A partner in Africa? Canada and post‐apartheid South Africa
Before the apartheid‐induced imposition of sanctions beginning in the 1960s, Canada's ties with South Africa were closer and more complex than with any other nation on the African continent. William Dobell looks at the renewal of relations in the post‐apartheid era to determine whether South Africa has once again come to occupy the position of Canada's primary partner on the continent. The resumption of political, economic and cultural interchange has indeed fostered closer links between the two countries than those between Canada and other African nations, he notes, but this may have more to do with the weakness of Canadian ties to Africa than with the strength and vitality of its burgeoning relations with the new regime. Dobell examines the factors which may hinder or enhance the development of the ties that do exist and what benefits there may be for both nations in the pursuit of closer relations.
Marshall, Lerner & Botha:Canada's Economic Sanctions on South Africa
Debut juillet 1985, le Canada a impose un ensemble de sanctions commerciales a l'Afrique du Sud pour lutter contre l'apartheid. Mais les donnees recentes sur les 6changes commerciaux sont embarassantes car les importations canadiennes en provenance d'Afrique du Sud semblent croitre (plutot que chuter), indiquant que la politique des sanctions est un 6chec. Cependant, ce texte demontre que si l'on mesure bien ces importations elles ont chutes depuis leur imposition. Ceci reflete le resultat bien connu qu'il peut etre incorrect d'examiner la valeur plutot que le volume du commerce. Un appendice demontre qu'en theorie les sanctions modifient le taux de change Canada-Afrique du Sud, qui a son tour affecte la valeur et le volume du commerce. De fait, on peut aisement s'apercevoir que la valeur et le volume peuvent se d6placer en sens inverse. Comme Marshall Lerner et d'autres l'ont d6montre, ceci depend des elasticites. De fait, le volume des importations canadiennes en provenance d'Afrique du Sud a diminue bien que sa valeur se soit
The Internet and the Changing Beijing-Taipei Relations: Toward Unification or Fragmentation?
Information and its technologies facilitate the exercise of what has been called “soft power,” a concept that differentiates information from the conventional dimensions of “hard power,” which is mainly associated with military force and economic influence. Soft power, according to Nye, a former Assistant Secretary of Defense of the United States, means that “A country may obtain the outcomes it wants in world politics because other countries want to follow it, admiring its values, emulating its example, aspiring to its level of prosperity and openness. In this sense it is just as important to set the agenda in world politics and attract others as it is to force them to change through the threat or use of military or economic weapons.”1