge. First, TC, FDI and openness all contribute to international technology transfers and openness seems to contribute the most, which is followed by TC. Second, around 6-17 countries out of 85 in our sample fail to catch up to the technological leader over the 36 years. These results suggest that as a policy instrument, TC can play an important role in facilitating technological catch up of developing countries. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This study summarize the barriers of low carbon technology transfer. Based on analysis of the findings of the literature on technology transfer, this paper presents a summary of key areas for future action in order to facilitate the transfer of low carbon technology to developing countries. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents an analysis on the evolution of research in the fields of science and technology in Spain, after the civil war and dictatorship period. Particular focus is given to the internationalization process of scientific achievements in those areas, in the wake of the reestablishment of democracy. The analysis of scientific publications provides an idea to the author of the evolution of science and technology in Spain, and how they have influenced many aspects of that society.

The article discusses the increasing influence of Asia in international environmental regulation and renewable technology trade and its implications for New Zealand. The Pure Advantage campaign launched in July 2011 is aimed at addressing a perceived increasing gap between the clean green marketing of New Zealand and the reality. Environmental development efforts in South Korea, China and India are mentioned. Campaign manager Duncan Stewart explains the opportunities for New Zealand in Asia.

The Global Information Age poses new and interesting questions for the study of international affairs. This Presidential Address surveys recent developments in commercialized and globalized information technologies that have and will continue to impact political and social relationships around the world. These new technologies affect power relationships among states, as well between states and civil society. They also present possibilities for new forms of global accountability and participation in governance. Finally, a range of technologies offer new and powerful ways to collect data for our research that allow us to ask new questions. President Simmons concludes as a result that exploratory empirical research is more enticing than ever before, but cautions that we should never think we can outsource the hard job of thinking to the very technologies that make innovative research possible in the first place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: This article explores in depth the role of indigenous and foreign innovation efforts in technological change and catching up and their interactions in the emerging economies. It presents original evidence and argues that, despite the potential offered by globalization and a liberal trade regime, the benefits of international technology diffusion can only be delivered with parallel indigenous innovation efforts and the presence of modern institutional and governance structures and conducive innovation systems. This conclusion is compounded by the expected inappropriateness of Northern technology for countries in the developing South that calls for greater efforts to develop indigenous innovation. In this sense, indigenous and foreign innovation efforts are complementary. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The author discusses his mission related to science and technology (S&T) in Brasilia, Brazil. He received a briefing from the U.S. State Department on the progress in developing S&T cooperation between both countries. He provides a background on the international S&T cooperation and notes the difference between international science cooperation and science diplomacy. The science funding in the U.S. is also discussed.

Explanations of Japanese technological modernization from the late nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century have increasingly focused on domestic capabilities as opposed to the traditional emphasis on knowledge transfers from the West. Yet, the literature is mostly qualitative and it lacks a comparative context. This article presents quantitative metrics derived from patent data covering Japan, the United States, Britain and Germany and it also exploits non-patent based sources. The evidence shows that Japanese domestic inventive activity exhibited a pattern of rapid modernization to the technology frontier in terms of its level, sectoral distribution and quality. Domestic capabilities were much stronger than is often supposed in accounts that stress the prevalence of Western technology diffusion. A long run expansion in indigenous development set a favorable foundation for the economic growth miracle Japan experienced after the Second World War. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whilst the global governance architecture of the Internet has evolved at pace in the last 10 years, the European Union's (EU) role and influence in its development has been relatively understudied. This article contributes to closing this gap in the literature through an exposition of how the EU has sought to shape the emerging environment for Internet governance in the context of its quest for 'effective multilateralism'. It identifies the type of multilateral governance that the EU has projected for the Internet globally and analyses how it has sought to do this through its interaction with key global Internet fora. It argues that the EU's own self-defined role as a leader with a clear, preferred model for Internet governance contrasts with several constraints and contradictions faced in becoming an effective multilateral actor in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Trail Smelter Case arbitration is famous in international environmental law. Following a decision by an international tribunal in 1941, Canada agreed to pay indemnities for air pollution caused by a Canadian plant in the state of Washington. This case illustrates a problem of utmost importance for humankind, namely transnational vulnerabilities. The author argues that historians of technology can contribute to a deeper understanding of these problems, which are often intimately linked with technology. He cites two ongoing projects that study such vulnerabilities. The Eurocommons project focuses on Europe's common skies, rivers and seas and studies conflicts concerning the exploitation of their resources, while the Eurocrit project analyzes how transnational infrastructures have created new forms of interdependencies and shared vulnerabilities! among European nations. The author argues that cosmopolitan scholarship, a close cooperation among scholars from many countries with intimate knowledge of different contexts, is necessary for studying transnational problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How ideas influence Africa's international relations is an interesting subject of scholarly inquiry. This article illuminates the authors and events that shaped the germination and dissemination of ideas during two critical moments in Africa's international relations. The argument is that while ideas are important in Africa's international relations, there is a dearth of universal African ideas that could permeate the heterogenous and fragmented African political landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private regulation often entails competition among multiple rule-makers, but private rules and regulators do not always compete. For substantial parts of the global economy, a single private body (per issue) is recognized as the focal point for global rule-making. The selection of the institutional setting here effectively takes place prior to drawing up the specific rules, with important consequences for the politics of regulating global markets. In this paper, I develop a theoretical explanation for how a private transnational organization may attain such preeminence—how it can become the focal point for rule-making—in its area of expertise. I emphasize the transnational body's capacity to pursue its organizational self-interest, as well as timing and sequence. I then examine empirically a particularly important body of this kind, which today is essentially uncontested as the focal point for private regulation in its area, even though its standards often have substantial distributive implications: the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). I analyze the persistence and changes in the IEC's formal rules or procedures and informal norms, as well as the broadening scope of its regulatory authority and membership over more than a century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: As a result of increasing public and political interest in ‘space’ (i.e. solar system) exploration at the global scale, the Space Advisory Group of the European Commission has evaluated the situation in Europe with regard to its potential to participate in this ambitious global enterprise. Aspects of science, technology, environment and safety, society, spin-offs and international cooperation were all considered. The group concluded that Europe possesses sufficient key technologies and scientific expertise to play a major role in international space exploration and has recommended that the EU take a central role to ensure the success of future European space exploration, not only to give a clear political signal for the way forward but also to ensure an appropriate financial framework. In this way Europe would embrace the spirit of the European Space Policy and contribute to the knowledge-based society by investing significantly in space-based science and technology, thereby playing a strong role in international space exploration. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]