On 26-27 January 1996, the National Endowment for Democracy's International Forum for Democratic Studies and the Pacific Council on International Policy convened a one-and-a-half-day conference on democratic development and economic growth in East Asia and Latin America. The conference sought to shed light on the relationship between constructing democratic governance and building market economies in both regions.Participating in the meeting were 18 eminent scholars from Asia, Latin America, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Not all participants were able to attend the second day's morning session. About 30 additional scholars, business and community leaders, and members of the press attended as observers. Carl Gershman, president of the National Endowment for Democracy, gave the luncheon address. (Names in italics in this report are identified in the appendix.)

This report summarizes the presentations and comments made during the conference. While every effort has been made to portray accurately the range of opinions expressed, space and organizational considerations have required omissions and paraphrasing. This report was written by Chappell Lawson, a graduate student in political science at Stanford University, and edited by the International Forum for Democratic Studies and the Pacific Council on International Policy. Any errors in fact or interpretation should be attributed to the author and editors.

The conference and this report were made possible in part by a grant from the Carnegie Corporation of New York to the International Forum for Democratic Studies and grants from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the General Service Foundation, and the James Irvine Foundation to the Pacific Council on International Policy. The funders do not take responsibility for any statements or views expressed in this document. The views expressed in this report do not necessarily represent those of the National Endowment for Democracy, the International Forum for Democratic Studies, or the Pacific Council on International Policy. Photocopies may be made. When using any part of this document, please cite the International Forum for Democratic Studies and the Pacific Council on International Policy. This report was produced by Debra Liang-Fenton, Conferences & Publications Coordinator of the International Forum.

Most observers of Russia's historic presidential election on July 3 believed that Boris Yeltsin and his colleagues had made a dramatic bid for reelection and won. But Time magazine's ensuing cover story, "Yanks to the Rescue," by chief political correspondent Michael Kramer, and the ABC news Nightline feature "Secret Weapon," aired July 8, had a different take. They chose to downplay the greatest political event of the decade -- the triumph of democrats and democracy in the first direct election of a head of state in Russia in a thousand years -- and featured instead three American consultants who allegedly won the race for Boris Yeltsin. As one of these men boasted on Nightline, "We have brought democracy to the evil empire and the world will be forever changed because of it." This is ludicrous.

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After two rounds of voting, as you know, Boris Yeltsin was reelected President of Russia. In the first round, he surpassed his closest challenger, the Communist Party chairman Zyuganov by only 3 percentage points. However, in the second round, Yeltsin trounced Zyuganov by an impressive 13 percentage points. Voter turn-out in each round was about 67 percent. The high turn-out testifies to the electorates's continuing involvement in the political process despite many disappointments and economic hardships, and ominous predictions of a low turn-out.

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In basketball, "finishers" are the ones that win. Anyone can make a good move to the basket, but finishers make a good move and make the basket. Many teams in the American NBA are good for three quarters, but finishers are those teams that play best in the fourth quarter. The Chicago Bulls are finishers; the Orlando Magic are not.

Will Yeltsin and his campaign team emerge as finishers, or will they fade down the stretch? While Yeltsin's campaign has been brilliant through the first three quarters, his team must overcome several potential pitfalls in the last quarter to finish the campaign.

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How can Europe, the United States, and Japan stop the technological, trade, and financial war on which they have increasingly and wastefully embarked? How can they direct the development and uses of science and technology and the economy in the interests of the well-being of the 8 billion people who will inhabit the planet in 2010-2020? Limits to Competition boldly frames international political economy and globalization debates within the new overarching ideology of competition and offers a balancing voice.

The word compete originally meant "to seek together," but in our time it has taken on more adversarial connotations and has become a rallying cry of both firms and governments, often with devastating consequences. Limits to Competition explores the question of whether free-market competition can indeed deliver the full range of needs for sustainable development. Is competition the best instrument for coping with increasingly severe environmental, demographic, economic, and social problems at a global level?

Designed specifically for students and other readers near to the subject, this new single-volume version of the award-winning Encyclopedia of Democracy features more than 300 entries covering democratic concepts, countries, and individuals.

The Concise Encyclopedia of Democracy is a single-volume version of the award-winning Encyclopedia of Democracy. Not a condensation, the new Concise Encyclopedia of Democracy was created to address the specific requirements of high school and introductory college courses and is geared to the special needs of high school and college students, and the general public.

The more than 300 articles in The Concise Encyclopedia of Democracy include concepts, countries, and individuals, emphasizing the historical and practical, rather than the theoretical. While the coverage is international in scope, particular emphasis is given to the American experience and the democracies that are part of the high school curriculum and introductory college courses.

Especially valuable to the student library patron are new entries on the Constitution and general government practices that meet The National Standards in Civics and Government. The 150 maps, photographs, charts, and timelines are designed to present the researcher with information in a concise, visual form.

As Japan's newfound economic power leads to increased political power, there is concern that Japan may be turning East Asia into a regional economic bloc to rival the U.S. and Europe. In Regionalism and Rivalry, leading economists and political scientists address this concern by looking at three central questions: Is Japan forming a trading bloc in Pacific Asia? Does Japan use foreign direct investment in Southeast Asia to achieve national goals? Does Japan possess the leadership qualities necessary for a nation assuming greater political responsibility in international affairs?

The authors contend that although intraregional trade in East Asia is growing rapidly, a trade bloc is not necessarily forming. They show that the trade increase can be explained entirely by factors independent of discriminatory trading arrangements, such as the rapid growth of East Asian economies. Other chapters look in detail at cases of Japanese direct investment in Southeast Asia and find little evidence of attempts by Japan to use the power of its multinational corporations for political purposes. A third group of papers attempt to gauge Japan's leadership characteristics. They focus on Japan's "technology ideology," its contributions to international public goods, international monetary cooperation, and economic liberalization in East Asia.

"Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy Revisited is must reading for anyone who considers him- or herself a political economist, and it should also appeal to those probing the uncertainties of contemporary democratization."--Philippe C. Schmitter, Stanford University.

"An excellent collection of essays -- thoughtful, provocative, illuminating. They make a book well worth reading." -- Irving Kristol, American Enterprise Institute

Since 1945 the world has undergone vast and fundamental change. The collapse of colonial empires and the tensions of the Cold War produced great political turbulence in many areasnulland integrative movements in others. Now the end of the Cold War has sparked off the breakdown of one of the superpowers and much turmoil elsewhere.

To chart a way through these dramatic developments, leading scholars from Britain, Canada, the United States, and Australia present up-to-date surveys of the experience of each of the world's eleven geopolitical regions. They also consider the contemporary character of sovereign statehood, looking on the one hand at its enduring geographical and psychological bases and on the other at how it has been affected by economic interdependence and ethnicity. The result is an authoritative survey of the international scene during the second half of the twentieth century.

During the most recent Russian-American summit in Vancouver, Canada in April 1993, President Clinton announced a major new initiative to assist Russia's transition to a market economy. In discussing how to aid the process of Russia's economic reform in ways of mutual benefit to both the United States and Russia, both President Yeltsin and President Clinton underscored the importance of promoting the conversion and privatization of state enterprises of the Russian military-industrial complex.

While most agree that conversion and privatization of these enterprises are laudable goals, few have discussed concrete methods of achieving these ends at the level of individual enterprises. By focusing on the actual experiences of one Russian enterprise that has both converted to almost 100% civilian production and, at the same time, become a private company, this report seeks to expand the discussion of the means and models for achieving conversion and privatization of the Russian military industrial complex.

This report covers work on conversion and privatization in the former Soviet Union that has been conducted over the past two years by the Center for International Security and Arms Control (CISAC) at Stanford University. In it, we explore the process of conversion and privatization through employee ownership. The report contains one chapter each on the major issues surrounding conversion and privatization, followed by a detailed explanation of the employee ownership method of privatization. The report concludes with the description and analysis of a case study of privatization through employee ownership: the Saratov Aviation Plant.