A gramscian perspective on field dynamics. The case of the privatization of Italian steel industry

Institutional fields are not static, they undergo times of fragmentation and times of settlement. Neo-institutional research has long explained the settlement of fields as either the effect of political manoeuvring of actors, or of discursive activity influencing cultural codes, narratives and symbols. But can these processes really be considered in isolation? In this paper, we propose to adopt a comprehensive view on fields’ dynamics, one that embraces the interaction of political and discursive manoeuvring to explain how fragmented fields manage to settle. To do so, we build on the Gramscian concept of hegemonic practices as discursive and political processes that integrate cultural equivalence among actors with political alliances based on aligned interests. Hegemonic practices align actors in a new historical bloc (a new settlement). Through this lens, we interpret the case of the Italian State steel privatization (1984–1995) and propose a process model explaining what yields fields’ dynamics from fragmentation to settlement. The model highlights the action of diffused agency in field dynamics, thus overcoming the obsolete challenger/incumbent view, and the need of becoming a historical bloc for alliances to stabilize a field.     

Adoption of the International Financial Reporting Standards by Greek non-listed companies: The role of coercive and hegemonic pressures

In this paper, we examine the motivations for preparers in Greek non-listed companies to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). Previous literature has focused on listed companies and assessed the effect of IFRS on market efficiency to justify its adoption. Using data from a cross-sectional survey and from interviews with senior managers, our analysis indicates that the motivations to adopt IFRS in Greece are not primarily related to the technical competence of the standards. We draw insights from literature on institutional theory and hegemony based on the Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Gramsci, and show that the decision to comply with IFRS can also be motivated by coercive and hegemonic pressures, which are exerted by powerful institutional constituents as they interact with organisations’ strategic interests at the international and national level. The adoption of IFRS is driven predominantly by the pressures exerted by parent companies on their subsidiaries and by the legal requirements of the state, but also through borrowing and debt-contracting requirements as enforced by civil society actors, such as financial institutions. This mobilisation of power plays a pivotal role in supporting the establishment of IFRS among non-listed companies.     

美元霸权:生存基础、生存影响与生存冲突

本文首先对美元霸权进行了界定,认为美元霸权的内涵是美元的超中心地位+发行自由化,外延是对全球造成的不和谐影响。内涵也是其生存基础,外延也是其生存影响。在分析美元霸权的生存基础与生存影响的基础上,本文认为,从长期来看二者具有内在矛盾:生存基础带来生存影响、生存影响反过来动摇生存基础。生存冲突决定了美元霸权的退出具有历史必然性,论文最后提出了美元霸权软着陆的构想。     

Turning to the dark side: Challenging the hegemonic positivity of the creativity discourse

Using a Laclauian discourse approach this paper challenges the hegemony of articulations framing creativity as good, necessary, and as a source of valuable outcomes for organizations and individuals. Instead, this paper argues that creativity has a ‘dark side’, referring to that which is harmful and may result in pain, loss or suffering. We analyze and expose the hegemonic positivity of the creativity discourse within organization studies and discuss the implications of this hegemony. We conclude that the dark side of creativity has been subverted in the discourse and requires further scholarly exploration. To promote a greyer research agenda of creativity in organizations, we offer three theorizations of the dark side of creativity as antagonisms to the hegemony – the individual, collective, and critical. By challenging the hegemonic positivity of creativity and by providing a number of research imaginaries, this paper invites scholars to broaden the discourse and to embrace a more greyer understanding of creativity in organization studies.     

世界经济霸权周期:一个一国模型

本文以Modelski的霸权周期论为重要假设,构造了一个动态优化模型揭示世界经济霸权国家在霸权周期内的行为特征:通过稳定的对外掠夺量来最大化净收益。从该模型可以引出两个假说:如果技术和制度对经济增长的贡献不变,霸权国家在霸权周期初期的经济增长率高于前一时期;在霸权结束后一段时间内的经济增长率低于前一时期。荷兰、英国和美国的历史经验总体上支持两个假说。     

美国金融霸权、金融危机与全球金融治理——基于新马克思主义的视角

2008年美国金融危机爆发后,美国金融霸权的地位及其对危机的影响是国内外学界存在较大争议的一个问题.本文从新马克思主义的世界体系论视角,分析了美国在牙买加体系中的金融霸权,其金融霸权不仅催生了房地产泡沫,为金融危机在美国国内生成创造了条件,而且也导致危机在全球迅速传播,从而演变为自1929年-1933年大萧条以来最严重的大危机.为制约美国的金融霸权,全球金融治理已提上议事日程,但在相当长时期内难以取得实质性进展.     

Maintaining market principles: Government auditors,PPP equity sales and hegemony

The UK's government auditors, the National Audit Office (NAO), play a central role in the accountability relations surrounding government expenditure. Commonly portrayed as being independent, they carry out performance audits assessing value for money. To date, the emerging market for PPP equity transactions has attracted little attention. This paper explores that emerging market through a Gramscian framework utilising the concepts of ‘common sense’ and ‘good sense’, focusing on a dialogical analysis of a NAO report on the topic.In the process, the paper contributes to the debate about the nature and role of government auditors.     

The Financial Crisis and the Hegemony of Urban Neoliberalism: Lessons from Frankfurt am Main

In view of debates among critical urban scholars regarding the relationship between the current economic crisis and the stability of neoliberal hegemony on the urban scale, this article analyzes (1) the impact of the economic recession on the city of Frankfurt am Main, and (2) whether urban politics in the German financial center will witness a new phase of post‐neoliberalization. Statistical analyses of the local labor and property markets and of municipal budget trends reveal that the implications of the current crisis are relatively limited, especially when compared to the dot.com crisis in the early 2000s. Furthermore, a discourse analysis of the debates in the Frankfurt City Council between 2008 and 2010, supplemented by interviews with local political elites, shows that neoliberal hegemony remains stable and powerful regardless of the deep economic decline and a short period of uncertainty and intensive hegemonic struggles. In my analysis I focus on the power of neoliberal subjectivity and knowledge production in order to try and explain the deepening of the general consensus among local elites by demonstrating that a broad majority of actors from different political parties interprets the crisis within a neoliberal rationality.     

Considering Resistance and Incorporation

For a century, commercialism and commodification have been criticized for controlling the minds and behavior of the mass of people through leisure, consumption and popular culture. The criticism presumes great power on the part of commercial institutions. Early cultural studies offered a more complex model that allowed for resistance to such domination, but also for co-optation (i.e., incorporation) of such resistance. For more than a decade however, scholars pursued research on resistance, and neglected to examine incorporation. This article argues for a differentiated concept of resistance, for reintroducing the concept of incorporation in resistance studies and, most important, focusing research on the relationship between resistance and incorporation, to understand how they operate in tandem in today's consumer society.     

美元霸权论与我国的应对策略

霸权稳定论是20世纪70年代兴起的西方国际政治经济学主流经济理论之一,它认为具有霸权地位大国的存在,是世界经济稳定和充分发展的必要条件。在经济金融领域,霸权稳定论产生了深远影响,美国通过多种形式推行美元霸权,如金融外交、汇率安排、制定国际规则等。美元霸权给美国带来巨大收益的同时却使世界为之“付费”。本文对霸权稳定论与美元霸权进行评述,并总结归纳了中国应对美元霸权的对策。