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Since the establishment of the BRICS (the emerging countries Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa), the group plays an important role and it has been capable of influencing the Global Political Economy (GPE), challenging the Western capitalist principles. Acknowledging the economic and political power of the group, the following paper aims to analyze how the BRICS are changing the classical economic approaches in the GPE. For that, it explores the economic approaches to the field - and how the BRICS are challenging these concepts - using the neoliberal and nationalist concepts of O'Brien and Williams (2016), as well as the new trends in the global order and global governance. It also presents some aspects of the future of the BRICS, acknowledging the political and economic disparities among its constitutive countries. For that, it analyses news and prospects about the disparities and possible futures of the group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The EU faces an existential crisis. The 'liberal core', which played an important role in transforming the illiberal regimes in much of the post-war period, suffers from a series of setbacks. This paper argues that the possibility of reverse transformation – that is, the power of the emergent illiberal bloc to influence the liberal core, has become a real possibility for the first time in the history of European integration. The paper contributes to the growing debate on the sources of the EU's existential crisis and its future from a global political economy perspective. We suggest that a push-and-pull framework provides a coherent analytical toolkit to explain the properties and nature of the illiberal turn in the EU with its potential implications for the future of European integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant proportion of critical agri-food literature has, to date, focused on the uneven relations of power between the Global North and the Global South, and the neoliberal characteristics of the corporate food regime. This literature has often overlooked the nuances in varieties of capitalism, particularly in East Asia. China is re-emerging as a powerful state actor in an increasingly multipolar global food system. It is also an important hub of capital, facilitating agribusiness mergers and acquisitions, as well as new East–South and South–South flows of agri-food trade, technology and capital. This paper aims to contribute to understanding state-led capitalism in China and neomercantilist strategies in the agri-food sector. The paper provides a critical analysis of a case study of China's state owned agri-food and chemical companies 'going global'. It contends that the current food regime is in a period of transition or interregnum– a period of fluidity separating the continuity of successive regimes. Arguably, the analytical contours of a contemporary food regime in transition cannot be adequately comprehended without recognising the incipient importance of state-led capitalism and neomercantilism, and how contemporary socio-political and economic dynamics are reshaping relations of power in the global political economy of food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the consequences of the hugely successful expansion of South-South Cooperation since the new millennium. For all the achievements, variations and change over the 1950s-late 1990s, 'SSC 1.0' was characterised by relative neglect within the 'international' development community, and by many orthodox and critical scholars. In the chronological schema of the paper, 'SSC 2.0' refers to the period of remarkable expansion from the early 2000s to the present. The emergence of 'SSC 3.0', I suggest, is currently revealed by a discernible set of shifts driven in large part by the expansionary successes of SSC 2.0, as well as other turns in the global political economy. Three contemporary trends are identified: cooperation narratives that are increasingly 'muscular', nationalistic and pragmatic; difficulties sustaining claims to 'non-interference' in partner countries; and the further erosion of ideational and operational distinctiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current dynamics of the global political economy are depressing: A multidimensional climate crisis is taking on speed; new pandemic waves with unknown lethal consequences are building up; National capitalism - bent to become a new form of fascism - raises its head and the return to military conflict solution makes a 3rd World War possible. But despite these gloomy perspectives it remains true that mankind so far has mastered all difficulties as soon as it became aware of them. Our species in principle has all means - physically and intellectually - to let a new Atlantis rise. And the guidelines how to overcome the above mentioned three crises, are delivering the blueprint of the organizational design of such a new Atlantis. This paper explores this exciting hypothesis. The first goal to reach clearly is to avoid a 3rd World War, which means to defeat the fascist movements in the world. As the 20th century showed, fascism developed out of nationalism, which in turn was nourished by a nationwide controlled class rule, a form of military (and police) governed capitalist exploitation. This currently so successful form of capitalism (China, Russia, USA) is defined as 'National Capitalism'. It corresponds to what I called disintegrating capitalism in (Hanappi 2019a). Being victorious, to have overcome national capitalism, means to have been able to establish a global democratic government. To get there the progressive opposition to National Capitalism has to develop theory, strategy and practice. As described in (Hanappi 2020) a certain degree of division of progressive labor activities - the emergence of a global class of organic intellectuals2 - will be needed. Only with global governance the other two crises, the climate crisis and the future global health crises, can be overcome. Since they are already here and help to make the impasse of capitalism, of national capitalism, become very visible to every human individual, we already can find ways of global coordination to prevent them. In doing so, success is possible and can yield into the necessary optimism, an attitude which is necessary for the emotional basis of any progressive, humanistic movement. A man-made Atlantis can rise - not beyond an ocean but here on earth. We just have to unite our intellectual forces and to continue the century-old struggle for emancipatory social evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – A methodological study of religion including moral, ethical, and social values and economics takes us into the search, discovery, and establishment of a formal epistemological premise. Social economics is now studied as a methodological investigation of evolutionary and embedded systems integrating the moral, social, and economic systems. Thus an integrated theory of religion representing the realm of moral and social values and economics is formalized. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The author writes on the conjoint methodological perspective of the integrated domain of religion and economics. A formal ontology of the unified field of religion and economics is established in such an inter-causal and organically unified realm of moral, social, and economic values. A phenomenological model of the unified worldview that applies to a systemic concept of “everything” emerges. This methodology and the immanent phenomenological model relating to it convey the principle of inter-systemic organic symbiosis by a unique and universal worldview. Findings – The systemic integration between religion and economics is formally studied within the immanent system methodology that formalizes inter-disciplinary symbiosis. The result is a new formal model of integration between religion and social economics. Research limitations/implications – Empirical work can further expand the scope of the paper. Practical implications – Immense social, ethical, and cross-cultural implications emanate from the study. Social implications – The morality and ethical implications of religious values are imputed in the formal model and implications of the social economy. Originality/value – The paper is of an original nature in establishing the episteme and formalism of integration between ethical and moral values of religion into the structure of the social economy. From this both a theoretical rigor as well as logical formalism can be drawn. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The question of financing the Belt and Road Initiative sharpens the broader debates about the intentions behind and implications of the initiative, in particular, whether it represents an alternative to or within globalization (global capitalism) and the broader global order as currently constituted. This paper addresses this by examining the institutions, actors, mechanisms, and nature of the (proposed) financing of Belt and Road projects. It argues that however Chinese rhetoric on the BRI is read, looking at the financing demonstrates the structural power of the existing institutions, structures, and mechanisms of global political economy, and this will constrain Chinese ambitions to base an alternative world order on the foundations of the BRI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the global political economy of the relationship between energy, ground rent, and the state. In its role as the ‘nation’s landlord’, the state is widely acknowledged to have a central role in the political economy of energy, either as the enabler and guarantor for private rent extraction or by itself controlling the extraction and redistribution of rents engendered by national energy resources. This paper broadens the geographical purview of research on the landlord state by aiming attention at the rise in recent decades of the state as a major rentier in the world market. More than asserting ownership over land and its appurtenances within territorial borders, landlord states have become significant owners and profiteers of extraterritorial energy resources. Taking the historical geography of the Norwegian energy industry as an empirical point of departure, the paper explores how the landlord state that was built in the 20th century by taking public control over national energy resources since the turn of the millennium has become a considerable owner of energy resources abroad, effectively positioning itself as a major global rentier. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – What seems like a new social anthropology of global regulation is an endeavour much too grand for this paper, even though it has much merit. To contain the analysis which follows, the discussion of social embeddedness will be restricted to a comparison of markets which retain some local or regional integrity from those which have become largely removed from cultural or communal social bonds. An example is between markets trading in goods and services with a consumer base which is local and subsistence, and markets in derivative products that are inextricably dependent on supranational location. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – North World regulatory principle operates within consolidated state frameworks, dislocated market societies and reflects socially disembedded productivity relationships. The same could be said for dominant economic regulatory scholarship. More recent efforts to develop critical analysis of South World regulatory problems and answers have consistently remained connected to the referent of the regulatory state. This paper questions the utility of such a comparative conviction in a global governance reality wherein South World regulatory environments are largely subject to North World state interests and multi-national opportunism fostered by disaggregated, often dysfunctional, domestic states. Findings – If, as in many South World contexts, the state is dysfunctional or destructive in translating regulatory principle, then what are the social bonds which advance the integrity of regulatory principle, and what of externalities which work to draw culturally located principle towards a more hegemonic regulatory project? Could appreciating the relationship between regulatory principle and social bonding be exhibited in degrees of market embeddedness? Might the reimagining of regulatory principle be possible by reflecting on motives and outcomes for regulation that have other than wealth maximization as core value? The paper answers these conjectures as a basis for empirical research. Research limitations/implications – In the spirit of regulatory anthropology it is not helpful to remain immersed in some strained geographic regulatory dichotomy, employing some good state/bad state polarity. Neither World exists in regulatory isolation. International regulatory organizations ensure this through their Western/Northern development models, and perpetuate post-colonial influences over South World development agendas. That said, there are two regulatory worlds, and hybrids between. Despite this, regulatory principle is not immune from cultural forces and social bonding. The paper addresses various dualities in order to propose a new way of viewing South World regulatory paradigms. Practical implications – The framework for analysis will enable a repositioning of critical scholarship and regulatory policy away from the model frameworks of consolidated states and towards the real regulatory needs and potentials of the South World. Social implications – Through applying the analytical technique of social embeddedness above market community paradigms this analysis offers a novel approach to exploring economy in contexts where markets are not dislocated and products are not fictitious. In this way the contemporary materialist economic crisis can be viewed against principles of sustainability rather than growth, productivity and exchange. Originality/value – The paper draws upon established scholarship regarding market embeddedness and social bonding but unique in applying this to a South World void of regulatory discourse set free of comparison with inappropriate regulatory state referents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a rethinking of the global coffee crisis from 1998 to 2002. In seeking to account for the crisis, most official international institutions and non-governmental organisations have focused on the dynamics of the coffee market, its volatility and unpredictability, in the wake of the decline of the International Coffee Agreements in 1989. The result has been a dominant consensus around the ‘market’ as the cause of underdevelopment and its potential solution, with the ‘state’ receding ever further into the background. As an alternative to this consensus, this paper argues that the state and the market are inseparable and, more specifically, thatcoffee statecraft, both good and bad, has been and continues to be central to the everyday operations of the coffee industry. Drawing specifically on the role of the Vietnamese state, it argues that coffee statecraft played a key role in the crisis – typically portrayed as primarily market-driven – and proposes greater attention be paid to the geopolitical actions of southern states, the role of the state during times when it seems most benign or invisible, and the centrality of coffee statecraft in steering development outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In light of the 2014 Ecuador-sponsored resolution at the UN Human Rights Council to examine the link between Transnational Corporations and Human Rights, in this paper I review the first major discussion at the United Nations of the role of multinational corporations. The report on Multinational Corporations in World Development (1973) for the UN Department of Economic and Social affair launched the (then) new UN Centre on Transnational Corporations. I examine the report in some detail, compare and contrast this with the Ecuadorian resolution from 2014, and reflect on the continuities and changes in attempts to regulate the conduct of global corporations over the 40 years between these two moments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global political economy of biofuels emerging since 2007 appears set to intensify inequalities among the countries and rural peoples of the global South. Looking through a global political economy lens, this paper analyses the consequences of proliferating biofuel alliances among multinational corporations, governments, and domestic producers. Since many major biofuel feedstocks - such as sugar, oil palm, and soy - are already entrenched in industrial agricultural and forestry production systems, the authors extrapolate from patterns of production for these crops to bolster their argument that state capacities, the timing of market entry, existing institutions, and historical state-society land tenure relations will particularly affect the potential consequences of further biofuel development. Although the impacts of biofuels vary by region and feedstock, and although some agrarian communities in some countries of the global South are poised to benefit, the analysis suggests that already-vulnerable people and communities will bear a disproportionate share of the costs of biofuel development, particularly for biofuels from crops already embedded in industrial production systems. A core reason, this paper argues, is that the emerging biofuel alliances are reinforcing processes and structures that increase pressures on the ecological integrity of tropical forests and further wrest control of resources from subsistence farmers, indigenous peoples, and people with insecure land rights. Even the development of so-called 'sustainable' biofuels looks set to displace livelihoods and reinforce and extend previous waves of hardship for such marginalised peoples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary markets are evolving in numerous ways that affect their structure, dynamics and consequences. Yet while the concept of the market is central to comparative, international and global political economy, there exists no concerted body of literature dedicated to debating and articulating different conceptions of the market and that critically self-reflects on how these empirical transformations are intersecting with the central theoretical concerns of political economy: power, contestation and change. This special issue enriches the debate by looking to decentre the concept of the market from its traditional home in mainstream neoclassical/liberal political economy. Western-centric conceptualizations of the market based on a minimal atomistic classical definition have dominated international economic discourses but it is becoming increasingly clear that different understandings of markets and the functions they serve are crystalizing between market stakeholders at the global level. This special issue addresses these concerns via the historicization of the concept of the market, the development and refinement of the concept of the market, as well as the decentring of the concept of the market via empirical studies of global market change informed by an awareness of the political, economic, social and cultural embeddedness of markets. In so doing, the special issue leverages the insights of global political economy and cognate disciplines to achieve richer insights into the analytical potential of the concept of the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between the ratification of the United Nations’ (UN’s) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and women’s and girls’ health outcomes using a unique longitudinal data set of 192 UN-member countries that encompasses the years from 1980 to 2011. Design/methodology/approach – The authors focus on the impact of CEDAW ratification, number of reports submitted after ratification, years passed since ratification, and the dynamic impact of CEDAW ratification by utilizing ordinary least squares (OLS) and panel fixed effects methods. The study investigates the following women’s and girls’ health outcomes: total fertility rate, adolescent fertility rate, infant mortality rate, maternal mortality ratio, neonatal mortality rate, female life expectancy at birth (FLEB), and female to male life expectancy at birth. Findings – The OLS and panel country and year fixed effects models provide evidence that the impact of CEDAW ratification on women’s and girls’ health outcomes varies by global regions. While the authors find no significant gains in health outcomes in European and North-American countries, the countries in the Northern Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, Southern Africa, Caribbean and Central America, South America, Middle-East, Eastern Asia, and Oceania regions experienced the biggest gains from CEDAW ratification, exhibiting reductions in total fertility, adolescent fertility, infant mortality, maternal mortality, and neonatal mortality while also showing improvements in FLEB. The results provide evidence that both early commitment to CEDAW as measured by the total number of years of engagement after the UN’s 1980 ratification and the timely submission of mandatory CEDAW reports have positive impacts on women’ and girls’ health outcomes. Several sensitivity tests confirm the robustness of main findings. Originality/value – This study is the first comprehensive attempt to explore the multifaceted relationships between CEDAW ratification and female health outcomes. The study significantly expands on the methods of earlier research and presents novel methods and findings on the relationship between CEDAW ratification and women’s health outcomes. The findings suggest that the impact of CEDAW ratification significantly depends on the country’s region. Furthermore, stronger engagement with CEDAW (as indicated by the total number of years following country ratification) and the submission of the required CEDAW reports (as outlined in the Convention’s guidelines) have positive impacts on women’s and girls’ health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theories of performativity can enhance the study of global finance. Taking everyday financial practices seriously, they emphasise the potentially structuring effects and disciplinary nature of finance, and foreground the performative role of economics, financial models, and formulas. It has remained largely overlooked to date that the literature on the performativity of finance can be divided into two distinct approaches. ‘Microperformativity’ is the more actor-oriented approach, beginning its analysis with the exploration of agencements and their practices, or the examination of the social history of mathematical formulas in finance. ‘Macroperformativity’, in contrast, takes its point of departure from the social structure of finance itself, often in relation to national, international, or global power structures. Neither approach provides for an intermediary concept that more explicitly links the micro and macro level. Nor does either approach give adequate analytical consideration to social conflicts and power struggles. To fill these gaps, the paper applies poststructural hegemony theory to reconceptualise performativity as an articulatory logic which accounts for the transition of a particularity towards a universality within a framework of stratified hegemony. Framed accordingly, the concept of performativity accounts more strongly for the social and political processes, ruptures, contestations and contradictions in global finance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose – The authors begin with an admittedly simplistic statement: “civilization” is best represented by the increased availability of utility providing goods and services. In other words, civilization is synonymous with economic development. The purpose of this paper is to concern three questions. First, how does civilization develop? Second, what is time preference and how does it affect the development of civilization, or what the authors call the “process of civilization.” Third, what factors affect time preference, and how do changes in time preference affect this civilizing process? Through these three questions, the authors provide the theoretical answer to why civilization developed, instead of the more common historical how civilization actually developed. Design/methodology/approach – The authors survey a variety of theories of civilization, and then develop an alternative that answers the question of “how civilization develops” rather than the more common “how did civilization develop.” Findings – Endogenous reductions in time preference are determined to be the best explanation of the spark that instigates the process of civilization. It also allows for other approaches to fall under its umbrella, thus providing one general theory in place of the current-specific theories. Originality/value – The value lies in the creation of a general theory of civilization, against which other theories looking at specific factors can be gauged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the potential for an international political theory of care as an alternative to liberalism in the context of contemporary global politics. It argues that relationality and interdependence, and the responsibilities for and practices of care that arise therewith, are fundamental aspects of moral life and sites of political contestation that have been systematically denied and obfuscated under liberalism. A political theory of care brings into view the responsibilities and practices of care that sustain not just 'bare life' but all social life, from nuclear and extended families to local, national and transnational communities. It disrupts and challenges the individualism of liberalism, and the associated valorization of 'freedom', 'autonomy', and 'toleration'. Instead, it emphasizes an ontology of relationality and interdependence that accepts the existence of vulnerability without reifying particular individuals, groups or states as 'victims' or 'guardians'. Furthermore, by demonstrating the gendered and raced nature of caring in the contemporary world—from the household to the transnational level—an international political theory of care challenges our received assumptions about 'dependence' in world politics, and opens up space to interrogate politically not only gender but race and other aspects of inequality in the global political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on the 'new wars' literature and global political economy research to explore how feminists and other critical analysts might investigate linkages between, and the gendering of, licit and illicit informal activities in relation to transnational financing of new wars. The paper considers the interdependence (co-constitution) of reproductive, productive and virtual economies, and aims to illuminate the intersection of race, gender, and economic inequalities (within and among states) as structural features of neoliberal globalization. Finally, the paper develops an analytical framing of coping, combat and criminal informal economies, which overlap and interact but entail distinctive sets of actors, motivations, and activities. A brief description of each economy is followed by suggesting how it is gendered and how this might inform feminist theory/practice in relation to war. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Part 1 of this interview, Professor Patomäki discussed his work and career up to the Global Financial Crisis. In Part 2 he turns to his later work. Questions and issues range over the use of retroduction and retrodiction, the degree of openness and closure of systems, and the role of iconic models, and scenario-building and counterfactuals in social scientific explanation and the exploration of possible and likely futures (distinguished from desirable futures). Patomäki suggests that a variant of his 'scenario A' captures significant features of an increasingly competitive and conflictual world. Among other matters, Patomäki also discusses his recent work on the war in Ukraine, his 'field theory' of global political economy, and the possibility of world statehood. The interview concludes with Patomäki's views on the imperative of hope. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Country rankings and composite indices are often used as proxies to assess a country's functional efficiency along a dimension of interest. The underlying assumption of this effort is that the proxy measure reflects, in essence, the gist or underlying trend of a country's performance in absolute terms or in comparison to other countries. In this paper we explore the world of country-oriented performance indices and rankings. First, we carry out a comparative review for a number of such proxy measures. Second, we carry out cluster analysis to ‘map’ the world through the eyelets of these proxy measures. Taking into consideration the outcomes of this exploratory data analysis, we wonder whether such proxies are mere representations of ‘performance,’ or instigators shaping the global political economy by weighing some characteristics more than others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internal and external efforts are increasingly being allocated to improve disaster risk reduction capacity on a worldwide scale, especially in developing low and middle income countries. While significant efforts are targeted at improving institutional capacity in disaster risk reduction, this does not always translate into reduced disaster risk as identified in the mid-term review of progress in implementing the Hyogo Framework for Action. Furthermore, the review concluded that while various countries have succeeded in developing national plans, strategies and institutions, this was not always accompanied by progress in allocating resources for the implementation of these plans and for reducing the underlying risk drivers, namely unchecked urban expansion, environmental degradation, weak governance and poverty The effect of the political economy on disaster risk reduction may explain this anomaly (e.g. the predominance of financial capital may cause challenges in adopting a wide stakeholder participatory approach in the DRR decision making process; which is particularly essential for addressing “every-day” (extensive) and severe (intensive) risks. The issue of extensive risk is particularly important as it does not receive sufficient and explicit attention in various international frameworks, including the Hyogo Framework for Action monitoring template and the International Risk Governance Council Risk Governance Framework, while global evidence suggest that most damage is caused by everyday extensive risk which remains unreported, uninsured and unaddressed. Firstly, there is a need to develop a theoretical analysis tool capable of analyzing institutions, structures and processes for managing risks and effecting DRR change within various political economies. To this end, the paper combines an existing analytical political economy analysis tools with a prescriptive risk governance analysis framework thereby developing a tool for assessing the DRR decision making processes, which may inform future efforts to promote incentives and effect DRR change, taking into account the political economy specificities at different stages in the risk governance framework. The tool is applied to analyze the effects of (i) recent trends in the global political economy (including the dominance of rentier economies in certain regions, the increased role of financial capital, and the drive for short-term profit) on the provision of public goods including disaster risk management, (ii) the lack of progress in the implementation of the HFA framework for the education sector in the Arab region characterized by a prevalence of rentier states, and (iii) the imbalanced approach for addressing risks with less emphasis on “every-day” (extensive) risks. The above succinct applications demonstrate the effectiveness of the tool in identifying gaps and difficulties in the decision making process related to DRR. As such it allows for the development and assessment of various incentives aimed at addressing the identified gaps. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article was to measure the innovation of countries in order to help improve their productive capabilities under the prism of the global political economy. For this purpose, the following indicators were analysed: 1) the global innovation index; 2) the digital economy and society index; 3) the international digital economy and society index; and 4) the Bloomberg innovation index. The selection of indicators was based on two key characteristics: a) they include a large sample of countries; and b) they are published at regular intervals on the basis of recent data. This research comparatively assessed countries on different aspects of innovation. The aim was to draw conclusions about the strengths and weaknesses of the countries under study, but also to understand the position of these countries in the world economy. The findings highlighted the changes that have occurred since the manifestation of the global economic crisis of 2007-2009, as well as the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research focused on China, Germany, Greece and the United States, over the last decade (2010-2020), on the basis of the available data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Political institutions may directly affect the likelihood of currency crises by influencing market confidence. They may indirectly affect the likelihood of currency crises by influencing economic fundamentals. This study uses econometric mediation to estimate both direct and indirect causal pathways for veto player theory—a common framework for analyzing political institutional constraints—and finds this approach improves upon the standard econometric approach in the extant literature, which only estimates the direct causal pathway. This new mediated approach shows that political constraints also indirectly reduce the likelihood of crises through strengthening key economic fundamentals. Additionally, the analysis finds that when global conditions are stable, more constraints are shown to directly reduce the risk of crises. When global conditions are volatile, more constraints are shown to directly increase the risk of crises. Global volatility is more likely to cause crises in countries with relatively constrained political systems, and vice versa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study tests the relationship between the hierarchical position of cities in the global economy and a typology of cultural, economic, political, and social external relations, namely city diplomacy. We conduct this test on a sample of 46 Chinese cities, seeking to bridge otherwise separate existing theories on the structure of the world city hierarchy and varied dimensions of city diplomacy. Contrary to expectations, we find that the aggregate of the typology of city diplomacy, rather than only the economic dimension, is most closely associated with position in the world city hierarchy. This tentatively suggests that the collective effect of internationally-oriented cultural, economic, political and social activities in Chinese cities reflect the global structure of the highest levels of globalized urban wealth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of global international relations remains to a great extent aspirational and focussed on the critique of Western-centric perspectives or the appraisal of non-Western theories within their specific geographical and historical contexts. In this essay, we go a step further and transpose a set of Caribbean-based theories that gained prominence in the 1960s and 1970s to apply it to the study of China's contemporary relations with the Caribbean Community, drawing broader implications for China's Belt and Road Initiative. The Caribbean's tradition of critical and radical thought raises important questions about continuing epistemic dependency, structural impediments to development in small and highly open states, and a number of unresolved issues relating to the postcolonial condition in former plantation societies. Drawing upon these insights, we contend that the expectations placed on the emerging 'South–South' link with China are easily overstated, given China's elitist business-centric approach to development, the eschewing of participatory approaches in Sino–Caribbean ventures and the passive incorporation of the Caribbean into China's global vision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Socially progressive globalization in a post-neoliberal era must recognize the centrality of gendered and other social hierarchies to the deeper workings of the global political economy and actively seek to dismantle them. In practice, this involves: (i) redefining the purpose of global trade in ways that value, prioritize and support progressive forms of social reproduction; (ii) centreing trade policy on a holistic understanding of the economy; and (iii) democratizing global trade relations. In this article, we outline a feminist International Political Economy theoretical perspective for understanding global trade, take stock of a range of gender and trade initiatives pursued by various trade actors and organizations to show where progressive reforms have already been taken and where these fall short, and make concrete suggestions on how to formulate trade policies in line with globalist, feminist prerogatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As part of the roundtable, "Ethics and the Future of the Global Food System," this essay examines how the key decisions within the global system of food production are shaped by the organization of the global political economy. The understanding of the global political economy follows standard definitions that focus on the dominant market practices and the institutional structures within which those practices are embedded. I identify examples of market practices and institutional policies that structurally impair the ability of states to secure the human rights of their citizens, and explain specific issues of structural injustice raised by each example. The conclusion provides a survey of a range of alternative solutions for transforming the global political economy and creating the conditions for a more just and ecologically sustainable food system. Ultimately, our conception of human rights and the mechanisms for their protection and enforcement must change in order to address the scale and gravity of problems affecting the future of agriculture and our ability to feed the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globalisation has promoted the connections among sovereign states in the international political economy. Despite the preponderance of neo-protectionist tendencies in the United States and some European countries, the import of regionalism in global political economy has not waned. While economic regionalism was adopted in the advanced capitalist formations as a logical consequence of and/or the instrument for the universalisation of capitalism, the emergence and/ or revival of regional groupings like the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was a reactionary outcome of the twin problems of colonialism and globalisation. Specifically, West African states reached out to one another in order to mitigate the negative effects of globalisation and advance their common interest through economic integration. This study interrogates the relevance of ECOWAS in the international political economy within the global resurgence of protectionism. Although ECOWAS is impaired by multifarious political and socioeconomic challenges, this study demonstrates that its achievements in free movement of goods and persons, promotion of peace, security, good governance, and democratisation make it remain relevant in the global political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The internal dynamics and politics of international organizations influence how international policy agendas are set and how effectively they are pursued. International organizations are open systems which respond and adapt to the external policy environment in order to remain relevant to global policymaking. Through an analysis of the internal politics of the World Bank and International Labour Organization, the leading global agenda-setters for pension reform, this article shows that internal political battles and restructuring have a decisive influence on global pensions policy. Appointment of key personnel and internal reorganization can help make certain policy ideas prominent over others. Scholars should pay greater attention to processes of change within international organizations in order to better understand the international agenda setting process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of academic and policy research seeks to understand and address the problem of contemporary unfree labour. In this article, we argue that this literature could be strengthened by a stronger conceptualization of, and more systematic attention towards, the role of national states. In particular, we argue that there is a need to move beyond simplistic conceptualisations of states as simple agents of regulation and criminal justice enforcement who respond to the problem of unfree labour, and to recognize the causal and multifaceted role that national states play in creating the conditions in which unfree labour can flourish. We propose a framework to understand and compare the ways in which national states shape the political economy of unfree labour. Focusing on the United States, we outline three arenas of governance in which national states have been particularly central to enabling the conditions for unfree labour: the regulation of labour mobility, labour market regulation, and business regulation. We conclude by reflecting on the comparative political economy research that will be required to understand the role of different states in shaping the conditions in which unfree labour thrives or is eliminated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generally seen as a pawn in the identity struggle between so-called secular and Islamist political actors, the women's question in Tunisia has received little attention from a class perspective since the 2010-11 uprising. Yet, over recent years, working-class women have been highly visible during protests, strikes and sit-ins of a socio-economic nature, implicitly illustrating how class and gender grievances intersect. Against the background of the global feminisation of poverty and a changing political economy of the North African region over recent decades, this article builds on Nancy Fraser's theory of (gender) justice to understand if and how women's informal and revolutionary demands have been included in more formal politics and civil society activism in Tunisia. The article finds that disassociated struggles against patriarchy (feminism) and neoliberal capitalism (unionism) fail to efficiently represent women workers’ own aspirations in Tunisia's nascent democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why has the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) proved so durable as a regional organisation given the many challenges it has faced since its inception in 1967? This analysis makes use of an historical institutionalist approach. It shows how the global political economy, through the injection of aid and investment and the development of production networks and increased trade, generated a generally positive regional economic environment that encouraged cooperation. It also provided the resources for the gradual institutionalisation of ASEAN and the expansion of its reach through the establishment of associated regional organisations. The result was that these factors, in combination, contributed to ASEAN’s staying power. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]