Search

This article explores the process of institutional transformation in the world polity. Drawing on a wide range of primary documents, we examine the International Monetary Fund's shift into championing free market-oriented reforms--so-called 'structural adjustment'--in the developing world over the 1980s. We show that two organizational actors, or 'institutional entrepreneurs,' attempted to expand the IMF's mandate: IMF management and staff made the first attempt, but failed to produce radical change; in contrast, the U.S. Treasury led a second attempt, and was successful. We draw on these cases to make two contributions. Despite a high degree of autonomy and technocratic expertise, the IMF bureaucracy alone lacked the social, political, and material resources to institute a fundamental organizational transformation. In contrast, the U.S. successfully engineered the shift by legitimating a new set of norms that de facto superseded the unchanged mandate of the IMF and rendered formal treaty change redundant. Our findings suggest that institutional transformation rests primarily on power politics, and we specify how ideas are appropriated and reshaped by powerful actors for their own ends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to explain why and how exactly aspects of ambidexterity relate to an organisation's ability to innovate. Qualitative research is conducted through semi-structured interviews with innovation experts from an outdoor company that is renowned for its pioneering products. Template analysis is used to develop a holistic configurational view on ambidexterity. It is found that structural ambidexterity positively affects innovation, as it allows for explorative and exploitative activities to be pursued separately and in this way appears to be most beneficial regarding each activity. Furthermore, the findings indicate that aspects of contextual ambidexterity within each structural subunit create alignment and integration between both units and contribute to the effectiveness of the structural solution. Hence, the most significant indication of these findings is that ambidexterity should contain both structural and contextual elements in order to benefit firms in their pursuit of incremental and radical innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents some analyses of Eurobrand reports about top 10 brand corporations, during the period 2007-2013, to capture the effect of economic crisis from 2008. The analyses refer at the following aspects: tendencies in top 10 European brand corporations, during 2007-2013, development potential of top 10 European best brand corporations, the evolution of total value of top 10 European brand corporations and the structural changes on industries of top 10 European brand corporations during 2007-2013. The structural changes of top 10 European brand corporations could characterize the changes of European economy and at national level for some developed countries. Some conclusions were formulated based on the analyses of top 10 European brand corporations' values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article was considered models complex of balanced regions development based on fiscal (or tax-budget) policy, which will be able to give a possible for conducting structural imbalances analysis of the territories (regions) development in perspective time period and parameters determination of this fiscal policy, which can providing their elimination or preventing. This policy can be performed on account of a management of transformation processes for tax legislation and tax relations, tax levying and redistribution between territories budgets (it also calls tax policy), or on account of a management of the tax expenses, subsidies, subventions, budget investment (it calls budget policy). Proposed approach to form of financial manage scenarios of Socio-Economic Regions Development (SERD) based on cyclicality conception of the economic systems evolution, anticipative manage principles, and can account some parameters changes of the investment transfers distribution, in particular, region developed fund. It can give a possible of the aftermath's estimation for the different variants realization of fiscal policy, to implement a selection of an optimal scenario, which providing decreasing of the interregional socio-economic differentiation at saving of positive trend for national economy development in generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article was considered a model basis for an uneven estimation and cyclic dynamic of the socio-economic regions development (SERD), which are functioning at some considers of a high-level unevenness of an external environment, which renders a significant influence to increasing some risks and losses at a decision-making. This model basis is presented as a complex of the interrelated modules: a module of an estimation and analysis for unevenness SERD and a module of forming of the manage scenarios for SERD. Target orientation of the first module is an estimation for the interregional socio-economic differentiation, detection of some disproportions in a development of the separated regions. Content of the second module is forming of some manage scenarios for SERD, which are directed to decreasing of a level of interregional differentiation whilst providing a sustainable rates of economic growth. Also was formed a models complex of a differentiation of the territories development, which allow estimating of a stability of the cluster regions group by the SERD level, to make an analysis of their structural dynamic, to pick out a dominant kind of an asymmetry and priority structural components of the SERD for government regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the most-discussed topic of the recent period, the world's economic crisis has attracted the attention of most scholars, analysts, and politicians who try to find a quick solution for a problem generated during the last couple of decades. While some believe that the current crisis is just a descending curve of the life cycle of the world economy, something that is far from curious and unpredictable, others, such as the influential George Soros, predict an end of the current economic system. Where does the current crisis stand and what is a solution for it? The aim of my paper is to first analyse the pros and cons of the 'free market' approach to development, then to decide whether the current crisis is as dangerous as some predict, and finally to provide the solution to it. In the first part of the paper, since the free market approach is theoretically backed by neoliberalism, I first define this theory and explain some of the policies associated with it. Following that, I focus mainly on free trade as a main feature of structural adjustment programs and its significance as a factor for development. Later in the paper, I present the advantages and disadvantages of the free market approach (with a focus on free trade). Finally, I conclude by examining whether this approach is useful for the development processes of the developing countries and if it a way to solve the current crisis. In the second part of my paper, I explain why I believe protectionism can only make the crisis worse instead of solving the problem, and I conclude that the continuation of the American Open Door policy as a strategy is the best way to overcome the current global economic crisis. Being the most discussed topic in the last period, the world's economic crisis attracted the attention of most scholars, analysts, and politicians who try to find a quick solution for a problem generated during the last couple of decades. On one hand some believe that the current crisis is just a descending curve of the life cycle of the world economy, something that is far from curious and unpredictable. On the other hand, however, there are those, among whom is the influential George Soros, who go very far and predict an end of the current economic system. Where does the current crisis stand and what is a solution for it? The aim of this paper is to first analyze the pros and cons of 'free market' approach to development, then decide whether the current crisis is as dangerous as some predict, and finally provide the solution to it. In the first part of the paper, since the free market approach is theoretically backed by neoliberalism, I will first define this theory and explain some of the policies that go along with it. Following that, I will focus mainly on free trade as a main feature of structural adjustment programs and its significance as a factor for development. Later in the paper I will present the advantages and disadvantages of free market approach (with a focus on free trade) to development. Finally, I will conclude whether this approach is useful for the development processes of the developing countries. "The essence of the neo-liberal position on international commerce is the proposition that economic growth will be most rapid when the movement of goods, services and capital is unimpeded by government regulations". In another words, the neo-liberal argument states that in order for governments to pursue economic growth it is necessary for them to adopt free trade which would mean that the movement of goods, services and capital over boundaries will be unregulated. More broadly, free trade is just a part of what is known as structural adjustment which rates in construction activity during this period. In addition, the sector of services continues to provide the primary contribution to economic growth at home. The positive developments in domestic production have been also evidenced by the increase of economic tendency indicator, derived from the business and consumer opinions, and by the increased number in employed persons. In annual terms, unemployment rate fell by 1.5 percent to 12.62 percent, being mainly triggered by the increase in the average number of employed persons in the private agricultural sector. The Albanian economy will mainly be affected by the global economic downturn through a decline in export demand, investment, remittances, and, as mentioned, less availability of credit. Export demand might in particular hurt the re-exporting industry in shoes and clothing but other sectors will also be affected. Meanwhile, remittances have been key to boost household incomes and have been particularly important as a safeguard for the poorest households. embodies the neoclassical theory. Structural adjustment aims at making both the state and the market more efficient in order to help them accelerate growth which ultimately leads to development. Apart from free trade, structural adjustment aims at putting the market at center stage, gives the state a secondary role in development, and "puts its faith in the potential of unfettered individual initiatives, creativity, and ingenuity. Concrete reforms that states need to undertake in order for structural adjustment to achieve its goals are: fiscal austerity (reduction in government spending), privatization (private ownership of state-owned companies), trade liberalization (elimination of qualitative and quantitative restrictions on imports, thus allowing a free flow of goods, services, and capital across national borders), currency devaluation (gives the producers of export goods an incentive to increase production), abolition of marketing boards (enables producers obtain better prices on their sales), and retrenchment and deregulation (frees up the market and reduces the inhibitions on private entrepreneurs). "Free market" theory "contains two elements: a set of arguments demonstration that trade will maximize welfare in a stable fashion, and another set laying out the conditions that must be brought into existence to enable this to occur". According to "free market" theory, the only function of the government is to ensure that the benefits that arrive from free trade are secured. Brett states four main functions of the government which pursues "free market" approach to development. First of all, the government needs to make sure that foreign competitors and domestic producers have equal access to domestic markets. Second, the government must not organize the payments in a way that it will favor their domestic competitors. Third, governments need to ensure the provision of credit to countries that are in deficit. And fourth, it is the obligation of the government to put in place domestic policies which transform the deficit into surplus. Thus, having in mind these four functions of the government incorporated in the "free market" approach it can be clearly concluded that the government has a very limited function and by no means has rights to use protection mechanism as a way to favor domestic production. One of the examples that Brett uses with the aim to present the advantages of "free market" approach to development is in relations the above mentioned currency devaluation. Namely, the exchange rate of a country will tend to fall in the case where the balance of payments is in deficit which causes the central bank to lose its result. On the other hand, the exchange rate rises when the balance of payments is in surplus and the central bank is accumulating reserves. In the case when the balance of payments is in deficit, central banks tend to borrow money. The good thing about borrowing is the fact that it will enable the government to avoid having to impose different more direct controls over trade or money, or in the same time might enable it to defeat the speculators. However, the borrowing by the government is considered to be wrong by "free market" theorists who argue that it would be better if instead of borrowing money in order to defend an 'overvalued' exchange rate the central bank devaluates the currency and the government undergoes domestic economic policies which would aim at making home production more competitive. In addition, in the case when a country's balance of payments is in deficit, that country needs to find a way to cut imports and to increase exports. A way to do it is through governmental intervention through protection of the domestic market or by providing subsidies to exporters. However, Brett argues, government intervention is not useful since the market itself will deal with the balance of payments, one of the main claims by "free market" approach to development. Sometimes theory does not correlate with practice, but for the purpose of this paper I will mainly focus on the theoretical part. Namely, in the following part of the paper I will mainly focus on free trade as a part of the free market approach to development, while in the final part through presenting the advantages and weaknesses of the free market approach to development I will conclude whether this approach is efficient or not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the effect of World Bank structural adjustment programs (SAPs) on national income inequality using random effects pooled time series analysis in nearly 60 countries since 1980. A large literature has criticized the structural adjustment agenda, arguing that it exacerbated a range of social problems by encouraging national indebtedness and forcing the reduction of government services. Building on this work, we argue that SAPs have the potential to magnify income inequality within society. The reduction of state services has the potential to increase poverty, while the enactment of neo-liberal economic policies potentially supports greater wealth accumulation at the top end of the income distribution. The answer is not obvious, however, as the few systematic studies that look at the consequences of SAPs have had mixed findings (e.g., on poverty measures). In fact, however, our longitudinal cross-national statistical models find that measures of SAPs have a positive effect on social inequality. The number of SAP loans and the value of SAP loans have non-significant and marginally significant effects, respectively. A variable indicating the presence of a SAP loan has a large and strongly significant effect. In other words, nations participating in SAPs experienced increasing income inequality during the years SAPs were in effect - but the effect didn't vary with the number or magnitude of the loans. Our findings suggest that the policy changes associated with structural adjustment, and not the magnitude of loan repayments or borrowing, had the greatest impact on inequality. We discuss interpretations and implications. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of scholarly and everyday discourse posits globalization as the defining characteristic of the twenty-first century. Although it is an essentially contested concept most attribute globalization with transforming as well as creating new economic, political, cultural, and social relations, which affect every person on the globe. In this reconfiguring global capitalism has become the dominant global economic structure and reorganized "production, finance, and consumption" (Robinson, 2006a: 1). Capitalist globalizations unbridled demand for growth and profit has led to numerous problems including crises of overaccumulation and sustainability. In the search for profits transnational actors work to commodify every facet of social life and capitalist relations have come to govern everything including people's relationship with the environment. Dimitris Stevis (2002, 2005) and other scholars (see Kamal Pasha & Blaney, 1998) suggest that "the time is ripe to place environmental and other social entities within the political economy" (Stevis, 2005: 330). In response to Stevis's call, this paper examines how water scarcity is a global crisis that must be studied within the broader crisis of sustainability caused by global capitalism. In the process it investigates the efforts to privatize water and transform it from a common resource and human right to an economic good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous sociological research on structural adjustment has largely focused on its effects on economic wealth and inequality, economic governance and democracy, and transnational social networks. This paper addresses a similar but understudied question: what has been the relationship between structural adjustment and civil society, especially in periods prior to the recent discursive and programmatic shift toward civil society in the global development regime? This paper systematically addresses this question by examining the effects of World Bank structural adjustment loans on voluntary associations in a large number of countries since the 1970s. I draw upon numerous theories of globalization, development, and the state to parse out the complex relationship between civil society and structural adjustment programs (SAPs). More specifically, I argue that SAPs mostly weaken associational life due to increased pressure to roll back the state, and that these pressures can prevail despite the positive effects of democracy and a pro-participatory world polity. The negative effect of structural adjustment on associational life raises important implications for the social, political, and economic underpinnings of the current civil society agendas in the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past thirty years, the global economic landscape has changed dramatically. Organizations such as the World Bank, IMF, and national governments, have through their interactions changed the international economy. Beginning in the late-1970s, structure adjustment programs (SAPs) have been implemented to encourage the governments of so-called developing countries to pay back debts to the World Bank and in the process become part of the global economy. SAPs are implemented as part of the conditions for loans given by monetary lenders including the World Bank. Lenders require that governments take steps that are intended to increase their gross domestic products. Governments must focus on increasing exports, decreasing spending on social programs, and privatizing public services such as water and electricity. Much has been written, particularly in the literature on inequality, about the negative effects of SAPs on developing countries and particularly on the neediest of the people of those countries (Seligson and Passe-Smith 2003; Cagatay and Ozler 1995; Afshar and Dennis 1992). Less has been written about the theoretical explanations for the implementations for SAPs by the World Bank and the IMF. Organizational theory would be useful for examining how the organizations of the World Bank, IMF, and national governments act within a particular organizational environment. In this paper, I apply resource dependency theory to the issue of SAPs to better understand this process. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In November 1988, the Government of Pakistan (GOP) signed onto a Structural Adjustment Facility, coupled with a Standby Arrangement, with the International Monetary Fund carrying far reaching conditionalities to be implemented over a 3 year period. In this paper I take a close look at the circumstances surrounding Pakistan's accession to SAF/SBA 1988. This facility became the gateway through which Pakistan entered into a world of globalized capital flows. I argue that the decision to enter into this facility was influenced in large measure by political considerations arising from the complex and historic changes sweeping Pakistani politics at the time. The reform process inaugurated by accession to this facility also came to be driven by political priorities arising from the transition to democratic rule. The paper aims to use the case of Pakistan to look at key themes in the emerging second generation literature on the politics of economic reform in developing countries. It is argued that close analysis of the circumstances surrounding the embrace of economic reform by a developing country yields useful insights into key questions in this literature.This paper represents a work in progress, and as such aims to sketch out questions and explore a research agenda more than to make a contribution to ongoing debates. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A number of European countries are experiencing an ominous rise in the blue collar and ethnic majority vote for the ultra-nationalist far right. Nowhere is the situation more threatening than in Serbia. Five years after the fall of the Milosevic regime, the Serbian far right is enjoying a surprising resurgence of electoral support, coming close to capturing the Serbian presidency in 2004. This study analyses the results of six post-Milosevic elections and finds support for the argument that the majority's economic vulnerability and a sense of "ethnic threat" are the major contextual predictors of the support for the far right. It finds that in light of the demonstrated ability of the Serbian far right to mobilize economically vulnerable sections of the population, implementation of neo-liberal economic reforms might unintentionally bring far right ultra-nationalists back to power in Serbia. The study further implies that the development and maintenance of the welfare state in Eastern European countries might play a decisive role in the reduction of the electoral appeal of authoritarian ultra-nationalists. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exporting labor is a recent phenomenon for Communist China. Before the economic reform of 1979, the government kept its borders closed and managed its huge population and hundreds of millions of surplus workers with food-rationing, a household-registration system that forced people to stay in their birth place, and a state-assigned universal employment system that had five people doing two-person jobs. In recent years, downsizing and privatization have led to millions of laid-off urban workers. The situation has not only forced the jobless to look for work wherever they can, but has also forced those employed to up-grade their skills and look for better-paying positions. With the liberalization of China's emigration policy and the rapidly developing global economy, some Chinese have turned to overseas contract jobs. This study, focusing on a group of men who intend to work on foreign-owned, seagoing cargo ships, examines the validity of three theories of international labor migration in the case of China by examining these emigrants' demographics and motivations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Korea was hit severly by the Asian financial crisis in 1997-98. The financial crisis, which was brought on initially by a currency crisis in Southeast Asia, became a full-blown economic crisis by the end of 1997. Was the developmental state of South Korea able to withstand the enormous pressures for structural reform mandated by the IMF for the structural adjustment loan of $58 billion? This paper takes stock of the IMF position, examines its reform package, and finally examines how South Korea was able to retain its developmental state, albeit somewhat reformed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An abstract of the article "Current Account Balance and Structural Adjustment in the Republic of Croatia," by Lucija Rogić and Željko Bogdan is presented.

Black representations on cable are often more populous and diverse than those on network television. This is because blacks watch more cable than whites, and subscribe to premium cable in high numbers. This has made them the "darlings" of the industry. Blackness is used as part of 'branding,' or creating an identity, for cable channels, and not just for black-oriented channels such as BET. This trend can be found in channels including Comedy Central, HBO and Showtime as well. This paper examines cable's economic structure and the varying ways that blackness is used to draw viewers and create an identity for cable channels. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on women?s education in Africa within the context of a larger development movement that centers on the importance of women?s education for both economic and social development. The widespread message that educating girls leads to economic development has coincided with a debt crisis that has resulted in structural adjustment policies (SAPs) for many countries. These policies require restructuring of a country?s economy, including cuts in social services as well as opening the economy to a global marketplace. These austerity programs create hardships for the indebted country. This paper examines the impact of structural adjustment policies on educational indicators for boys and girls in Madagascar and Tanzania. World Bank data is used to examine educational indicators before and after the implementation of SAPs. Data documents declines in educational spending as well as the quantity and quality of education. Girls? began with an educational disadvantage, and the data from Tanzania and Madagascar indicate that educational cuts have perpetuated (but not exacerbated) this gender inequality. These findings contribute to previous research that documents the decline in social development that follows the implementation of SAPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]