Search results for: international trade law

Authors: Abdelrahman Mohamed

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Copyright law is a branch of the Intellectual Property Law that gives authors exclusive rights to copy, display, perform, and distribute copyrightable works. In theory, copyright law aims to promote the welfare of society by granting exclusive rights to the creators in exchange for the works that these creators produce for society. Thus, there are two different types of rights that a just regime should balance between them which are owners' rights and users' rights. The paper argues that there is a conflict between the current international copyright regime and the Islamic Social Justice Theory. This regime is unjust from the Islamic Social Justice Theory's perspective regarding access to educational materials because this regime was unjustly established by the colonizers to protect their interests, starting from the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works 1886 and reaching to the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights 1994. Consequently, the injustice of this regime was reflected in the regulations of these agreements and led to an imbalance between the owners' rights and the users' rights in favor of the former at the expense of the latter. As a result, copyright has become a barrier to access to knowledge and educational materials. The paper starts by illustrating the concept of justice in Islamic sources such as the Quran, Sunnah, and El-Maslha-Elmorsalah. Then, social justice is discussed by focusing on the importance of access to knowledge and the right to education. The theory assumes that the right to education and access to educational materials are necessities; thus, to achieve justice in this regime, the users' rights should be granted regardless of their region, color, and financial situation. Then, the paper discusses the history of authorship protection under the Islamic Sharia and to what extent this right was recognized even before the existence of copyright law. According to this theory, the authors' rights should be protected, however, this protection should not be at the expense of the human's rights to education and the right to access to educational materials. Moreover, the Islamic Social Justice Theory prohibits the concentration of wealth among a few numbers of people, 'the minority'. Thus, if knowledge is considered an asset or a good, the concentration of knowledge is prohibited from the Islamic perspective, which is the current situation of the copyright regime where a few countries control knowledge production and distribution. Finally, recommendations will be discussed to mitigate the injustice of the current international copyright regime and to fill the gap between the current international copyright regime and the Islamic Social Justice Theory.

Keywords: colonization, copyright, intellectual property, Islamic sharia, social justice

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Authors: M. R. Gholizadeh, N. Bhuiyan, M. Salari

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In the near future, companies will be increasingly forced to shift their activities along a new road in order to decrease the harmful effects of their design, production and after-life on our environment. Products must meet environmental standards to not only prevent penalties but to consider the sustainability for future generations. However, the most important factor that companies will face is selecting a reasonable strategy to maximize their profit. Thus, companies need to have precise forecast from their profit after design stage through Trade-off analysis. This paper is an attempt to introduce a mathematical model that considers effective factors that impact the total profit when products are designed for resource and energy efficiency or recyclability. The modification is according to different strategies based on a Cost-Volume-Profit model. Here, the cost structure consists of Recycling cost, Development cost, Ramp-up cost, Production cost, and Pollution cost. Also, the model shows the effect of implementation of design for recyclable on revenue structure through revenue of used parts and revenue of recycled materials. A numerical example is used to evaluate the proposed model. Results show that fulfillment of Green Product Development not only can reduce the environmental impact of products but also it will increase profit of company in long term.

Keywords: green product, design for environment, C-V-P model, trade-off analysis

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Authors: Seane Mabitsela

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The Territory of Namibia was entrusted to South Africa as a Mandate under the League of Nations Covenant. After the dissolution of the League of Nations and the commencement of United Nations operations, South Africa's conception of its legal obligations under the mandate varied from those of other members of the United Nations. Because of that, the General Assembly requested the International Court of Justice for an Advisory Opinion on the international obligations of South Africa arising therefrom. The International Court of Justice declared that South West Africa was still a mandatory territory under the Covenant of the League of Nations. It also held that South Africa continued to transmit petitions from inhabitants of the territory, the supervisory functions to be exercised by the United Nations, to which the annual reports and the petitions were to be submitted. Subject to this judgement, the question of South West Africa remained a dispute relating to the mandate brought before the International Court of Justice against South Africa. The International Court of Justice and South Africa dispute reflected the nature of the Namibian inhabitants’ appeal for recognition at the United Nations.

Keywords: International Court of Justice, Namibia, petitions, United Nations

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Authors: Shivani Yadav

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The paper will first elaborate on the concept of soft power as formulated by Joseph Nye, who argues that soft power is as important as hard power in international politics as it replaces coercion with non-coercive forms of co-optation and attraction. The central tenet of the paper is to extrapolate the continued relevance of soft power in international relations in the 21st century. It is argued that the relevance of soft power, in concurrence with hard power, is on the rise in the international system. This is found to be emanating out of two factors. First, the state-centric practice of international relations has expanded to allow other actors to participate in policymaking. This has led to the resources for power generation to become varied, largely move away from the control of governments, and to produce both hard and soft power attributes. Second, as the currency of coercive power seems to be devaluing in global politics, the role of intangible factors like soft power is getting more important in policymaking. The paper will then go on to elaborate on the critiques of the formulation of soft power from various perspectives, as well as the defenses to these critiques presented by soft power proponents. The paper will reflect on the continued relevance of soft power in international politics by giving the example of India, and how soft power has continued to serve its policy objectives over the years. It is observed that even as India is recognized as a rising superpower today, yet it has made a continuous effort in cultivating its soft power resources, which have proven to be its assets in furthering its foreign policy interests. In conclusion, the paper makes the point that soft power, in conjunction with hard power, will shape international politics in the coming times.

Keywords: foreign policy, India’s soft power, international politics, smart power, soft power

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Authors: Linda Frazer

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A pluralistic methodology focuses on promoting an understanding that an alternative juridical framework for the regulation of transnational business negotiations (TBN) between private business parties is fundamentally required. This paper deals with the evolving assessment of the doctoral research of the author which demonstrated that due to insufficient juridical tools, negotiations are commonly misunderstood within the complexity of pluralistic and conflicting legal regimes. This inadequacy causes uncertainty in the enforcement of legal remedies, leaving business parties surprised. Consequently, parties cannot sufficiently anticipate when and how legal rights and obligations are created, often counting on oral or incomplete agreements which may lead to the misinterpretation of the extent of their legal rights and obligations. This uncertainty causes threats to business parties for fear of creating unintended legal obligations or, conversely, that law will not enforce intended agreements for failure to pass the tests of contractual validity. A need to find a manner to set default standards of communications and standards of conduct to monitor our evolving global trade would aid law to provide the security, predictability and foreseeability during alternative dispute resolution required by TBN parties. The conclusion of this study includes a proposal of new trade mechanisms, termed 'Bills of Negotiations' (BON) to enhance party autonomy and promote the ability for TBN parties to self-regulate within the boundaries of law. BON will be guided by a secure juridical institutionalized setting that caters to guiding communications during TBN and resolving disputes that arise along the negotiation processes on a fast track basis.

Keywords: alternative resolution disputes, ADR, good faith, good faith, juridical security, legal regulation, trade mechanisms, transnational business negotiations

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Authors: Baohua Yu

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In line with wider tends in the expansion of international student mobility, the number of international higher degree research students has grown at a significant rate in recent years. In particular, Australia has become a hub for attracting international higher degree research students from around the world. However, research has identified that international higher degree research students often encounter a wide range of academic and socio-cultural challenges in adapting to their new environment. Moreover, this can have a significant bearing on their levels of satisfaction with their studies. This paper outlines the findings of a mixed method study exploring the experiences and perceptions of international higher degree research students in Australia. Findings revealed that IRHD students’ overall and academic satisfaction in Australia were highly related to each other, and they were strongly influenced by their learning and research, moderately influenced by co-national support and intercultural contact ability. Socio-cultural satisfaction seemed to belong to a different domain from academic satisfaction because it was explained by a different set of variables such as living and adaptation and intercultural contact ability. In addition, the most important issues in terms of satisfaction were not directly related to academic studies. Instead, factors such as integration into the community, interacting with other students, relationships with supervisors, and the provision of adequate desk space were often given the greatest weight. Implications for how university policy can better support international doctoral students are discussed.

Keywords: international higher degree research students, academic adaptation, socio-cultural adaptation, student satisfaction

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Authors: Mohammad Ali Hasanzadeh, Thierry Van Elslander, Eddy Van De Voorde

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About 90 percent of world merchandise trade by volume being carried by sea. Maritime transport remains as back bone behind the international trade and globalization meanwhile all seaborne goods need using at least two ports as origin and destination. Amid seaborne traded cargos, container traffic is a prosperous market with about 16% in terms of volume. Albeit containerized cargos are less in terms of tonnage but, containers carry the highest value cargos amongst all. That is why efficient handling of containers in ports is very important. Accidents are the foremost causes that lead to port inefficiency and a surge in total transport cost. Having different port safety management systems (PSMS) in place, statistics on port accidents show that numerous accidents occur in ports. Some of them claim peoples’ life; others damage goods, vessels, port equipment and/or the environment. Several accident investigation illustrate that the most common accidents take place throughout transport operation, it sometimes accounts for 68.6% of all events, therefore providing a safer workplace depends on reducing collision risk. In order to quantify risks at the port area different variables can be used as exposure measurement. One of the main motives for defining and using exposure in studies related to infrastructure is to account for the differences in intensity of use, so as to make comparisons meaningful. In various researches related to handling containers in ports and intermodal terminals, different risk exposures and also the likelihood of each event have been selected. Vehicle collision within the port area (10-7 per kilometer of vehicle distance travelled) and dropping containers from cranes, forklift trucks, or rail mounted gantries (1 x 10-5 per lift) are some examples. According to the objective of the current research, three categories of accidents selected for collision risk assessment; fall of container during ship to shore operation, dropping container during transfer operation and collision between vehicles and objects within terminal area. Later on various consequences, exposure and probability identified for each accident. Hence, reducing collision risks profoundly rely on picking the right risk exposures and probability of selected accidents, to prevent collision accidents in container terminals and in the framework of risk calculations, such risk exposures and probabilities can be useful in assessing the effectiveness of safety programs in ports.

Keywords: container terminal, collision, seaborne trade, risk exposure, risk probability

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Authors: Seongryong Kang, Woonjin Kim, Sungjoo Lee

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Under the environment of fierce competition and globalized economy, international technology collaboration has gained increasing attention as a way to improve innovation efficiency. While international technology transfer helps a firm to acquire necessary technology in a short period of time, it also has a risk; embedding external technology from overseas partners may cause a transaction cost due to the regional, cultural and language barriers, which tend to offset the benefits of such transfer. Though a number of previous studies have focused on the effects of technology in-transfer on firm performance, few have conducted in the context of international technology transfer. To fill this gap, this study aims to investigate the impact of international technology in-transfer on firm performance – both innovation and financial performance, with a particular emphasis on the diversity and intensity of such transfer. To do this, we adopted technology balance payment (TBP) data of Korean firms from 2010 to 2011, where an intermediate regression analysis was used to identify the intermediate effects of absorptive capacity. The analysis results indicate that i) the diversity and intensity of international technology transfer influence innovation performance by improving R&D capability positively; and ii) the diversity has a positive impact but the intensity has a negative impact on financial performance through the intermediation of R&D intensity. The research findings are expected to provide meaningful implications for establishing global technology strategy and developing policy programs to facilitate technology transfer.

Keywords: diversity, intensity, international technology acquisition, performance, technology transfer

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Authors: Tatyana Kim

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This paper seeks to explore the academic and sociocultural adaptation experiences of international students studying in Kazakhstan. Using multiple case study design, the research will be undertaken at two private Kazakhstani universities having a relatively large and diverse body of international students. Thus, 20 full-time undergraduate international students from the sampled universities will be interviewed to identify factors that impede or, vice versa, facilitate their academic and sociocultural adaptation in Kazakhstan, as well as to reveal how universities support these students in the process of their adaptation. To investigate the issue more deeply, it was decided to explore the university administrators’ viewpoint of the issue. Thus, six university administrators who are in charge of recruiting and supporting international students and, thus, are particularly knowledgeable about their experiences, have been recruited for this study. Identification of both students’ and administrators’ perspectives on the matter may help reveal miscommunication, if any, and gain greater insight into the phenomenon. The data will be collected between November 5, 2019, and December 10, 2019. Preliminary findings will be presented at the conference. Lysgaard’s U-curve adjustment theory (1955) will be employed as a guiding framework to discuss and interpret the findings.

Keywords: academic adaptation, adaptation, higher education, international students, sociocultural adaptation

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Authors: Manoela Cabo da Silva, Elton Fernandes, Ricardo Pacheco, Heloisa Pires

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This study examined cointegration and causal relationships between economic growth and regular domestic and international passenger air transport in Brazil. Total passengers embarked and disembarked were used as a proxy for air transport activity and gross domestic product (GDP) as a proxy for economic development. The test spanned the period from 2000 to 2015 for domestic passenger traffic and from 1995 to 2015 for international traffic. The results confirm the hypothesis that there is cointegration between passenger traffic series and economic development, showing a bi-directional Granger causal relationship between domestic traffic and economic development and unidirectional influence by economic growth on international passenger air transport demand. Variance decomposition of the series showed that domestic air transport was far more important than international transport to promoting economic development in Brazil.

Keywords: air passenger transport, cointegration, economic growth, GDP, Granger causality

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Authors: Julia DeVoy, Olivia Berlin

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The United States exports over 1.6 billion pounds of post-consumer textiles every year, primarily to countries in the Global South. These textiles make their way to landfills and open-air dumps where they decompose, contaminating water systems and releasing harmful greenhouse gases. Through this inequitable system of waste disposal, countries with less political and economic power are coerced into accepting the environmental and health consequences of over-consumption in the Global North. Thus, the global trade of post-consumer textile waste represents a serious issue of environmental justice and a public health hazard. Our research located, characterizes, and quantifies the environmental and human health risks that occur when post-consumer textiles are left to decompose in landfills and open-air dumps in the Global South. In our work, we make use of United Nations International Trade Statistics data to map the global distribution of post-consumer textiles exported from the United States. Next, we present our landfill simulating reactor designed to measure toxicity of leachate resulting from the decomposition of textiles in developing countries and to quantify the related greenhouse gas emissions. This design makes use of low-cost and sustainable materials to promote frugal innovation and make landfill reactors more accessible. Finally, we describe how the data generated from these tools can be leveraged to inform individual consumer behaviors, local policies around textile waste disposal, and global advocacy efforts to mitigate the environmental harms caused by textile waste.

Keywords: sustainability, textile design, public health, built environment

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Authors: Ali Arabkheradmand, Enayat A. Shabani, Shabnam Ranjbar Nikkhoo

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Historical and ancestral bonds of the countries in the Middle East have led to similarities in culture and context of their societies. In addition, economic resources, such as the oil industry, have generally been an integrative point in the region. Higher education of a country is influenced by different national and international factors and regarding the mentioned bonds, it is inviting to study the development of the countries of the Middle East in higher education and draw some practical implications which can be used in the educational policy-making of the region. This review includes a data analysis on the population of international students in the countries of the Middle East. As its second objective, a review study on the successful countries, that is those which host the highest number of international students and the strategies they have developed to reach this state among the countries of the region has been conducted. Suggestions are made as to the strategies in higher education systems of these countries which could prove useful and practical in the development of internationalization of higher education in the region, specifically with regard to the recruitment of international students.

Keywords: internationalization of higher education, international student recruitment, Middle East countries, educational policy making

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Authors: Khadiga Kahwa, Aniza Ismail

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Depression, anxiety, and stress are associated with decreased role functioning, productivity, and quality of life. International students are more prone to psychological distress as they face many stressors while studying abroad. The objectives of the study were to determine the prevalence and associated factors of depression, anxiety, and stress among international students, their help-seeking behavior, and their awareness of the available on-campus mental support services. A cross-sectional study with a purposive sampling method was performed on 280 international students at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) between the age of 18 and 35 years. The Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21 (DASS-21) questionnaire was used anonymously to assess the mental health of students. Socio-demographic, help-seeking behavior, and awareness data were obtained. Independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA test, and multiple linear regression were used to explore associated factors. The overall prevalence of depression, anxiety, and stress among international students were 58.9%, 71.8%, and 53.9%, respectively. Age was significantly associated with depression and anxiety. Ethnicity showed a significant association with depression and stress. No other factors were found to be significantly associated with psychological distress. Only 9.6% of the international students had sought help from on-campus mental support services. Students who were aware of the presence of such services were only 21.4% of the participants. In conclusion, this study addressed the gap in the literature on the mental health of international students and provided data that could be used in intervention programs to improve the mental health of the increasing number of international students in Malaysia.

Keywords: anxiety, depression, stress, help-seeking behavior, students

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Authors: Fedorova Elena

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In this article, we draw a distinction between two important functions of public policy in private international law. The first function is widely recognized and relates to the prevention of application of foreign laws and enforcement of foreign court judgments whenever their effects are incompatible with the domestic legal system of the forum. This effectively protects sovereign rights of the forum state as it allows to resist against the undesirable effects of foreign law-making and law-enforcement policies. The second function is less obvious, but not less important. As the internal private legal relationships, international private relationships are usually governed by rules of public policy, to which the parties can not derogate by mutual agreement. Thefore, for international private law relations public policy has a different function than previously mentioned: in this case, the public policy acts as a defense against unacceptable effects of the party autonomy. Thus, this second function of public policy consists in the limitation of the party autonomy wich effects would be unacceptable for the local legal system. In the frame of this second function the author will analyse two types of public policy which can limit the party autonomy: « substantial » public policy (which regulates the substance of international legal relationship) and « conflictual » public policy (which regulates the party autonomy to choose the law applicable for the substance of relationship). The author provides an analysis of these functions of the public policy in the field of international contract law because of the important role of the principle of party autonomy for international contract relations.

Keywords: public policy, general theory of private international law, substantial public policy, conflictual public policy

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Authors: Akbar

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Pros and cons of the capital punishment in Indonesia have been out of the date. The discourse of capital punishment has no relevance to the theory of punishment and theories of cultural relativism. In fact, the provisions of exceptions to the right to life by administering the death penalty against the perpetrators of serious crimes in Indonesia is a narrow perspective that does not pay attention to the development of the punishment of the crime. This thing is aggravated by an error to understand the natural right and legal right where the prohibition of those rights is result from a failure to distinguish the characteristic of the rights and to remember the raison d’être of law. To parse the irrational above, this paper will try to analyze normatively the error referring to the complementary theory between the sources of international law and the sources of municipal law of Indonesia. Both sources of the law above should be understood in the mutually reinforcing relationship enforceability because of false perceptions against those will create the disintegration between international law and municipal law of Indonesia. This disintegration is explicit not only contrary to the integrative theory of international law but also integrative theory of municipal law of Indonesia.

Keywords: capital punishment, municipal law, right to life, international law, the raison d’être of law, complementary theory, integrative theory

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Authors: Emmanuel Mugiraneza

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Rwanda uses defence diplomacy to pursue international collective security through different mechanisms. This paper shows that with an intent of promoting international collective security, Rwanda has constituted its defense diplomacy policy in three standpoints. First, Rwanda has formed strategic cooperation alliances with state actors, regional and international Organizations that enables her to participate in and promote international collective peace, security and cooperation. Secondary, Rwanda uses defence diplomacy to foster cooperation in to pre-empt, minimize and neutralize potential triggers that would lead to the outbreak of international conflict. Thirdly, Rwanda implements defence diplomacy policy strategy through internationally recognized operational and tactical standards while dispelling hostilities, assisting the friendly nation’s forces and or building and maintaining public confidence and trust in the areas where Rwanda Defence Force deploys for peacekeeping missions in Sudan, South Sudan, Central African Republic and Mozambique for a counterterrorism mission.

Keywords: defence diplomacy, collective security, Rwanda, Peacekeeping

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Authors: Phillip F. Blaauw, Anna M. Pretorius

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South Africa re-entered the international economy in the early 1990s, after Apartheid, at a time when globalisation was gathering momentum. Globalisation led to a more open economy, increased export volumes and a changed export mix. Manufacturing goods gained ground relative to mining products. After 21 years of democracy, South African researchers and policymakers need to evaluate the impact of international trade on the level of employment and compensation of employees in the South African manufacturing industry. This is important given the consistent and high levels of unemployment in South Africa. This paper has this evaluation as its aim. Two complimenting approaches are utilised. The 27 sub divisions of the South African manufacturing industry are classified according to capital/labour ratios. Possible trends in employment levels and employee compensation for these categories are then identified when comparing levels in 1995 to those in 2014. The supplementing empirical approach is cross-sectional and panel data regressions for the same period. The aim of the regression analysis is to explain the observed changes in employment and employee compensation levels between 1995 and 2014. The first part of the empirical approach revealed that over the 20-year period the intermediate capital intensive, labour intensive an ultra-labour intensive manufacturing industries all showed massive declines in overall employment. Only three of the 19 industries for these classifications showed marginal overall employment gains. The only meaningful gains were recorded in three of the eight capital intensive manufacturing industries. The overall performance of the South African manufacturing industry is therefore dismal at best. This scenario plays itself out for the skilled section of the intermediate capital intensive, labour intensive an ultra-labour intensive manufacturing industries as well. 18 out of the 19 industries displayed declines even for the skilled section of the labour force. The formal regression analysis supplements the above results. Real production growth is a statistically significant (95 per cent confidence level) explanatory variable of the overall employment level for the period under consideration, albeit with a small positive coefficient. The variables with the most significant negative relationship with changes in overall employment were the dummy variables for intermediate capital intensive and labour intensive manufacturing goods. Disaggregating overall changes in employment further in terms of skill levels revealed that skilled employment in particular responded negatively to increases in the ratio between imported and local inputs for manufacturing. The dummy variable for the labour intensive sectors remained negative and statistically significant, indicating that the labour intensive sectors of South African manufacturing remain vulnerable to the loss of employment opportunities. Whereas the first period (1995 to 2001) after the opening of the South African economy brought positive changes for skilled employment, continued increases in imported inputs displaced some of the skilled labour as well, putting further pressure on the South African economy with already high and persistent unemployment levels. Given the negative for the world commodity cycle and a stagnant local manufacturing sector, the challenge for policymakers is getting even more pronounced after South Africa’s political coming of age.

Keywords: capital/labour ratios, employment, employee compensation, manufacturing

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Authors: Obiageli Eze

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Millions of Nigerian children are subjected daily to all forms of abuse, ranging from trafficking to slavery, and forced labor. These under age children are taken from different parts of the Country to be used as sex slaves and laborers in the big cities, killed for rituals, organ transplantation, or used for money laundering, begging on the streets or are put to work in the fields. These children are made to do inhuman jobs under degrading conditions and face all kinds of abuse at the hands of their owners with no hope of escape. While lots of people blame poverty or culture as a basis for human trafficking in Nigeria, the National Agency for the Prohibition and Trafficking in Persons and other Related Matters (NAPTIP) says other causes of the outrageous rate of human trafficking in the country are ignorance, desperation, and the promotion and commercialization of sex by the European Union (EU) as dozens of young Nigerian children and women are forced to work as prostitutes in European countries including the Netherlands, France, Italy, and Spain. In the cause of searching for greener pastures, they are coerced into work they have not chosen and subjected to perpetual life in bondage. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 prohibits slave trade and slavery. Despite the fact that Nigeria is a Sovereign member of the United Nations and signatory to this International instrument, Child trafficking and slavery is still on the increase. This may be caused by the fact that the punishment for this crime in Nigeria is a maximum term of 10 years imprisonment with some of the worst offenders getting off with as little as 2 years imprisonment or an option of fine. It goes without saying that this punishment is not sufficient to act as a deterrent to these modern slave traders. Another major factor oiling the wheel of trafficking in the country is voodoo. The victims are taken to shrines of voodoo priests for oath taking. There, underage girls and boys are made to swear that they would never reveal the identities of their traffickers to anyone if arrested whether in the course of the journey or in the destination countries and that they would pay off debt. Nigeria needs tougher Laws in order to be able to combat human trafficking and slave trade. Also there has to be aggressive sensitization and awareness programs designed to educate and enlighten the public as to the dangers faced by these victims and the need to report any suspicious activity to the authorities. This paper attempts to give an insight into the plight of under-age Nigerian children trafficked and sold as slaves and offer a more effective stand in the fight against it.

Keywords: child labor, slavery, slave trade, trafficking

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Authors: Lina Fernanda González

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Through this essay, an attempt will be made to make visible the work of the international network of the Women in Black (henceforth WB), on the one hand. On the other hand, the work of Women International Courts as a political practice will be showed as well, focusing their work into generating a collective identity - becoming thusly a peace building space, rescuing in this way the symbolic value of their practices consisting in peaceful resistance as political scenarios, that serve, too, a pedagogical and healing purposes.

Keywords: collective actions, women, peace, human rights and humanitarian international law

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Authors: Klara Strecker

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During times of globalization, socioeconomic systems have become connected across the world through global supply chains. As a result, consumption and production locations have increasingly become spatially decoupled. This decoupling leads to complex entanglements of systems and sustainability challenges across distances -entanglements which can be conceptualized as telecouplings. Through telecouplings, people and environments across the world have become closely connected, bringing challenges as well as opportunities. Some argue that telecoupling dynamics started taking shape during times of colonization when resources were first traded across the world. An example of such a telecoupling is that of the rose. Every third rose sold in Europe is grown in Kenya and enters the European market through the Dutch flower auction system. Many Kenyan farms are Dutch-owned, closely entangling Kenya and the Netherlands through the trade of roses. Furthermore, the globalization of the flower industry and the resulting shift of production away from the Netherlands and towards Kenya has led to significant changes in the Dutch horticulture sector. However, the sustainability effects of this rose telecoupling is limited neither to the horticulture sector nor to the Netherlands and Kenya. Alongside the flow of roses between these countries come complex financial, knowledge-based, and regulatory flows. The rose telecoupling also creates spillover effects to other countries, such as Ethiopia, and other industries, such as Kenyan tourism. Therefore, telecoupling dynamics create complex entanglements that cut across sectors, environments, communities, and countries, which makes effectively governing and managing telecouplings and their sustainability implications challenging. Indeed, sustainability can no longer be studied in spatial and temporal isolation. This paper aims to map the rose telecoupling’s complex environmental and social interactions to identify points of tension guiding sustainability-targeted interventions. Mapping these interactions will provide a more holistic understanding of the sustainability challenges involved in the Dutch-Kenyan rose trade. This interdisciplinary telecoupling approach reframes and integrates interdisciplinary knowledge about the rose trade between the Netherlands, Kenya, and beyond.

Keywords: Dutch-Kenyan rose trade, globalization, socio-ecological system, sustainability, telecoupling

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Authors: Hugo M. Gonzales, Ke Ni Chai, Deanne Mary King

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International students are underrepresented in Australian health literature, and this population is especially vulnerable to the well-documented negative impacts associated with racial microaggressions in their adjustment to settling in the new society, as well as to the many challenges they already face as international students. This study investigated the prevalence of racial microaggressions among international students and their impact on stress and psychological well-being. This research was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has been documented to contribute to anti-Asian racism. Participants included 54 international students, of which 72% were Asian. The Racial and Ethnic Microaggressions Scale (REMS), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS), and the Perceived General Wellbeing Indicator (PGWBI) were used to measure the participants’ responses. All participants reported experiencing racial microaggression in the last six months, and significant correlations and regression models were found between REMS, certain elements of the PSS scale, and time in Australia. Despite the small sample size, this research corroborated outcomes from recent studies and provided insight into the prevalence and impact of racial microaggressions among such populations, highlighting the need for further exploration.

Keywords: racial microaggressions, international students, racism, REMS, microaggressions in Australia, stress, psychological wellbeing

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Authors: S. Vlasyan

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The article deals with the implementation of the right to self-determination of peoples on the example of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The problem of correlation of two fundamental principles of international law i. e. territorial integrity and the right to self-determination of peoples is considered to be one of the vital issues in the field of international law for several decades. So, in this article, the author analyzes the decision of the Supreme Court of Canada regarding specific issues of secession of Quebec from Canada, as well as the decision of the International Court of Justice in the case concerning East Timor (Portugal v. Australia), and in the case of Western Sahara. The author formulates legal conditions of Nagorno-Karabakh secession.

Keywords: right of self-determination, territorial integrity, the principles of International Law, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic

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Authors: Ratih Indraswari

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As it occupies a new status in international relations, Indonesia needs to re-organize its resources in projecting the preferred image internationally. Attractiveness becomes crucial as Indonesia needs to maintain its posture as a reliable contributor to the world. This paper tries to scrutinize the un-tap potential of ideational powers Indonesia possesses. Herein the ideational power is assumed to be translated into a soft power, intangible and rely on its influential degree to persuade and attract other countries, through its public diplomacy activities. A specific correlation will be dedicated to the effort of Indonesia public diplomacy on international education. It is believed that international education progresses mutual understanding in disseminating Indonesia values and engages public audience. As a result these exchanges and engagements support the attainment of Indonesia’s interests and forwarding Indonesia’s foreign policies. A case study on KNB (Kemitraan Negara berkembang) scholarship scheme will be provided and its impact towards building people-to-people connections.

Keywords: Indonesia, international education, KNB (Kemitraan Negara Berkembang), public diplomacy

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Authors: Mehdi Ghaemi

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In principle, foreign investment security is enshrined in International Investment Agreements (IIAs) and Bilateral Investment Treaties (BITs) in the form of protection standards such as the Full Protection and Security Standard (FPS). Accordingly, the host countries undertake to provide the necessary security for the economic activities of foreign investment. With the outbreak of coronavirus, the international community called COVID-19 a threat to international peace security, as well as to the public interest and national security of nations; and to deal with, they proposed several solutions, generally including quarantine, creating social distances, and restricting businesses. This article first studies the security of foreign investment in international investment law. In the following, it analyzes the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic for foreign investment security so that if there is a threat to that security, solutions could be offered to reduce it.

Keywords: foreign investment, FPS standard, host country, public health, COVID-19

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Authors: J. Racedo, J. Torres

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Globalization has led to a worldwide competition for participation in markets of goods and productive factors, with significant effects on transports requirements. The port industry has not been an exception to this event, in fact, it has received increasing attention in recent years due to its crucial role on international trade. Because of this, the measurement of port performance has become an important issue in transport policy. Port performance and port efficiency has been widely studied in the last decades, resulting in noteworthy contributions to improving the industry competitiveness. In this paper, we aim to present a review of the literature on port performance and the relation between this concept and transport policies. This study has the objective to describe the approaches that have been developed in recent years, and especially those that include the modeling of public policies. Finally, we highlight existing gaps in this field, as well as possible directions for future research.

Keywords: port performance, port efficiency, transport, policy

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Authors: T. M. Al Muhareb

Abstract:

Any organization should take into consideration the customers’ satisfaction while providing any service to their customers. The quality of services is always considered as the main aspect that attracts the customers’ attention and helps the airports to develop their services and operations. King Khalid International Airport is considered as the gateway of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Therefore, the aim of this paper was to identify the quality service in the departure area at in King Khalid Airport. The SERVQUAL questionnaire was distributed among the passengers in King Khalid International Airport and the respondents have reached to 500 passengers. The results that are obtained from the SERVQUAL questionnaire showed that the quality of airport’s services is low.

Keywords: service quality, SERVQUAL methodology, King Khalid International Airport (KKIA), customers’ satisfaction

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Authors: Selinda England, Ben Bodnaryk

Abstract:

With an unprecedented increase in provincial immigration and government support for greater international and culturally diverse learners, a trade/applied learning-focused polytechnic with four campuses within one Canadian province saw the need for intercultural awareness and an intercultural teaching competence strategy for faculty training. An institution-wide pre-assessment needs survey was conducted in 2018, in which 87% of faculty professed to have some/no training when working with international and/or culturally diverse learners. After researching fellow Polytechnics in Canada and seeing very little in the way of faculty support for intercultural competence, an institutional project team comprised of members from all facets of the Polytechnic was created and included: Indigenous experts, Academic Chairs, Directors, Human Resource Managers, and international/settlement subject matter experts. The project team was organized to develop and implement a new academic model focused on enriching intercultural competence among faculty. Utilizing a competency based model, the project team incorporated inclusive terminology into competency indicators and devised a four-phase proposal for implementing intercultural teacher training: a series of workshops focused on the needs of international and culturally diverse learners, including teaching strategies based on current TESOL methodologies, literature and online resources for quick access when planning lessons, faculty assessment examples and models of interculturally proficient instructors, and future job descriptions - all which promote and encourage development of specific intercultural skills. Results from a post-assessment survey (to be conducted in Spring 2020) and caveats regarding improvements and next steps will be shared. The project team believes its intercultural and inclusive teaching competency-based model is one of the first, institution-wide faculty supported initiatives within the Canadian college and Polytechnic post-secondary educational environment; it aims to become a leader in both the province and nation regarding intercultural competency training for trades, industry, and business minded community colleges and applied learning institutions.

Keywords: cultural diversity and education, diversity training teacher training, teaching and learning, teacher training

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Authors: Alvarez Magañini, María Victoria-Rubbi, Lautaro Nahuel

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At present, we are facing an unstable international context, conditioned by a relative decline of the US power, primarily in the economic sphere and, to a lesser extent, in the military sphere. This scenario of multipolarity creates tension and uncertainty in the peripheral countries when the issue of their foreign policy arises. This paper presents an analysis of the bilateral relations that were maintained by the Argentine Republic, a peripheral country, along with the United States and China during the period of 2005-2015 in matters of defense in order to identify the empirical consequences resulted from the Argentine actions. Based on the conceptual framework of Peripheral Realism, we analyze indicators related to the weapon trade, defense loans, joint exercises, and personnel training, among others. There will also be a comparative analysis of the conventional military forces of the two powers in question, United States and China. As a conclusion, the cost of having closer relations with China instead of the United States in the defense agenda has been clearly higher than the benefits obtained. The conclusions drawn are empirically aligned with the theoretical paradigm of peripheral realism. Although there are certain conceptual and methodological digressions, these conclusions they could be useful to update and adapt the theory to the current complex international scenario.

Keywords: China, United States, Argentine, peripheral country, peripheral realism

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Authors: Daniil Chernov

Abstract:

In the modern world, the number of conventional interstate wars is declining while the number of military interventions is rising. States no longer initiate conflicts by declaring war but actively intervene in existing military confrontations, often using a comparable number of coercive means. According to existing scholarly understanding, the decision to use force in international relations (in any form) is influenced by roughly the same set of factors: the dynamics of domestic political processes, national interests, international law, and ethical considerations. In the database on armed intervention to be presented in the report, the multifactor model of decision-making is developed. The database describes more than 200 different parameters for armed interventions between 1992 and 2022. The report will present the structure of the database, descriptive statistics, and its key advantages over other sources.

Keywords: conflict resolution, international relations, military intervention, database

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Authors: Sara Fioretti

Abstract:

During the Middle Bronze Age, southern Italy underwent a reorganisation of social structures where local cultures, such as the sub-Apennine and Nuragic, flourished and participated in maritime trade. This paper explores the socio-economic relationships, in both cross-cultural and potentially inter-regional settings, present within the archaeological repertoire of the southern Italian Late Bronze Age (LBA 1600 -1050 BCE). The emergence of economic relations within the connectivity of the regional settlements is explored through ceramic contexts found in the case studies Punta di Zambrone, Broglio di Trebisacce, and Nuraghe Antigori. This paper discusses the findings of a statistical and theoretical approach from an ongoing study in relation to the Mediterranean’s characterisation as a period dominated by Mycenaean influence. This study engages with a theoretical bricolage of Social Networks Entanglement, and Assertive Objects Theory to address the selective and assertive dynamics evident in the cross-cultural trade exchanges as well as consider inter-regional dynamics. Through this intersection of theory and statistical analysis, the case studies establish a small percentage of pottery as imported, whilst assertive productions have a relatively higher quantity. Overall, the majority still adheres to regional Italian traditions. Therefore, we can dissect the rhizomatic relationships cultivated by the Italian coasts and Mycenaeans and their roles within their networks through the intersection of theoretical and statistical analysis. This research offers a new perspective on the complex nature of the Late Bronze Age relational structures.

Keywords: late bronze age, mediterranean archaeology, exchanges and trade, frequency distribution of ceramic assemblages, social network theory, rhizomatic exchanges

Procedia PDF Downloads 47