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Since the 1940s research has suggested that higher education has a liberalizing influence on sociopolitical orientation, although none has demonstrated how this might occur. In the U.S. there is an increasing trend among conservative politicians and media to depreciate the value of a college education, by alleging that college turns people into liberals. To examine the charge that 'college turns people into liberals', I conducted biographical narrative interviews with 24 American college-educated young adults who changed their sociopolitical orientation from conservative to liberal. Utilizing Bourdieu's concepts of habitus and habitus clivé, and grounded theory methods of analysis, I developed a processual model of such transformation. Findings from this study refute narratives of professorial or institutional indoctrination. Instead, the model indicates a more complex process of habitus transformation, that in most cases begins before college students arrive on campus. This study is important because a successful democracy requires an educated populace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Upstream stages of production chains are often capital intensive, so financial liberalization which improves the availability of financial resources may expand the supply of domestic inputs and then raise domestic value added in exports of downstream firms. After China's accession to the WTO, China's government removed the restrictions on foreign banks' business and allowed foreign banks in China to offer Chinese currency (RMB) services to Chinese firms. We utilize this policy change to test the effects of financial liberalization on Chinese firms' domestic value added in exports. We have three main findings: (1) domestic value added in Chinese firms' exports is positively associated with the removal, (2) the removal of foreign bank business restrictions leads to a general change of local financial markets, which facilitates firms' financing activities and (3) the improvement in domestic value added following the removal is not mainly driven by export mode switching from processing trade to ordinary trade but by the increase in domestic inputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indian technology industry is an economic asset for the State. Successive governments and corporations identify tech workers as privileged and their mobilisation as unnecessary. High-skilled tech workers are apparently different from non-tech workers and remain secluded from politics. Tech workers' trade unions, however, can decisively subvert these claims. From three tech unions' Facebook posts in 2020, the first COVID-19 year, this study finds that politics remains central to their discourses. Even though tech workers are understood to be "apolitical," their trade unions have been interacting with political institutions, ministers, bureaucrats, and other non-tech trade union organisers. Some of these tech unions are even affiliated to political parties. The article also identifies some explicit similarities between the unions of tech and non-tech workers in India, and politicised labour movements worldwide. The continuing precarity of unemployment, overwork, and drastic pay cuts that peaked during the pandemic has exposed the tenuous structures of white-collar privilege. By affecting workers in all industries, oppressive neoliberal forces have ironically paved the way for labour solidarity through political resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study adopted historical research and in-depth interviews with artists, dealers, art writers, and collectors in addressing two overarching questions, which are (1) How have state actions manifested as the impetus and impediments to art market development in Nigeria and (2) To what extent is Bourdieu's artistic field model applicable to the Nigerian art world? As the boost in artistic production and consumption in Renaissance Italy was attributed to the wealth generated from banking by the Medici, the research also shows that the art market in Nigeria emerged as an upshot of the economic policy of financial deregulation, which manifested as an "implicit" cultural policy. The financial sector liberalization policy was aimed at addressing the economic depression that stemmed from the drastic global fall in crude oil prices in the 1980s. It stimulated the proliferation of banking and other financial services institutions in Nigeria, which engendered intense competition that lured operators into harnessing esthetics for competitive advantages. This bolstered art collection and patronage, underpinning the emergence of the contemporary art market in Nigeria with an auction segment that grew from about $250,000 in 1999 to over $5.5 million in 2017. Paradoxically, the research also revealed that inadequacies resulting from the lack of "explicit" state plans for the cultural sector constitute impediments to the optimization of the market's potential. As a mark of power, high art and advanced taste have always been associated with elitism. Thus, the research also establishes a high degree of applicability of Bourdieu's artistic field model in exploring the dynamics of power structures in the Nigerian art world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The connectedness of stock markets is inevitable because of the rapid increases in global financialisation, financial liberalisation, and integration of national economies. This study therefore increases the number of stock markets included in the LASSO-VAR model to separately estimate the connectedness of the daily-frequency market returns and volatility of a sample comprising 50 selected stock markets between 2011 and 2021. We observe that the total connectedness index changes substantially over time, exhibiting the highest change during market turbulences, i.e., the beginning of COVID-19. We also show that the transmission of shocks originates from most European markets and then impacting Asian–Pacific markets, although their intensities exhibit significant time variations. Finally, we find that macroeconomic news and uncertainties are drivers of total connectedness, while directional total connectedness is mainly driven by global rather than domestic factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During China's reform era, dominant narratives described a transition away from centralised planning in favour of mutually reinforcing processes of liberalisation and decentralisation. Under Xi Jinping, the talk has increasingly been of the recentralisation of authoritarian-state powers and party discipline. Questioning both reform-era transition narratives and equally simplifying claims about their recent reversal, the paper argues for an enriched treatment of party–state spatiality, understood as a polymorphic and multi-scalar process, rather than simply a more complex one. In the emergent Greater Bay Area megaregion, 'new era' zoning strategies are being repurposed as drivers of pathfinding reforms animated by the party–state, in contrast to received readings of zones as single-purpose instruments of liberalisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Capital account liberalisation can give rise to uncertainty in capital flows, which may lead to an accumulation of financial risks. This study measures the systemic financial risk indices using the coefficient of variation method with data of 24 countries from 2003 to 2019 and the impact of capital account liberalisation on systemic financial risks using the panel threshold model. Evidence shows that systemic financial risk indices vary heterogeneously across countries. The systemic financial risk indices of high-income countries are lower than those of middle- and low-income countries. Second, capital account liberalisation has an asymmetric effect on systemic financial risk with a double threshold. Low-intensity and high-intensity capital account liberalisation increases systemic financial risk. However, medium-intensity capital account liberalisation is effective in reducing systemic financial risk. Third, the heterogeneity results suggest that capital account liberalisation is conducive to reducing the financial risk of high- and middle-income countries and has the opposite effect on low-income countries. Therefore, this study recommends that countries adjust the intensity of capital account liberalisation according to their national conditions. It is necessary to establish a regulatory system for cross-border capital flows and maximise the benefits of liberalisation while safeguarding financial market stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional integration institutions play an important but ambiguous role in the liberal international system, especially when it comes to trade policy. The Covid-19 pandemic generated a trade crisis, which gave them an opportunity to expand their role in a liberal or illiberal direction. An analysis of the framing and policy measures of five key regional institutions in Europe, South America, Africa and Asia will demonstrate whether they were geared towards liberalisation and/or interventionism in early 2020. The European Union stood out for its strong collective action on trade, working out a new balance between interventionism and liberalism. Other institutions hinted at interventionism but did not take collective action. The trade response was overwhelmingly state-driven, and regional institutions outside Europe clearly have limited agency in the global trade system. While their behaviour is difficult to qualify ideologically, their framing supported liberal principles of international relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial liberalization has noticeably reduced the role of the state in effectively influencing the economy in post-developmental states. Yet many studies have found that the legacies of the developmental model continue to influence the policies, institutions, and socioeconomic challenges that are faced by the states that previously adopted the model. These studies, however, do not clearly identify when and how such legacies may be manifested in state behavior. This paper contributes to filling this gap in the literature by arguing that financial crises can serve as a trigger to more clearly reveal the structural evidence of the legacy in institutions that were previously established and utilized for developmental objectives. By conducting a rigorous case analysis using historical and market data on the crisis responses of South Korea's public pension fund, this paper finds that South Korea's developmental legacy remains passively embedded in the governance structure of the pension fund in non-crisis times but manifests during financial crises. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an analysis of multidimensional segregation in Stockholm. Drawing on official statistics and existing empirical research, spatial and socio-economic segregation are found to be increasingly tied to ethnicity, in a global city largely divided between affluent inner-city and marginalized peripheral boroughs. The analysis finds that migration flows' impact on Stockholm's asymmetric development must be understood in a historical perspective, as particular interactions between structural constraints and individual factors, generated by ongoing processes of residential segregation and labour market segmentation. Coinciding with Sweden's shift towards refugee and family dependent immigration, these processes are traced to public policies driving housing market liberalization and financialization, and labour market bifurcation. Reversal of the city's pronounced segregation, where cumulative interactions of segmentation processes cause a vicious circle of downward assimilation of less-qualified migrants and reactive ethnicity among marginalized immigrant youths, constitutes a formidable task Swedish Governments have so far failed to properly address. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses historic and balance sheet analysis to argue that financial deregulation and competitive pressures in financial markets motivated German Landesbanks, large public banks that historically served small and medium enterprises and funded public expenditure, to engage in risky financial practices that precipitated their failures in the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. By contrast, Sparkassen, public municipallevel savings banks that maintained a lending-based model, protected households and small businesses from credit crunches following the Global Financial Crisis. The article shows that pressuring public banks to maximize profits negates the benefits these institutions can offer, while increasing economic instability overall. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the external dimension of EU migration governance has focused on the EU's interests, preferences, and policy efficiency and coherence. Little attention has been paid to the myriad ways both partner and third countries react to the union's external action. We explore the European influence on immigration and refugee policy liberalisation in South America, a region not directly targeted by extra-regional migration governance. Based on the analysis of 130 original interviews with government officials and NGO and IO representatives in eight South American countries we show that - although South American policymakers generally regard the EU as a model of 'efficiency', in terms of the EU's intra-regional mobility regime – the remarkable legislative liberalisation in the region took place in the context of both political and moral opposition to restrictive shifts in EU extra-regional migration governance. The paper contributes to the literature on the EU external migration governance, policy diffusion, and Latin American migration policies by uncovering some of the unintended consequences of European migration governance in South America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article calls for enhancing the horizon of Political Communication Studies, drawing attention to certain relation between the media, the state and the public in a globalised world. Focusing on private mainstream news television in post-liberalisation India, it tries to show how Media, in its singularised popular sense of sensationalising news, generating live-stream of public opinion, conducting parallel investigation of crimes, judging the sub judice and posing as sovereign by perennially endorsing the logic of self-regulation, tries to appropriate the functions, image and rhetoric of the state institutions (the executive, the judiciary and the legislature). The article primarily explores the quasi-executive functions to understand the role of a seemingly autonomous public in Indian democracy. The increasing tussle that we are witnessing between the executive, the legislature and the judiciary, the article argues, is to a large extent due to Media's claim to represent the public more effectively than any state institution, pushing "pillars of democracy" to fight with each other for their share of credit in serving the public. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay problematises representations of Indian women on the SVOD (Subscription Video on Demand) platforms. The oft-invoked image of Indian woman as the repository of traditional values and feminine virtues has undergone a phenomenal transformation in recent years owing to several factors such as economic liberalisation, globalisation and technological revolution. Female characters in most of the SVOD contents are often depicted as independent, agentic and empowered. Nevertheless, the nature of empowerment that these contents uphold is highly controversial from a feminist standpoint. Employing critique of postfeminism as an analytical tool, this paper argues that the representation of Indian women on SVOD platforms as empowered subjects is an outcome of a negotiation between postfeminism, patriarchy and neoliberal culture of consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Democratization is often said to direct rulers' attention to social services. Yet how strong is this relationship in countries that had to restructure previously universalistic but financially unsustainable welfare systems, such as the post-communist states following the collapse of the Soviet bloc? And what if political change stops short of full democratization leading to hybrid regimes in which elements of competitive politics and authoritarianism coexist? To address these questions, we analyse health care reforms in post-communist Georgia. We posit that, even when authoritarianism is not fully eradicated, elections and a partial liberalization of the political arena could elicit rulers' responsiveness to social needs. The research highlights that the progress in political competition that followed the 2003 Rose Revolution has not made Georgia fully democratic, but has nonetheless shaped the health policy approach of the two successive governments, favouring a reconciliation between financial sustainability and citizen accessibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Only five countries have extended universal voting rights to non-citizen residents for all political spheres (local, intermediate and national): Uruguay in 1934, New Zealand in 1975, Chile in 1980, Malawi in 1994, and Ecuador in 2008. These cases constitute a unique intercontinental medley and an opportunity to study the conditions behind such revolutionary change. Through a calibrated comparative strategy based on most similar system designs (inspired by Mill's method of difference) using QCA, this paper finds that the extension of national voting rights to non-citizen residents transpired in two distinct scenarios. The first setting (Chile, New Zealand, and Uruguay) took place within unitary states with already-existing local voting rights for non-citizen residents and settler trajectories, but that were not undergoing a liberalisation process. On the other hand, the second configuration (Ecuador and Malawi) developed within unitary states that recognised nationality by ius soli and were going through a process of liberalisation, but without previous local voting rights for non-citizen residents or a settler trajectory. To our best knowledge, this paper offers the first cross-national explanation that involves all cases that have broadened their respective political communities (demoi) to include national voting rights to all non-citizen residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study conducts a comparative analysis of the factors affecting financial inclusion in Kenya and Ethiopia at macro and micro levels. A generalized linear model is used to examine the determinants of and barriers to financial inclusion using the 2017 Global Findex Database, whereas a descriptive analysis is used to explore their macro-level differences. Kenya has a higher level of financial inclusion than Ethiopia. Differences in financial liberalization policy, gross domestic product, percentage of rural population, and mobile money service expansion are some macro-level differences that explain this variation. Differences in literacy rates and means of receiving payments such as government transfers explain some of the micro-level variations between the two countries. In addition, gender, age, employment status, and owning a mobile phone have significant and positive effects on financial inclusion. However, lack of documentation, lack of trust, and lack of money are significant barriers to financial inclusion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of legislative reforms as a prominent agenda by developing countries to deliberate various programs and improve legislation quality through rapprochement depends on their abilities, willingness, institutions, and legal perspectives. Therefore, this research considered, determined, and analysed reform rapprochements in Indonesia, highlighted constraints, and proposed approaches to promote effective and efficient legislative quality improvement. These findings revealed several qualitative approaches and measures to determine reform implementations and their impact on legislative quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper reports a re-examination of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis for Bangladesh; considering economic growth and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (such as CO2, CH4, and N2O). The autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) model and VAR-based innovative accounting approach (IAA) with the combination of Variance Decomposition and Impulse Response Function are used to check cointegration among the variables using data from 1976 to 2014. This approach is specifically employed for variance analysis in order to measure causal association and regressors' shock to dependent variables. The EKC hypothesis is not supported because there is a positive association between economic growth and pollutants (CO2 and CH4 emissions) over time. However, the EKC is valid for N2O emissions. IAA causal analysis reveals a bilateral causative relationship between GDP and CO2 emissions, as well as a unilateral causal relationship between CH4 emissions and GDP. Trade liberalisation, urbanisation, and financial liberalisation do not necessarily improve or save the natural environment. Bangladesh needs to use renewable energies and cut GHG emissions by abandoning fossil fuels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the Islamisation of knowledge policy that the Islamist regime in the Sudan undertook between 1989 and 2019. It investigates the inner workings of this policy, its epistemic orientations, methodologies, and practices to understand the relationship between religion, education, and politics. The article argues that the Islamisation of knowledge project is comprised of a set of ideas, epistemic theories, and empirical programmes that aim to 'liberate' Muslims from coloniality and rebuild their minds in accordance with an Islamic epistemology. It uncovers how Islamisation of knowledge protagonists portray their epistemology in their intellectual forums and academia. How are the ideas, theories, and educational programmes associated with this form of knowledge implemented through academic institutions? The article addresses analytical conceptions such as Islamic thought and scrutinizes the doctrine, epistemic orientation, and socio-cultural representations imposed on students by Islamisation of knowledge proponents through education policy and curricular programmes. What is Islamic in their educational philosophies and practices? What conceptions of Islamisation underpin this epistemic discourse and practices in academic institutions in the Sudan? At what points do Islam and education ontologically converge and diverge? How do they accommodate one another? The article delves into a detailed ethnography that answers these questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial constraint is a major obstacle for firm growth in emerging economies. Using a World Business Environment Survey (WEBS) dataset, we find that formal financing constraint hampers firm growth. Small firms suffer more than large ones from financial constraint, whereas there is no significant difference between state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and non-SOEs. Our results are robust when we use collateral constraint as an instrumental variable for formal financial constraint. We provide supporting evidence for the promulgation of financial liberalization, which can help alleviate financial constraint, enhance firm growth, and therefore improve economic resilience and prevent financial risks in an emerging economy such as China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The most recent demand for reservation quotas in India has come from the regionally dominant castes of the Jats and Patidars in the arena of education and employment. However, given their status as 'dominant' castes, it is paradoxical that these castes are claiming a 'backward' status. This demand raises questions of two kinds. Firstly, what is the nature of caste identity that they wish to leverage for purposes of gaining access to state quotas? Secondly, what are the different ways in which identities, expectations and mobilisations are shaped by electoral politics? The paper argues that ethnic identities are fluid which take on newer features and markers as they interact with categories of recognition that the state establishes. These negotiations have been exacerbated by electoral politics and the policy of economic liberalisation which have together upset dominant caste equations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As Bashar al-Assad succeeded his father Hafez in 2000, a new 'state bourgeoisie' was created in Syria through means of liberalization and neopatrimonial approaches. In addition to the Alawites who are directly related to al-Assad, this new bourgeoisie included Sunnis and Christians who have proved their utmost loyalty to al-Assad. When the conflict started in 2011, many expected the Sunni businesspeople to join the opposition and distance themselves from al-Assad regime. However, and with the exception of three cases which are discussed in the article; this did not happen. Throughout this article I try to explain how the behavior of the business elite has contributed to the survival of al-Assad regime and the longevity of the conflict. To do so, I discuss the various strategies adopted by the business elite to support the regime while also analyzing the various co-optation and oppression tools that the regime used to subdue and mobilize the business elite. By studying these tools and methods, which rely on a mix of class and neopatrimonial methods, I conclude this article by offering another perspective and a different understanding of authoritarian regimes and their structure while assessing the robustness of these regimes and forecasting their methods in case of uprisings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since World War II, value liberalization has been a worldwide trend, but more recently, there has been a resurgence of conservativism. Modernization and cultural theories have difficulty explaining the shift to liberal or illiberal values, but the political environment, an underestimated contextual factor, could shed light on the mechanisms driving it. This study used hierarchical linear modeling on all six waves of the World Values Survey data (1981–2014) to demonstrate that political freedom helps to explain the rise and fall of liberal attitudes when controlling for societal affluence, inequality, and cultural backgrounds. It finds that political freedom conditions the effects of education: although education is usually considered a liberalizing force, its effect is much weaker in non-free than free societies. The findings remind us of the importance of a free political environment for a robust democracy and point to the complex nature of educational effects, namely the ability of education to socialize people in liberal or illiberal directions depending on the political context and the regime's agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financialisation in developing countries is the subject of an expanding literature but its characteristic features and its relationship to developed countries remain unclear. Reviewing the literature, this paper shows that financialisation in developing countries should be distinguished from financial liberalisation and financial globalisation. Furthermore, its character is partly derivative from financialisation in developed countries, as is confirmed by two theoretical approaches, related but different from each other, namely 'subordinate' and 'dependent' financialisation. By further reviewing the empirical literature, the paper also shows that financialisation in developing countries is highly variable and different from that in developed countries regarding the conduct of non-financial enterprises, banks, and households. Moreover, the literature addresses several sources of vulnerability for developing countries relating to financialisation. Finally, there are significant literature gaps, above all, the connection between financialisation and the globalisation of production as well as the role of the state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the effects of fiscal and monetary policies on the real sector under globalization by using the dynamic panel System-Generalized Method of Moments estimator technique with a sample of 79 countries during the 1998–2018 period. The paper primarily aimed to evaluate the roles of fiscal and monetary policies on the real sector by considering aspects of globalization. The results demonstrate that globalization has significantly distorted the role of expansionary fiscal policy on the real sector. Further, the role of monetary policy on the real sector has remained reliable under globalization in developing countries but not in developed countries. Moreover, the effects of economic globalization through trade and financial liberalization on the reliability of fiscal and monetary policies were also investigated. In accordance with the effects of globalization, trade and financial liberalization were found to distort the role of fiscal policy on the real sector; however, under trade liberalization, monetary policy was more effective for the industrial and service sectors than fiscal policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has enjoyed high saving and high investment ratios by international standards. However, mainstream economists argue that China suffers from inefficient investment due to excessive state interventions. The mainstream argument is in conflict with the observed high output-capital ratios and rates of return on capital in China before 2008. China's investment efficiency has deteriorated since 2008 despite the progress of financial liberalization. In this essay, we used provincial-level panel data from 1993 to 2017 and the technique of General Method of Moments to examine how China's saving and investment respond to output-capital ratio, gross profit share, and real interest rate. We find that output-capital ratio has positive effects on saving and investment in all three periods (1993–2000, 2001–2008, 2009–2017); gross profit share has positive effects on saving; but gross profit share has negative and significant impact on investment for the period 2009–2017. We find that real interest rate has significant and negative impact on China's saving for the period 1993–2000, a result that is inconsistent with the neoclassical theory of saving. On the other hand, real interest rate has a significant and negative impact on investment and a significant and positive impact on saving for the period 2009–2017, consistent with what should happen in a liberalized financial market according to neoclassical economics. These findings suggest that China's financial market may have become sufficiently liberalized to induce the "correct" behavior from businesses and households but the "correct" behavior has not yet led to improvement in China's investment efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the evolution of internal management work within large corporations from the end of the nineteenth century to the late 1960s. It argues that internal financialization is the prior condition for external financialization, as expressed notably in the shareholder value that is the focus of most theoretical and empirical analyses of financialization of corporate governance. Starting from the twofold nature of management work, our analysis examines how top managers of large corporations have become progressively disassociated from the production process. Through an exploration of the history of business accounting, we show how the evolution of management work has progressively financialized the functions of top managers. One of our main conclusions is that the alliance between shareholders and top managers around the nature and purpose of the firm is the result of an endogenous process. Therefore, the origin of shareholder-value-based corporate governance not only has to be situated before the rise of institutional investors and financial liberalization in the 1970s, but must also be seen as an internal process setting the conditions for the emergence of this management model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper performs a meta-analysis of the effect on economic growth of financial development and liberalization in European emerging markets and compares with that in European advanced economies. A meta-synthesis of 893 estimates extracted from 45 studies suggests that finance in emerging markets has a positive effect on growth. Furthermore, our findings indicate that the synthesized effect size in emerging markets was smaller than that in advanced economies. Results from meta-regression analysis and test for publication selection bias, however, show that some synthesis results cannot be reproduced when literature heterogeneity and publication selection bias are taken into consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Capital flight is a major issue in developing economies; the problem is more severe in Africa, where domestic investment has been affected. Much attention has been given to the effect of legal and foreign capital flows in the international capital movement, disregarding illicit capital outflows (capital flight) from developing countries including Africa. This study examines the effects of capital flight and financial liberalization on domestic investment using the dynamic system generalized method of moments (GMM) for 30 African nations between 2000 and 2019. The econometric analysis revealed that capital flight is one of the conditions that severely constrains domestic investment financing in Africa. However, the impact of financial liberalization on domestic investment is shown to be insignificant. The empirical evidence is used to draw some policy implications aimed at reducing capital flight and enhancing domestic investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last few decades, most of the emerging market economies (EMEs) have adopted financial liberalization. Evidence shows that the financial sectors/institutions in emerging economies were either underdeveloped or functioning with a lot of inefficiencies under inadequate regulation. The paper examines whether liberalization in the financial sector has led to financial development for a bunch of EMEs including BRICS. The paper differs from the existing literature in its approach of dealing with the measurements of financial development and considering financial liberalization as a gradual process. Panel regressions are estimated for 9 countries based on 22 years' data for four aspects of financial development, viz. depth, efficiency, stability and competition. Results indicate that financial liberalization in terms of freedom in capital markets has a positive effect on financial depth and competition, whereas liberalization from government interference in the banks and other financial institutions has a positive impact on the stability of the financial sector. Trade openness has a role in enhancing the efficiency of the financial sector. Also, evidence suggests that capital account openness leads to increased depth and does not destabilize the financial sector. GDP, political stability, regulatory quality and government effectiveness are also important factors in influencing more than one aspect of financial development in a country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article asks who is making the plans for India's fast-growing urban regions? It begins with the adopted conceptual framework illustrating how the perception of plans within the planning discipline has begun to change with an increasing recognition that a more diverse mix of efforts pursued by different planning players, rather than a singular state-sponsored master plan, shapes contemporary cities and urban regions. Employing a careful analysis of spatial plans and interviews with planners and officials, the article next explains the 4 main kinds of planning efforts I found in India's National Capital Region (NCR): a growing number of state-led plans at different spatial scales; sectoral plans made by public sector agencies like the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI); project-specific plans, such as those sponsored by private developers and emerging entrepreneurs; and tacit and spontaneous plans, including those pursued by local actors, that often leverage unforeseen opportunities, contesting and transforming the preceding plans. The article concludes by calling upon scholars to pay attention to the interplay between these different kinds of plans that are beginning to shape urban India in an unprecedented manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The network of international investment agreements (IIAs) sees a rapid expansion in the last three decades. With it also the number of international investor-State disputes (ISDS), where foreign investors allege governments of breaches of IIAs, increases sharply also in Balkan, post-Soviet Union and Near and Middle East (BSNME) countries. These disputes are frequently seen to negatively interfere with the national sovereignty of host governments to enact regulation in the public interest, especially in times when regulatory interventions are necessary from a social welfare viewpoint. Against this background, in this paper we appraise the current state of ISDS in BSNME countries: Are BSNME countries prime targets of foreign investors' arbitral claims? Which economic sectors are targeted by investors? What is the outcome of the arbitral councils' deliberations? What can we infer from the experience of BSNME countries with ISDS about the future role of IIAs for these countries? We conclude that further improvements in governance are key factors in the attempt to optimize the trade-off between attraction of foreign investment via the ratification of IIAs and national sovereignty in policy making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The liberalization of the electronic media in sub-continent brought new choices for the viewers, but also highlighted the complex interplay of rights of various actors when it came to the live broadcasting of cricket. There is "right to information" in viewing live transmission of championship matches, with a corresponding service obligation on the national TV to broadcast such matches. This public interest in watching live transmissions, which are carried over air waves –a public property– comes in conflict with auctioning broadcasting rights exclusively to a highest bidder. In India, the right of the viewers is protected through the Sports Act of 2007, which traces its origin in a series of superior courts' judgments spanning over 22 years from 1995 to 2017. Pakistan is lagging behind in definitively protecting the right of viewing sports events, and through Indian experience, could avoid the difficult path of formulating public policy ex post facto. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author argues that the return of Crimea to Russia, events in and around Ukraine, and associated tendencies in Russian domestic politics have created a new reality for Russian society. Many liberals consider declining Russian influence in the world a necessary condition of internal liberalization, while many of those who favor an independent role for Russia in the world and the strengthening of its influence are proponents of an authoritarian or even Stalinist internal regime. As a result, Russians face the unpalatable choice between a democratic Russia that has been reduced to a junior partner of the West and a strong Russia with a dictatorial nationalist regime that is a threat to all its neighbors. The author proposes a third option that would meet the aspirations of the majority by combining a normal moderate patriotism with an equally moderate liberalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Currently, the world system is in a state of complex crisis and transformation. The overall influence of its US-led centre has weakened, and most of the global periphery is in either chaos or misery. The mechanisms of the global accumulation of capital prevent new global leaders from emerging. Until now, China's economic ascent has been based on managed market forces and sovereign monetary policy. However, if the liberalisation of capital flows in China continues, the country's financial independence might be lost. This article explains how the nodal crisis of global capitalism has evolved, how far the marketisation and financial liberalisation of the Chinese economy has gone and the largest obstacles to China further strengthening its influence on the world order. The author concludes that China could play a positive role as a new superpower in constructing a world beyond capitalism, if it does not give up the socialist project, keeps market forces under control, maintains accumulation without dispossession, preserves its financial independence and makes alliances with other nations on the global (semi-)periphery. The latter is particularly important, as the present hegemonic centre will not give up its position peacefully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, we have witnessed a move towards a further protection of central urban cores through introduction of retail planning in Denmark. Recent changes in legislation have significantly changed these principles through a planning reform as proposed by the liberal government and adopted by Danish parliament in 2017. The change in legislation fits with a longer trend of liberalization of spatial planning in Denmark since the mid-2000s. 4th of June 2019 it was announced that the building of a high- rise tower and accompanying shopping district was put on hold by the developer. A project proposed for outside the town of Brande, which due to its radical appearance had caused a stir in architectural- and urban planning communities. Before the 2017 planning reform, such a project would be impossible due to the retail planning sections in the Danish planning act. This purpose of this article is to unfold the project in Brande, the change in legislation, which made it possible, and the precedence it sets for Danish urban planning. The change in planning legislation and practice is contextualized with a historical background for Danish urban planning, and the change in planning principles is set in an international- and theoretical context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's judicial system supports state-led developmentalism, whereby recently reinstated lawyers are expected to concentrate their practice on servicing marketized economic activities for the sake of national economic development. In other words, contemporary Chinese lawyers, as part of the legal infrastructure for the increasingly marketized economy, are practically required to be developmental lawyers, so they broadly share the developmental citizenship of most Chinese citizens. Such status of Chinese lawyers corresponds to the overall systemic order of China as a post-socialist state in which socio-economic liberalization has been advanced for developmental purposes without attendant political liberalization (that is, reforming the party-state dictatorship). While most lawyers have managed to survive or succeed in the context of such developmental instrumentality, their professional authority and integrity in upholding the rule of law have been chronically compromised by both the economic order that remains state-segmented and the political discouragement of civil rights advocacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employer resistance to works councils is not a phenomenon that has been closely associated with German labour relations. While classic studies characterise the 'German model' in terms of social partnership, more recent accounts seem to observe a 'dualisation' if not liberalisation of German labour relations. In somewhat of a contradiction to the 'social partnership' perspective, we find that incidents of employers' hostility towards the establishment of works councils are widespread. Based on data provided by the WSI Survey of paid union representatives (2012, 2015), we find that employers disrupt every sixth attempt to establish a works council. Among the measures taken by employers, the most common strategy is to intimidate works council candidates. Furthermore, we show that employers' hostility to works councils is evenly distributed between manufacturing (core) and private services (periphery), which suggests that the transformation of the 'German model' over the past decade follows a more nuanced path than suggested by accounts of dualisation. In contrast to the liberalisation hypothesis, our results also indicate that rather than affecting establishments across the board, attempts by employers to obstruct employees' participation rights are focused on a certain type of establishment: medium-sized and owner-managed firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the growing insecurity for the Korean self-employed who were once responsible for a large proportion of domestic service operations. Since the 1980s, changing regional and domestic economic circumstances, the restructuring of regional and chaebol manufacturing operations and liberalisation of the domestic service economy had led to enterprise diversification into the distributive sectors and the systematisation of the domestic service economy. Conducting a historical analysis of service sector development and decomposing the Korean Economically Active Population survey (1989–2011), this article charts the process of Korea's distributive sector development and its effect on the self-employed. It argues that chaebol systematisation of Korea's service sector consolidated the domestic economy after 1997 and exerted pressure on the country's self-employed. Large businesses formalised the service sector, displaced the self-employed, and instead generated mostly non-regular wage work, proletarianising a significant segment of the service workforce. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite external and domestic pressures seeking liberalization and privatization, Ethiopia, until recently, maintained a highly centralized, vertically integrated, single service provider model of state monopoly of telecommunications. However, in 2019, the Ethiopian House of Representatives passed the Communications Service Proclamation, a historic bill that deregulated the Ethiopian telecommunications sector, paving the way for domestic and foreign companies to invest in one of the last remaining state-controlled telecommunications markets in the world. By probing the limitations of Ethiopia's monopolistic arrangement in telecommunications akin to state vanguardism as well as critically examining the potential pitfalls of the impending liberalization of the sector and privatization of the sole telecommunication operator Ethio-Telecom, this article makes the case for instituting a commons-based approach that is pro-poor, pro-development, and contextually streamlined. It concludes by proposing three avenues of telecommunication commons, namely: infrastructure commons; last mile commons; and digital commons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I consider how the Indian state approaches the relationship between India's development and the Indian diaspora by analysing the discourse that emerges from a key Indian government report. I argue that the Indian state uses the idea of development to support the way it governs Indians abroad. At the same time, the Indian state uses its relationship with Indians abroad to support particular policies being pursued in the name of India's development. These policies require economic "liberalization", including by freeing up the movement of capital and reducing rates of corporate taxation. While invoking Indians abroad to shape the governance of Indians inside of India appears counterintuitive, I argue that it reflects the way that particular notions of "overseas Indians" and "development" are being simultaneously shaped by the Indian state, and the way that the authority of the Indian state to pursue particular "development policies" is being grounded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anti-corruption became one of the top priorities in post-Soeharto Indonesia, with democratisation, market liberalisation and institutional anti-corruption frameworks pursued as means to enhance transparency and accountability in public governance. A core component of these efforts was the establishment of a powerful anti-corruption agency, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). This article assesses the effectiveness of the KPK, using evidence from two contrasting cases to identify factors that facilitated or impeded its ability to successfully investigate, prosecute and thus contain high-level corruption. The analysis highlights the threats to the KPK posed by resilient networks that were able to reconsolidate and resist anti-corruption efforts in post-Soeharto Indonesia. However, it also identifies countervailing social forces that emerged in the context of democratisation – in particular, an active civil society and a largely free press. While these supportive pressures from civil society could not fully counter the attacks on the KPK, they were able to prevent its marginalisation in the two major cases examined. Overall the KPK's success in addressing high-level corruption is shown to be dependent on the interaction of political dynamics, interests and power relations, with no guarantee that anti-corruption forces will prevail in future cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on China economically engage each other with different objectives and expectations, and they seek to advance their interests and pursue their goals by following very different strategies. It mentions China would pursue the path of economic liberalization and reduce or eliminate all barriers to the free flow of goods, capital, information, and people between their two countries. It also mentions bilateral flows of trade and investment and effectively disengage from one another economically and greater openness by applying tariffs on an increasing array of imports from China.

Opening the market to foreign investors is an action which the Chinese government will take under the pressure of economic globalization. However, the impact on domestic firms and market needs to be investigated. This study uses disaggregate measures (foreign exposure index) to analyze how the entry of foreign banks affects domestic banks and the financial markets unlike previous studies which tend to employ aggregate measures (foreign banks number and foreign bank assets share). The results show that the entry of foreign banks has a significantly positive impact on the performance of domestic banks, which is in favor of the process of domestic financial liberalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper employs a structural innovation model to study the process of indigenous innovation in China and the role of industry relatedness. To better take into account China's transitioning economy context, it further tests to what extent the relationship between relatedness and firms' innovation process is influenced by the relaxation of foreign ownership controls, an arguably exogenous shock. Controlling for selection, simultaneity and unobserved heterogeneity, the results show that firm research and development (R&D) boosts innovation output, which in turn enhances firm productivity. Relatedness economies are positively related to each phase of innovation, although the size of the effects depends on the type of firm and the stage of innovation. Foreign direct investment (FDI) liberalization encourages firms to rely more on relatedness economies: (1) to complement R&D spending that is required to adapt foreign technologies to local applications; (2) to recombine knowledge from related industries in order to bring forth new proprietary ideas, processes or concepts; and (3) to help solve process or organizational problems faced in related industries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses whether liberalisation has moderated or aggravated India's employment problems. Since the Modi government's election in 2014 and the introduction of the flagship "Make in India" policy, various government officials and academics have argued that India's employment situation has improved and is showing promising signs of growth and development. However, in this article, it is argued that India's liberalisation policies have generated numerous problems: employment has delinked from GDP growth due to the increasing financialisation of accumulation; job growth is equal to or below labour force growth; and informalisation is increasing. A structural shift is occurring in India and is causing rural–urban migration due to increased agricultural input costs, reverse tenancy and the mechanisation of agriculture without the creation of new employment. This has led to a redistribution of existing employment in the urban informal sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transformation of the state in the neoliberal era has characterized the debate in international/comparative political economy and political science scholarship. Many of such accounts, however, often assume a static and reified vision of the state. In contrast, this study, by focusing on the dimension of political agency in the state, provides for a qualitative analysis of the transformations of the Italian state during the consolidation of neoliberalism (1988–2009). Through a Critical Discourse Analysis of the political economy of Italian governments, the article tests two main hypotheses. First, similar discursive strategies of legitimation of neoliberal reforms and permanent austerity are found across the party-system. Second, these strategies occur, with no significant variations, throughout the period considered by our study. The aims of the article are three. First, to emphasize the relevance of political agency in the state to the imposition of neoliberalization; second, to explore how the neoliberal idea of state is redefined within a constellation of collateral discursive strategies; third, to emphasize the importance of the analysis of context-based discursive strategies of neoliberalization. While the empirical analysis confirms the cross-party and longitudinal extension of neoliberal political economy, the conclusions discuss the relevance of these findings to understand contemporary democratic crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]