《哥本哈根协议》令人失望

2009年12月19日，经过为期近3周的艰苦谈判，联合国哥本哈根气候变化大会在达成不具有法律约束力的《哥本哈根协议》（Copenhagen Accord）后闭幕。协议内容很短，仅有十二段。记者在此将其主要内容归纳如下：     

美媒体对哥本哈根峰会达成协议反应不一

哥本哈根峰会闭幕后，美国各大媒体纷纷在第一时间做出反应，对会议的结果和今后气候变化谈判的形势等发表分析评论。     

中国民企百人团征战哥本哈根

从2006联合国巴厘气候谈判只有一位中国企业家参与，到近百名中国企业家自愿参加COPIS，中国企业家对气候变化问题的关注度日益提升。     

后哥本哈根：绿色经济

2010年1月29日,国务院总理温家宝分别复信丹麦首相拉斯穆森和联合国秘书长潘基文,表示中方积极评价并支持联合国哥本哈根气候变化会议发表的《哥本哈根协议》。温家宝重申,中国将采取积极措施,努力实现提出的国内自主行动目标,     

哥本哈根纪要的翻版？

虽然2011年11月28日-12月9日召开的南非德班气候变化谈判会议最终达成了合作协议：成立＂德班增强行动平台特设工作组＂;决定实施《京都议定书》第二承诺期;启动绿色气候基金;决定建立一个有助于国际行动实效的新机制,但作者从会议的过程中气候变化谈判各方存在的多方分歧看来,加强合作、建立互信是气候变化谈判取得实质性成果的重要因素。     

对哥本哈根会议结局和效果的评价

哥本哈根会议是就全球气候变暖问题召开的。由于世界各国势力的明争暗斗，使这次会议的会前、会中和会后出现了一些新的矛盾与新的变化。哥本哈根会议上西方发达国家空喊减排口号，不想承担减排义务，从而使发展中国家在应对气候变化上面临着新的压力和挑战。哥本哈根会议几乎是老调重弹，无果而终，只得到一个无力的协议，距离一个有法律约束力的框架还相差甚远。会议留给下次墨西哥会议三大难题：一是发达国家的温室气体减排目标问题；二是关于温室气体减排的资金、技术问题；三是关于发展中国家参与问题。     

后哥本哈根时代

2009年末的哥本哈根气候大会最终成为一场闹剧。这场事先就不被各方看好的各国政治家气候峰会刚一落幕，全球就遭受了罕见的严寒冰雪气候。当民间环保热情遭遇冰封的地缘政治，新世纪第一个十年的最后这个冬天显得格外寒冷彻骨。     

美人鱼故乡：哥本哈根

哥本哈根，丹麦首都，北欧最大的城市和重要的海陆空交通枢纽。     

哥本哈根为我们带来了什么

12月7—18日，国际超过200多个国家的领导人、科学家和各组织，齐聚丹麦首都哥本哈根，商讨全球应对气候变化之道。这个顶着“人类拯救地球最后一次机会”大帽的国际峰会，在没有召开之前就充斥着各种争论和疑惑。     

日产：谨慎的激进派

戈恩算得上汽车业内最行踪不定的人,他同时担任雷诺和日产两家大汽车公司的CEO,每年要坐将近25万公里的飞机,穿梭于全球各地。但是,今年12月戈恩一定会出现在丹麦哥本哈根,联合国气候变化大会将在这里召开。     

Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement: An Analysis

ABSTRACT

The Canada-Chile Free Trade Agreement (FTA) came into effect in June 1997. This paper examines the rationale for free trade negotiations between Canada and Chile. Key trade and investment issues in the Canada-Chile FTA are also discussed. Although it is only a few years since the Canada-Chile FTA entered into force, the preliminary results indicate impressive growth in trade and investment between the two countries.

RESUMEN. El Acuerdo de Libre Comercio Canadá-Chile (ALC) entró en vigor en junio 1997. Este documento examina el razonamiento que respalda las negociaciones entre Canadá y Chile sobre el Acuerdo de libre comercio. También abraca los temas más importantes sobre el comercio e inversiones entre Canadá-Chile. A pesar del poco tiempo transcurrido desde que se implantó el acuerdo de ALC entre Canadá y Chile, los resultados preliminarios indican una impresionante tasa de crecimiento entre las inversiones realizadas entre ambos países.

RESUMO. O Acordo de Livre Comércio (ALC) Canadá-Chile entrou em vigor em junho de 1997. Este estudo investiga os fundamentos das livres negociaç[otilde]es comerciais entre o Canadá e o Chile. São abordados, também, o comércio principal e os investimentos realizados no ALC Canadá-Chile. Apesar de estar em vigor há poucos anos, os resultados preliminares deste acordo indicam um crescimento impressionante no comércio e nos investimentos entre os dois países.     

BETWEEN PRAGMATISM AND PRINCIPLE: Legalization,Political Economy,and the WTO's Subsidy Agreement

How might the World Trade Organization's (WTO) subsidies regulations affect the development of national industrial policies? This question is investigated by examining two recent WTO cases involving small, open economies which emphasize state support for high value-added, export-oriented industries: Australia and Canada. The analysis centers on the degree to which the disputes panels in each case sought to balance the conflicting demands of enforcing common international rules on subsidy with the recognition that states continue to enjoy the right under WTO to subsidize firms. It finds that in both cases panels tried to avoid imposing broad rules and instead looked at the particular circumstances of each dispute. While this approach is more accommodating of state sovereignty concerns, the use of commercial referents for governments loans, coupled with the "purpose" standard, may yet impose constraints on small economies seeking to develop higher value added sectors.     

中美第一阶段协议争端解决机制的路径选择：法律规则与政治逻辑

中美第一阶段协议通过条约的方式明确中美双方的权利和义务,并通过制度化的设计使两国重回沟通对话的轨道。协议第七章所设立的"双边评估和争端解决安排"成为中美双方充分履行协议的制度保障。它通过对适用范围和机构设置与协议履行的高度绑定,使协议项下的遵约机制和争端解决机制在本质上实现了混同。协议项下的争端解决程序具有封闭性、逐级性和快速性的特点,服务于协议充分、及时的履行。对比中美与其他国家签署的FTA,第一阶段协议争端解决机制的上述特点主要表现为:最大限度地避免第三方机构对协议相关争端作出有法律拘束力的裁判;最大限度地赋予中美双方对于评估争议和采取行动的自由裁量权。结合中美贸易战的历程和第一阶段协议的谈判背景来看,第一阶段协议争端解决机制是中美贸易战过程中双方博弈模式的在法律上的延续。决定一部"自主履行"协议命运的主要变量是缔约方对己方利益诉求的判断,以及缔约各方的实力较量。第一阶段协议生效以来,中美之间摩擦依然不断,而新冠疫情为双方履约增添了更多的不确定性。但从目前为止的中美双方有关行动与表态来看,中美双方仍然认为继续履行协议的获益大于停止履行协议的获益。     

An Agreement Index with Respect to a Consensus Preorder

In this paper, we propose an index to measure the agreement level of an individual preorder with respect to a collective preorder (or reference preorder). The originality of the proposed index consists in the two following facts: (i) it quantifies the agreement level between two preorders which are not necessarily complete (i.e. they may include the incomparability relation), a preference system rarely tackled in the literature and (ii) it takes into account the positions of the alternatives in the individual preorder. The proposed index is then used to compute, within the framework of a consensus preorder research, the agreement level of all group’s members with respect to a collective preorder.     

Imperfect markets: Business ethics as an easy virtue

This paper marks a radical diversion from the large body of prevailing literature in business ethics which primarily views the issue in individual-personal terms, i.e., corporate executive and employee, and suggests that making corporations more ethical would primarily come through changes in executive behavior. While this approach has strong intellectual roots in moral philosophy and religion, it fails in explaining the persistence of unethical and illegal behavior among corporations of all sizes, financial health, competitive market conditions, and, level of individual executive compensation. This paper argues for a fundamentally different approach to understanding ethical behavior, or lack thereof, among corporations and their executives. It is asserted that an overwhelmingly large rationale and/or inducement for proactive ethical business behavior is rooted in competitive aspects of particular markets, and industry structures prevailing in those markets. Furthermore, while highly competitive markets may promote efficiency, they do not guarantee ethical behavior and may indeed provide greater opportunities and incentives for unethical business behavior. Thus, by following the current prognosis, we could be wasting enormous resources in terms of teaching business ethics, and creating and imposing corporate codes of conduct. We assert that these approaches would at best make a marginal improvement in the ethical performance of corporations while at the same time exacerbate the problem by ignoring more fundamental, structural issues. Imperfect markets, with their above-market profits, are a necessary but insufficient condition for corporations to behave ethically. It is only under conditions of imperfect markets that individual executives can play an important role in guiding their corporations toward greater ethical norms. These are undertaken for a variety of reasons, including, protecting a corporation's good name, public expectations, competitive norms, and, corporate culture and individual executive's predilections, to name a few.S. Prakash Sethi is Professor and Acting Director, Center for Management, Baruch College, The City University of New York. He has widely published in the areas of corporate social responsibility, international business, business ethics, and corporate strategy and public policy. His most recent publication isMultinational Corporations and the Impact of Public Advocacy on Corporate Strategy: Nestle and the Infant Formula Controversy (Kluwer, 1994).     

Imperfect Duties and Corporate Philanthropy: A Kantian Approach

Nonprofit organizations play a crucial role in society. Unfortunately, many such organizations are chronically underfunded and struggle to meet their objectives. These facts have significant implications for corporate philanthropy and Kant’s notion of imperfect duties. Under the concept of imperfect duties, businesses would have wide discretion regarding which charities receive donations, how much money to give, and when such donations take place. A perceived problem with imperfect duties is that they can lead to moral laxity; that is, a failure on the part of businesses to fulfill their financial obligations to nonprofit organizations. This article argues the problem of moral laxity rests on a misinterpretation of Kantian ethics and, therefore, is really not a problem at all. As such, we argue corporate philanthropy while an imperfect duty should be interpreted more akin to perfect duties and, as a consequence, moral laxity does not arise for those corporations committed to acting on the basis of the moral law. More specifically, firms have duty-based obligations on the basis of benevolence, and as good corporate citizens, to help fund non-profit organizations.