Oil conflict in Nigeria: Contending issues and perspectives of the local Niger Delta people

This article analyses the extent and nature of private authority in global political economy by examining one of its most publicised instances, the World Economic Forum (WEF). In Davos, Switzerland, the annual meetings of the WEF have attracted the world economic and political e´lite for more than 30 years. Appraisals of the WEF diverge widely. For many years, Le Monde Diplomatique, the French monthly close to the anti-neoliberal globalisation movement, has described the World Economic Forum as ‘the meeting place of the masters of the world [which] has undoubtedly become the centre of hyperliberalism, the capital of globalisation, and the main home of the “pensée unique” ’. George Soros, the well known hedge-fund manager turned philanthropist, has described the meetings of Davos, of which he is a regular participant, as a ‘big cocktail party’. These contrasting views on the influence and power of the WEF in global politics and economy mirror the position of those holding such claims: those closely associated with the Forum are inclined to deny its power and those fiercely opposed are likely to emphasise its overarching influence. From a theoretical perspective, however, these opposing views express disagreement on one outstanding feature of the changes associated with ‘globalisation’: the significance of new agents in the global political economy beyond states and markets.     

Deterritorialisation and the Transformation of Statehood: The Paradox of Globalisation

Since the end of the Cold War, states and civil societies face a radically different security situation. In addition to state-to-state threats, transnational security issues have risen to previously unknown relevance. I will argue that – in order to create effective counter-policies against transnational threats – states must transform fundamental principles of traditional statehood according to the logic of global deterritorialisation. To develop this argument, the nature of changed security will be analysed which itself can be found in de-territorialisation: transnational actors withdraw from the territorial principles of traditional security, as best epitomised by transnational terrorism. Consequently, ‘national security’, developed according to the territorial ‘inside’-‘outside’-logic of the state, no longer counters those actors. States must elaborate deterritorial strategies. This development causes a transformation of the state since territoriality is the basic principle of modern statehood. Thus, the reassertion of the state in global security unveils a paradox: to react to deterritorialised security and to reassure their power in global politics, states must overcome their traditional principles of territorial politics and further the development of deterritorialisation.     

Globalisation—New Demands on Public Enterprises

The globalisation of the economy and society reduces the economic policy capabilities of the state with its public enterprises considerably, but at the same time it triggers fundamental pressure on the government to compensate for the negative economic, political and social effects of the globalisation process. Using a system-theoretic framework, requirements for the public economy can be developed reaching from a social coordination function to an evolutionary-based industrial policy function of public enterprises. These functions and instrumental targets have to be implemented in a system of an internationalised public economy based on an appropriate institutional foundation. This in turn means focusing on a mixed system of public and non-profit organisations combined with market type institutions. By no means is an erosion of the public sector in the sense of radical privatisation strategies as propagated by the IMF and other prominent institutions implied. Rather a social need for public action must be considered mainly due to the public interest (Gemeinwohl). In this context, the socio-political competence of the public and nonprofit economy can be revitalised in an innovative way.     

Transnational Depoliticisation and Industrial Policy: The European Commission and French Steel (1980–1984)

ABSTRACT

Following the 2008 financial crash, voices have called governments to re-embrace industrial policy and promote industrial development. Such calls presuppose that the past decades witnessed a relative retreat of activist industrial policies. Within international political economy the latter is explained by the limits posed by the structure of global economic governance and globalisation on the state’s interventionist capacities. This article argues that these constraints have enabled states to pursue the transnational depoliticisation of industrial policy and transfer decision-making responsibilities to spheres lying beyond the governmental arena such as transnational institutions. By appealing to supranational economic rules, governments can disclose their own preferences for certain industrial policies and resist pressures to assist declining activities. To substantiate these claims the article proposes an archival investigation of the French government’s management of the steel industry between 1980 and 1984 and its support for a European Commission-led management of restructuring. The findings suggest that the pressures of the Commission played a crucial role in strengthening the government’s effort to implement socially unpopular but economically vital industrial choices.     

Geopolitics and the Genealogy of Free Trade Zones in the Persian Gulf

Free trade zones have been championed by policy makers as important mechanisms for the “economic liberalisation” and “globalisation” of the Middle East. While a growing number of political economists have begun to investigate the performance of these projects, few have considered why states voluntarily limit their sovereign powers by establishing these liberalised territories. To address this question, this paper studies the Jebel Ali free trade zone in Dubai (UAE) and the Kish free trade zone in Iran, two of the earliest such projects in the region. Rather than being products of neoliberal ideology or pressure from advanced industrial economies, the essay argues that paradoxically these zones were developed by the Iranian state and Dubai emirate to project territorial sovereignty in turbulent geostrategic settings and moments as well as nodes to circulate rent to domestic and international members of ruling coalitions. The geostrategic and state-building logics informed when, where, and how these projects were developed. More generally, this analysis illustrates that the Middle East is neither absent from the process of globalisation, nor does it simply respond passively and reactively to this complex process. Free trade zones are an example of local strategies working in consort with international processes to fashion new forms of economic and political interconnectedness.     

Impact of Globalisation on Employment in Nigeria

This study analyses the effect of globalisation on employment in Nigeria considering the economic, political and social aspects of globalisation using annual time series data for the period 1970 - 2013. The study uses ARDL bounds testing to examine the short-run and long-run effects. The findings indicate that in the short-run, the economic and social aspects of globalisation are beneficial as they induce an increase in employment rate, although both the two aspects of globalisation have only marginal effect in the short-run, while the political integration shows no effect in the short-run. However, in the long-run, all the three aspects of economic, political and social integration show substantial beneficial impact as they all induce a significant increase in the employment rate.     

The Trans-Political Nature of Southwest China’s Energy Conduit,Yunnan Province

Transboundary flows of energy across Yunnan Province in China and to Southeast Asian states provide insight into the changing nature of borders and border areas. Rather than monolithic symbols of state sovereignty, China’s southwest borders in Yunnan can be more accurately characterised as zones of connectivity and exchange, serving a range of local, national and regional objectives. Energy production and distribution in and across Yunnan can be understood as functioning in a set of dynamic transnational processes that serve as economic and political bridges – increasing interaction and deepening regional integration – while also working to mitigate risk to China’s energy demands. In this article, energy projects in Yunnan and Southeast Asia demonstrate the ways border regions can respond to increasing globalisation, simultaneously strengthening national energy security while promoting regional interconnection and diplomacy. Thus, connections to and through a once peripheral region present an apparent contradiction: once rigid territorial borders are increasingly characterised by transboundary infrastructure development and exchanges of energy, capital and diplomacy, while promoting broader, diversified national energy security objectives – essentially strengthening national security through transnational energy projects. This article investigates how energy development works to shape Yunnan’s role as an “energy conduit,” while advancing both transnational and national geopolitical objectives, and thus, suggesting that these projects can be understood as trans-political in nature.     

National borders,the global economy and geopolitics: A view from Yemen

The wider geographic scales of the new interdependencies called ‘globalisation’ are not new to peripheral states such as Yemen. In the colonial and post‐colonial world sensitivity to international developments has always been important in the course of local events. What is new is the particular configuration of political and economic institutions at various levels including, critically, the national level. This paper argues that, on the one hand, the new geography of economic and political ‘globalisation’ has left Yemen with distinctly ‘old’ forms of economic integration into world markets, but that, on the other hand, regional geopolitics have opened certain opportunities for Yemen's political elite to refashion itself as a strategic geopolitical player so as to maintain international flows of military and economic aid. The end result is the continued national dominance of these same elite. ‘Globalisation’ in this sense is a national political project.     

跨国公司直接投资区位因素及区位选择变化趋势探讨

随着经济全球化的发展,跨国公司在全球整合生产活动,而东道国的经济、商务、政府执行的外资政策等环境是影响跨国公司对外投资区位选择最重要的因素,也决定着跨国公司直接投资的类型。重视跨国公司直接投资区位选择变化趋势,这对引资国区位优势的重新认识有重要意义。     

Social welfare and competitiveness

The predominant narrative of globalisation is that it has led to a decline in the power of the nation state and an increase in the power of markets. Others note that the power of the state has increased along some dimensions, even as it has lost economic power. Both of these literatures, however, tend to be too reductive by focusing on the national scale. In contrast, this paper argues that globalisation may reconfigure, respatialise, and potentially increase the economic and political power of certain states. This hypothesis is tested empirically through reference to Chinese engagement in the Southern African country of Zambia using data obtained from in-depth interviews conducted with government officials, Chinese business owners, employees and other key informants.     

The god of the poor: Economics and religion in Latin America

The new political economy struggles to incorporate political processes into economic models. Religious institutions and commitments might similarly be incorporated into models of personal and social choice. This essay explores appropriate modeling strategies and suggests areas in which religion may prove relevant to the design of economic policy, particularly in Latin America. The paper concludes with points of discussion in a hypothetical dialogue between a North American economist and a Latin American theologian.     

Asian Values and the Constitutional Order of Contemporary Singapore

This essay examines the economic and political developmentof the Republic of Singapore and the implications of its modelof state-led development. Sections 2 and 3 examine the strengthsand weaknesses of technocratically ordered economic growth. Sections4 and 5 consider the impact of technocratically determined macroeconomictargeting upon the management of a goal-oriented organizationalorder increasingly preoccupied with a designated citizen identity.The final section examines the implications of this attempt tomix impersonal rules with bounded governance structures of anEast-Asian provenance for constitutional political economy.     

Geoeconomic Relations Between the EU and China: The Lessons From the EU Weapon Embargo and From Galileo

The merging of geopolitical and economic goals, known as geoeconomics, is becoming more and more frequently an important factor of state policies in the age of globalisation and the changing international order. The article offers an analysis of the EU-China relations seen within the increasingly valid geoeconomics perspective. It is focused on two case studies: armament embargo after 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and the Galileo system (a European system of satellite communication). The aforementioned cooperation has laid bare the weakness of European geopolitical thought. It has also demonstrated the supremacy of short-term economic goals of the European actors over strategic goals (both within the economic and the political spheres). In contrast with China, the EU does not possess a coherent geoeconomics strategy.     

The institutionalisation of political economy in Italy and Spain (1860–1900): a comparative approach

Abstract

The process of institutionalisation of political economy has become of increasing interest in tracing the evolution of economic thought. This paper presents a comparison of the development of these processes in Italy and Spain, through the analysis of the presence of political economy in some institutions in both countries between 1860 and 1900: universities, economic associations, economic journals and national parliaments. This essay aims at supplying new insights to the consolidation of economics as a scientific and socially appreciated field of knowledge, and exploring the influence of the form of institutionalisation on the economic ideas diffused in a particular country.     

UNCED in the context of globalisation

It is interesting and salutary to look back and review together the books by Naomi Klein, Noreena Hertz and George Monbiot, all of which have gained a certain fame since they were published two or three years ago. They emerged from the backlash against the recent wave of globalisation and have attained almost iconic status within the anti-globalisation movement. All share a common theme: that ‘globalisation’ is above all built on the back of the corporate takeover of economic, political and cultural life. This means that global capitalism not only now dictates the nature of our consumption habits to an unprecedented degree (Klein), but that it has undermined all democratic activity (Hertz) and has led to the capture of the state by commercial interests as well (Monbiot—who concentrates on Britain in particular).     

Technological Entrepreneurship and Capability Building in Biotechnology

The question addressed in this paper is whether and how intermediate developed countries (IDCs) can profit from the possibilities opened by globalisation to set off processes of capability building in advanced technological sectors. While most debates have taken place in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) field, the paper addresses the case of biotechnology. It is argued that, given the specific characteristics of biotechnology, opportunities may emerge for technology-intensive entrepreneurial initiatives in countries that have developed a reasonable science base and built the capacity to connect to and plug into international biotechnology networks. The exploitation of these opportunities requires strategies that combine good indigenous scientific competences and a pool of skilled human resources, with transnational linkages, and that rely on firms' abilities to find a position in globally coordinated 'knowledge value chains'. The paper conducts a first assessment of the viability of this approach, drawing on empirical research on 'distant networking strategies' adopted by Portuguese new biotechnology firms.     

Privatizations around the world: economic or political determinants?

The article examines economic, political, and institutional determinants of privatization using a panel of 50 countries over the period of 1988–2006. Our sample includes developed, developing, and transition economies. Privatization activity is measured by the number of privatization deals as well as the revenue raised and analyzed using the negative binomial regression and Tobit regression respectively. Although more privatization activity is usually taking place in countries displaying satisfactory economic performance in some respect, the role of economic factors turns out to be limited. The results identify a number of political and institutional determinants but some effects are specific to a particular type of economy. For example, in developing countries, right‐wing governments are associated with privatizations while new, not necessarily right‐wing governments, are behind privatization in Eastern Europe. The role of financial development is also varied, with sound financial institutions related to successful privatization in developed and developing countries but not in transition economies.     

Philosophical Consideration about the Sustainable Development of the Economy in West China

I. IntroductionExploiting western regions in China is to develop theeconomy of the west, narrow the disparity of the westand the east, make the west and the east realize thecommon prosperity and keep the nation's prosperity andstability. The development of western regions is not merelya great economic issue, but also a great national problem(the ethnic minority of our country occupies more west)and a political issue. If the development of the east andthe west were not balanced, it will likely…     

西部经济可持续发展的哲学思考

To realize the sustainable development of the economy of West China is not merely a great economic problem, but also a great national problem and political issue. The economic activity is a practical activity for the economic subject. The economic development view, values, and the natural view of the economic subject determine the choice of the behavior of the main body in the economic activity. Only the behavior of the economic subject according with its demands could make the economy of west China have a sustainable development. Therefore, establishing the development view, the values and natural view of the economic subject for sustainable development becomes a realistic problem that is worth of thinking.     

On the Benefits From Rigid Labour Markets: Norms, Market Failures, and Social Insurance

The common view that far-reaching labour market deregulation is the only remedy for high European unemployment is too simplistic. First, the evidence suggests that deeply rooted social customs are an important cause of wage rigidity, going beyond the legal constraints emphasised in the political debate. Second, in a second-best setting, a compressed wage structure may generate an efficiency gain. Finally, based on simple plots of the relation between labour market institutions and openness in OECD countries, I conclude that the globalisation of economic activity may lead to increased demand for various labour market rigidities.