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The First Amendment forbids most limits on political speech, but it permits buffer zones around polling stations on Election Day. This exception to the deregulatory thrust of election speech doctrine is striking, and strikingly under-theorized. In what follows, we excavate the core principle that underpins the buffer zone exception--decisional solemnity--and we argue that, properly understood, the same principle justifies the use of temporal buffer zones: stricter-than-normal regulations on certain types of political speech in the immediate vicinity of an election. Voting, we argue, is an act different in kind from the deliberation that precedes it. Accordingly, governmental efforts to ensure the sanctity of voting can survive exacting First Amendment scrutiny in a manner that similar efforts to quell or influence expression throughout the campaign process cannot. For all the case law (and scholarship) arguing that campaigning should be insulated from legal control, there is an under-appreciated interest in subjecting voting--as distinct from campaigning--to legal controls that help to guarantee its solemnity. Physical buffer zones are paradigmatic. Temporal buffer zones are a natural extension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past 15 years, researchers and practitioners have explored the connections between business practices and peace. In this paper, we explore how research from other disciplines can inform our understanding of business practices and peace. One result would be guidance that is less general and more applicable to areas experiencing conflict than those currently supported by the business and peace literature. Based on literature reviews in political science, economics, and peace and conflict studies, we find support for an alternative conceptualization to the conflict/post-conflict classification that we term the "buffer" condition. We suggest that existing research supports the proposition that the private sector is the most effective actor in promoting peace in areas experiencing the buffer condition. And we encourage researchers to investigate the most effective ways for business to promote peace under such a condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines Turkey's intervention in Syria which officially started on August 24, 2016 when units of the Turkish armed forces and allied groups crossed the border into northern Syria. Topics discussed include Turkey's neo-Ottoman policies pursued by the Justice and Development Party, the goal of establishing a functioning buffer state in northern Syria, and the threat posed by the influence of Kurdish-dominated militias in northern Syria.

During the late Cold War, the United States and Western European countries offshored migration control to less powerful nations by converting them into buffer zones. Buffer zones had long been used to provide nations with military protection; now they were imagined as protecting nations from migrants by obstructing their movement. This practice had human rights implications. Beginning in the 1970s, the idea flourished that the defense of individual human rights was a transnational mandate that extended beyond the protections granted by particular nation-states. Ironically, the transnational practice of extending migration controls beyond individual nation-states that developed in the 1980s opened the door to increased human rights violations. This essay explores these dynamics by focusing on how, during the 1980s, U.S. officials pressured Mexican authorities to enter into a Faustian bargain that limited Mexico's sovereign right to determine its immigration practices. U.S. policymakers insisted that they would turn a blind eye to Mexican migration if Mexican officials suppressed Central American migration into and through Mexico. In turn, Mexico's leaders instituted measures to stop Central Americans from reaching the United States. These measures did not curtail transmigration, but they did lead to widespread violence and human rights abuses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mass selected cations of Ag clusters are deposited, together with Ar seeded with CO2 (or other electron scavengers such as O2, N2O, or CCl4), on a cold substrate, while being flooded with low energy electrons. Optical absorption measurements reveal an efficient trapping of Ag cluster cations in the Ar matrix, provided that CO2 or another electron scavenger is present to ensure charge neutrality of the matrix. The spectrum of Ag3+ thus obtained is in excellent agreement with previous predictions from quantum chemical calculations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a new model to analyze dielectric spectroscopy measurements on charged lamellar systems, with the following improvements with respect to the hitherto available models: (i) it does not rely on the hypothesis of local electro-neutrality, and allows to treat the salt-free case; (ii) the chemical exchange governing the partition between free and bound ions is properly taken into account; (iii) a fully analytical solution is provided. The variation of the frequency-dependent dielectric permittivity with both thermodynamic and kinetic characteristics of the free-bound ion equilibrium is presented. In particular, the relative weights of both relaxation modes (exchange and transport), and their characteristic frequencies are discussed. This study opens the way to the analysis of systems for which the usual models are irrelevant, such as salt-free clay gels or membranes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hartree–Fock calculations and electron transfer (ET) theory were used to model the effects of compositional defects on ET in the brucite-like octahedral sheet of mica. ET was modeled as an FeII/III valence interchange reaction across shared octahedral edges of the M2-M2 iron sublattice. The model entails the hopping of localized electrons and small polaron behavior. Hartree–Fock calculations indicate that substitution of F for structural OH bridges increases the reorganization energy λ, decreases the electronic coupling matrix element VAB, and thereby substantially decreases the hopping rate. The λ increase arises from modification of the metal-ligand bond force constants, and the VAB decrease arises from reduction of superexchange interaction through anion bridges. Deprotonation of an OH bridge, consistent with a possible mechanism of maintaining charge neutrality during net oxidation, yields a net increase in the ET rate. Although substitution of Al or Mg for Fe in M1 sites distorts the structure of adjacent Fe-occupied M2 sites, the distortion has little net impact on ET rates through these M2 sites. Hence the main effect of Al or Mg substitution for Fe, should it occur in the M2 sublattice, is to block ET pathways. Collectively, these findings pave the way for larger-scale oxidation/reduction models to be constructed for realistic, compositionally diverse micas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The atomic structure and energies of SmBa[sub 2]Cu[sub 3]O[sub 6](Sm123)/BaZrO[sub 3](BZO) and Sm123/MgO interfaces have been investigated using first-principles calculations. The interfacial energies were evaluated for various atomic configurations under relevant conditions of the chemical potentials. For the Sm123/BZO, an interface composed of a BaO layer is found to be energetically favorable, irrespective of the chemical potentials. This is much lower in energy than the Sm123/MgO interfaces where the preferable configuration even varies with the chemical potential conditions. The stability of the Sm123/BZO interface is attributed to the local atomic arrangement and chemical composition common to Sm123 and BZO, and such an atomic structure is confirmed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The results suggest that the insertion of a BZO buffer layer facilitates the epitaxial growth of Sm123 films on MgO substrates because of the energetically favorable film/buffer layer interface. © 2004 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In recent years, there has been substantial outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from China to other countries. Meanwhile, China has taken green development as one of its core future strategies. Questions arise as to whether the OFDI of China brings green spillovers towards home, and should the government encourage OFDI to further promote the domestic green economy? To answer these questions, this study examines empirically the reverse spillovers of China's OFDI on its domestic green development. Based on a panel dataset involving 30 provinces, provincial green total factor productivity (GTFP) is calculated and its relationship with OFDI is discussed for the period of 2006–2015. Then the main results demonstrate whether China's OFDI has green spillovers on the domestic economy and to what extent they depend on provincial heterogeneity in terms of absorptive capability and environmental regulation stringency. At the national level, it is only either when employees in every province have more than 12 years of schooling on average or the environmental legal construction index reaches approximately 611 that China's OFDI can generate significant spillovers towards its green economic growth, such that a rise of 1 unit of OFDI is associated with 2.4% and 3.2% increases in GTFP, respectively. Moreover, green benefits from OFDI cannot be found in the home country unless the stock of OFDI reaches a certain level, i.e., beyond approximately 3361 Chinese yuan (RMB) per capita at the 2005 constant price. At the provincial level, the influence of OFDI on the green economy in the eastern provinces is greater than that in other provinces. Additionally, this study finds that the relationships between OFDI, absorptive capability, environmental regulation stringency, and green economic growth are robust to multiple econometric methods and alternative proxies for threshold variables. Overall, it is indicated that China's OFDI does bring green spillovers to China, but the current effects show large heterogeneities across provinces and are still very limited due to the lack of necessary supporting conditions. Even with the dramatically rising scale, OFDI in most of Chinese provinces has only small effects on local transition to the green economy, calling for the formulation of proper policies to encourage OFDI and enhance its green spillover effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the concept of "small states" as opposed to "great powers". Both concepts are considered to be ideal types with peculiar behaviour characteristics. It is argued that in certain circumstances (i.e. within a "buffer system") small states may affect the behaviour of great powers in a way that mitigates the latter's rivalry. It appears that a buffer state jammed between two rivals is not a pawn but a pivot in great power games, which may choose from a range of strategies (balancing, bandwagoning, leaning to a third power, staying neutral, or hedging risks) to sustain its survival as an independent unit. By applying the game theory approach to analyse great power relationships, the paper demonstrates how a "win-lose" game transforms into a "win-win" game, and what is the role of small buffer states in this transformation. Touching upon the problem of unequal powers' interactions, this piece of research contributes to the extant literature on asymmetry in international relations mainly in a theoretical way, drawing attention to a virtually forgotten sphere of international relations -- buffer systems -- mostly overlooked by the current IR discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of the Institute of Croatian History / Radovi Zavoda za Hrvatsku Povijest is the property of Zavod za Hrvatsku Povijest, Filozofski Fakultet 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.)

The idea of bringing the Jews to the region of Islamicjerusalem (the Holy Land) and establishing an entity for them preceded the creation of Zionism. The idea stemmed officially during the failed attempt of Napoleon to occupy the Holy Land. His campaign instigated British interest mingled with the idea of the "Restoration" of Jews to Palestine as a prelude to the Second Coming of the Messiah. With the establishment of a British consulate in Jerusalem in 1838, Britain consolidated its influence and penetration of the region. The paper illustrates how the British were successful in fostering their colonial interest in the region through establishing a buffer state in Palestine against rival influences and later a Zionist Client-State that would continue to serve western interest in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Many countries or regions, in recent years, show a rising interest in prefabrication as a “cleaner” production strategy to meet their enormous construction demand, e.g. for housing and infrastructure. Along with this trend is the observation that many governments tend to set forth a high level of prefabrication as a part of their ambitious construction plan. This paper argues that unnecessarily a higher level of prefabrication is better and develops an analytical framework for questing the optimal level of prefabrication adoption in a certain PEST (political, economic, social and technological) background. This framework contains thirteen PEST factors affecting the prefabrication adoption, including policy, supply, labor, social attitude, user acceptance, and so on. These factors in combination will determine the optimal prefabrication adoption level from 0 to 4, which was defined by Gibb 2001 to represent the range from entire cast-in-situ construction to complete prefabricated building, respectively. The framework was substantiated by using Hong Kong's prominent offshore prefabrication construction as a case. It was identified that Levels 2 and 3 are the optimal level of prefabrication adoption subject to the current PEST background in Hong Kong. This paper helps to clarify the prevailing misconception that “the higher the prefabrication level, the better”. The developed framework can be used by other economies to devise their proper prefabrication roadmaps. Highlights • This paper develops a framework for questing the optimal level of prefabrication. • The framework contains thirteen PEST factors affecting prefabrication adoption. • The underlying notion of framework is illustrated by taking Hong Kong as a case. • The proposed framework can be used to devise proper prefabrication roadmaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amidst calls for containing an assertive Russia, politicians and pundits have been debating whether Ukraine should serve as a ‘buffer zone’ between the Russian and Western spheres of influence. These debates provide an opportunity to revisit the long and varied history of major powers’ efforts to manage buffer zones. We draw on this history to learn the conditions under which buffer zones succeed or fail to stabilise regions, how buffers are most successfully managed, and when alternative arrangements for borderlands work better. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this article we examine the exceptional case of South Korea's establishment of cooperative relations with Iran, despite the latter's confrontation with the United States, South Korea's closest ally, in the late 1970s and early 1980s. We discuss the conventional idea of the imbalanced relationship--the enemy of my ally is not my enemy--to explain South Korea's approach toward Iran, evaluate its past and current relations, and offer policy suggestions for the future relationship between the two countries. Using newly discovered archival resources and political records from South Korea, we provide a more exact picture of the international relations among South Korea, Iran, and the United States in the early 1980s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a comparative study of development policy behavior, testing the Europeanization hypothesis and the idea of sub-regional identification. It examines development policies of three Benelux countries and four Nordic countries. The comparison was partly quantitative, drawing from OECD data, and partly qualitative, based on policy analysis of similarities and differences in development policies of the countries under examination. The examination provides some evidence in support of the Europeanization hypothesis as far as the EU goals towards growth in member states' aid volume and commitment to policy coherence for development were concerned. The alternative explanation was found to be stronger in helping understand performance in multilateral aid and allocation of bilateral aid. Common to the countries under examination is that they approximate a corporatist type of political economy, which helps in understanding identification and norm diffusion within sub-regional schemes. Neither explanation proposed here succeeded in explaining commitment to donor coordination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on legal consequences of international buffer zones emphasizing the loss-of-sovereignty aspect. It mentions governing law within buffer zones, focusing on restrictions of civil rights, the destruction of property, and the rules of military engagement. It also mentions civilians adversely affected by the operation of a buffer zone and pursue a legal remedy against the state responsible under an international-law takings theory.

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.)

We examine how the cross-national Mahalanobis distance between home and host countries may affect a multinational corporation subsidiary's exit from its host country by applying a longitudinal Cox proportional hazard model analysis using data from Korean MNCs between 1990 and 2012. Our findings show that increasing cross-national distance is positively related to the likelihood of a subsidiary's exit from the host country for most cross-national distance dimensions, while increasing cross-national distance is negatively related to the likelihood of a subsidiary's exit from the host country for knowledge and global connectedness dimensions. However, the positive relationship between the seven dimensions of cross-national distance and subsidiary exit becomes weaker when the MNC has strong technological and experiential capabilities, while the negative relationship between two dimensions (i.e., knowledge and global connectedness) of cross-national distance and subsidiary exit becomes stronger. Our study contributes to the international business literature by examining the impact of diverse cross-national distance dimensions on subsidiary exit by showing the significance of firm capabilities in overcoming cross-national distance challenges, as well as by finding both a 'problem-focused view' and 'positive organizational perspective' in the results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vulnerability/resilience nexus that defined the interaction between advanced and developing economies in the post- WWII era is undergoing a fundamental transformation. Yet, most of the debate in the current literature is focusing on the structural constraints faced by the emerging and developing countries ( EDCs) and the lack of changes in the formal structures of global economic governance. This article challenges this literature and its conclusions by focusing on the new conditions of systemic interlocking between advanced and emerging economies, and by analysing how large EDCs have built and are strengthening their economic resilience. We find that a significant redistribution of 'policy space' between advanced and emerging economies have taken place in the global economy. We also find that a number of seemingly technical currency swap agreements among EDCs have set in motion changes in the very structure of global trade and finance. These developments do not signify the end of EDCs' vulnerability towards advanced economies. They signify however that the economic and geoeconomic implications of this vulnerability have changed in ways that constrain the options available to advanced economies and pose new challenges for the post- WWII economic order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite a growing interest in migration questions, it is still not possible to systematically analyse immigration policies across time and a large number of countries. Most studies in this field have heretofore focussed on individual cases. Recently, there have been a series of studies that have proposed policy indices that allow for large- N analyses. It appears, however, that these studies have not always adequately addressed the main challenges of index building, that is, conceptualisation, measurement and aggregation. Moreover, they are for the most part limited to individual policy fields or there is a trade-off between the number of countries and years that are covered. The aim of this article is to present the Immigration Policies in Comparison (IMPIC) project, which proposes a new and comprehensive way to measure immigration regulations. The data set covers all major fields and dimensions of immigration policies for thirty-three OECD countries between 1980 and 2010. This article discusses the way immigration policies have been conceptualised, how policies have been measured and aggregated and demonstrates the potential of such a new data set. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Ukraine's relations with Russia and the West since the 2014 Ukrainian crisis and whether the country could be a buffer zone or a political flashpoint. It states that the country could succeed as a buffer state by securing its territorial integrity, promoting sustainable economic growth and developing self-determination. It notes that Russia worsen the fissures within the country, while the West aims to shape it into a European Union-leaning free-market democracy.

Our globalising world is presently in a state of global turmoil. Risk, uncertainty, and insecurity are the terms that shape global/regional/national/local affairs and developments. The refugee crisis and the war against ISIL constitute the twin crises creating seismic impacts and consequences that in turn escalate risk and turmoil. Turkey is situated at the heart of these two crises, being very much affected by them and, therefore, perceived as a pivotal actor in the way in which the West is dealing with them. Yet, the West’s current instrumentalist and functionalist approach to Turkey as a buffer state designed to contain these two crises in the MENA does not offer an effective and sustainable solution to these crises, much less provide the stability and order that is direly needed in regional and global affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the central role of the camp in the early Israeli state period and its spatial and geopolitical evolution. Unlike official Israeli history, which presents the immigrant camps as an inevitable improvised response to the unexpected problem of mass immigration, I examine the camp as a strategic modern biopolitical instrument that allowed for the state's profound geopolitical changes and was itself altered according to them. The paper analyses the ways in which the camp facilitated the creation of Israel as a state formed by two seemingly contradictory, but in fact complementary, conditions: on one hand, a product of a chaotic ‘state of emergency’ and a form of ‘ordered disorder’ created by mass immigration, and on the other hand, a product of a comprehensive, tightly controlled modernist project combining physical planning and social engineering. This duality reveals the role of these immigrant camps, which were created both in Israel and abroad, as spatial ‘black holes’ which swallowed the contradiction between the radical geopolitical transformation and the rational self-image of the Israeli state-building project. The evolving and hybrid typologies of the camp in Israel's pre-state and early-state periods expose it as a versatile instrument, highlighting the need for informed spatial and geographical genealogies of the camp in order to illuminate its various transformations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Considering the tradeoff between energy consumption and outage behavior in buffer-aided relay selection, a novel energy-efficient buffer-aided optimal relay selection scheme with power adaptation and Inter-Relay Interference (IRI) cancellation is proposed. In the proposed scheme, energy consumption minimization is the objective with the consideration of relay buffer state, outage probability and relay power control, in order to eliminate IRI. The proposed scheme selects a pair of optimal relays from multiple candidate relays, denoted as optimal receive relay and optimal transmit relay respectively. Source-relay and relay-destination communications can be performed within a time-slot, which performs as Full-Duplex (FD) relaying. Markov chain model is applied to analyze the evolution of relay buffer states. System steady state outage probability and achievable diversity order are derived respectively. In addition, packet transmission delay and power reduction performance are investigated with a specific analysis. Numerical results show that the proposed scheme outperforms other relay selection schemes in terms of outage behavior with power adaptation and IRI cancellation in the same relay number and buffer size scenario. Compared with Buffer State relay selection method, the proposed scheme reduces transmission delay significantly with the same amount of relays. Average transmit power reduction can be implemented to relays with the increasing of relay number and buffer size, which realizes the tradeoff between energy-efficiency, outage behavior and delay performance in green cooperative communications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the advocated neutrality of France and other countries of Western Europe as a buffer between the U.S. and Soviet Union. It is stated that the idea arouses a feeling of incredulity. A French Catholic philosopher argues that the case for neutrality is practically a feasible policy. He states that neutrality is not a sign of cowardice and defeatist attitude and it does not mean that they must adopt it. In the case where its national integrity is endangered, it is to everybody's interest that they will compel the respect for their boundaries.

Nearly all the countries face to shadow economy with different sizes and try to keep the shadow economy at a minimum level considering its possible negative impacts on their economies. This study researches the relationship among various indicators of public administration and shadow economy in 11 Central and Eastern European economies during 2003-2014 period employing panel regression. We found that improvements in public administration and EU membership affected shadow economy negatively, while crises affected shadow economy positively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India's "backstage" relationship with the DPRK is an important case study from not only a historical perspective, but also as an insight into successful diplomatic relations. As one of the few countries with strong ties in both Koreas, India is a relevant example of how to "manage North Korea" as the United States normalizes diplomatic relations with Cuba and Iran. The lessons of India's past can be applied to contemporary times. The analysis of this relationship regarding solely North Korea has yet to be formalized and explored in an academic sense. With only a handful of substantive pieces written, it is important to review the diplomatic ties between these two nations from a "how to" perspective and understand the best way to utilize their future relations based on their history, including from the US perspective. With next to no formal academic research on the DPRK-India diplomatic ties outside of a few short think-tank articles, this paper will allow researchers to be more aware of this blossoming affiliation, relevant literature and ever-growing importance for the future of the DPRK. This paper facilitates discussion and interest between the two nations as the DPRK continues to define itself under Kim Jung Un's rule; additionally regarding the current US perspective in relation to Cuba and the Iran Nuclear Deal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Relations / Uluslararasi Iliskiler is the property of International Relations Council 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.)

Despite a plethora of studies on ROK-US relations, few have systematically examined the factors that have caused changes in the relationship between the two states. To fill this gap in the literature, this article investigates the factors that have caused the fluctuation in the relationship between South Korea and the United States in recent years. The authors argue that three factors have affected ROK-US relations in recent decades: (i) domestic politics; (ii) the international factor; and (iii) a series of incidents that contributed to the rise of anti-US sentiments in South Korea. These changes in the internal and external political environment have altered the relationship between Seoul and Washington and have caused considerable friction between the two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analysis of China's response to North Korea's grave provocations confirms that China has been adjusting its policy toward North Korea, considering North Korea's stability and the likelihood of US military intervention while pursuing an engagement with North Korea. China has pursued soft engagement when the likelihood of US military intervention has been low and North Korea has been unstable, semi-hard engagement when the likelihood of US military intervention has been high and North Korea has been stable, and hard engagement when the likelihood of US military intervention has been low and North Korea has been stable. China has increased its pressure on Pyongyang to denuclearize since North Korea's third nuclear test. However, this is merely hard engagement and cannot result in a fundamental change of China's policy toward North Korea. Unless China changes its strategic goal to maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula, it will retain its engagement policies toward North Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using annual data, the paper studies the time-series evidence regarding the effectiveness of government spending. The emphasis is on the relationship between public spending and private spending. The objective is to identify whether the effects of public spending on macro variables are reinforced or mitigated through the spillover effects on private spending. The evidence attests to the importance of stimulating private spending to maximize the positive effect of an increase in public spending on real growth. Concerns about the crowding out effects of higher public spending on private demand are more dominant in developing countries. Moreover, the scope for government spending to determine aggregate uncertainty is much larger in developing countries. Overall, the evidence attests to the importance of managing trends and variability of government spending towards maximizing the fiscal multiplier. The paper's evidence spells out potential to maximize the fiscal multiplier via private spending and concerns about the ineffectiveness of fiscal policy where crowding out concerns dominate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze the concept of emerging power established to the understanding of international affairs. The work observes that the use of the lexicon emerging - regarding to markets, countries or powers - as qualifier for a range of international relations phenomena became a constituent part of the matter. In spite of that, the empirical denotation of the predicate is ahead of the amount of efforts on its theoretical contextualization. Our methodological hypothesis is that the rational denial of the concepts prevailing connotative spectrum by acknowledging the embedded wisdom about cognate phenomena synthesizes a theoretical framework on its accurate use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers a new perspective on ‘buffer states’ — states that are geographically located between two rival powers — and their effect on international relations, with a particular focus on the imperial setting. The article argues that such geographic spaces have often been analysed through a structuralist-functionalist lens, which has, in some cases, encouraged ahistorical understandings on the role of buffer states in international affairs. In contrast, the article offers an approach borrowing from the literature on ontological security and critical geopolitics in order to access the meanings that such spaces have for their more powerful neighbours. The article draws upon the case study of Afghanistan and Anglo-Afghan relations during the 19th century and finds that, in this case, due to the ambiguity of Afghanistan’s status as a ‘state’, and the failure of British policymakers to establish routinized diplomatic engagement, Anglo-Afghan relations exhibited a sense of ontological insecurity for the British. These findings suggest previously unacknowledged international effects of ‘buffer states’, and may apply to such geographic spaces elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the hysteresis hypothesis in unemployment in the case of eight selected countries in transition, using the Kalman filter and testing whether the NAIRU time series are stationary. The empirical results show that the hysteresis effect is confirmed for the majority of the countries. Testing the influence of the inflation growth rate on the decline in the NAIRU and vice versa, performed using the panel regression with fixed effect, confirmed that the increase in inflation leads to decline in the NAIRU. The conclusion also suggests the existence of the impact of actual unemployment rate on the NAIRU, which may be affected by the change in aggregate demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central Asia is a buffer between two nuclear powers-the Russian Federation and China. Major geopolitical massifs-the Eurasian, Islamic, Chinese, and Indian-intersect here. Central Asia is also the geographical center of Asia where four world civilizations-Islam, Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism-meet. India being the proximate player has some immediate geopolitical and geostrategic interests. The goodwill gesture from Central Asia was well received and reciprocated by India through certain favorable policy initiatives in the early 1990s. However, the economic slowdown in India and global power competition in Central Asia have discouraged India from playing a major role in the region for a larger part of the 1990s. However, the 21st century has brought a new aroma in India-Central Asia relationship. Yet, bilateral and multilateral engagements between both the proximate neighbors are far from satisfactory. India requires strategic clarity and importantly out-of-the-box thinking to forge and foster economic integration and political cooperation with the North-Central Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Comparative Economic Research is the property of Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Lodzkiego 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.)