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This article brings feminist critiques of capitalism into conversation with race-conscious International Political Economy to highlight the place of social reproduction in the colonial global economy. It does so by taking a provincial perspective, using Royal Leamington Spa as a case study to reveal how the provision of care for the elderly and the ill sustained colonial elites across the life course, while religious and educational practices helped transmit cultural values across generations and reproduce imperialism as an institutionalised social order. Whereas the finance houses of London, the factories of Manchester, and the ports of Liverpool and Bristol constitute nodal points for imperial circuits of capital, the spa town condenses the everyday practices through which bourgeois metropolitan empire was lived and made liveable. These findings point to a functional differentiation of economic space within the metropole and offer a critical reinterpretation of Middle England as a Whitened site of middle-class respectability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers queer studies in the global geopolitical hotspot of Asia, as well as how we can reimagine queer theories through both the Covid-19 pandemic and the intensified regional and global superpower competition and geopolitical tensions. It argues for a rethinking of queer studies through today's international relations and geopolitical complications in a sociological political economy. The aim is to connect critical studies with analyses of economic and social class structures, an approach that has been substantiated by the current crises, and to present an expanded queer mobility theory with two brief case studies (mini-critiques) of the current socioeconomic conditions facing marginalized people under Covid-19 and the changing geopolitical landscape. In so doing, this paper actively explores what queer studies can do and can be through the current historical turning point of the pandemic and geopolitical rivalry toward potential post-Covid socioeconomic revival and recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Covid 19 pandemic, which started to spread at the beginning of 2020, has led to a new paradigm that has been defined as the 'new normal' in the world with its ongoing effects until today. With this study, it is aimed to determine which of the existing forms of government achieves more success in solving the problems which have deepened with the effect of the pandemic and are getting more and more complex with each passing day as we experience as a result of global environmental problems, wars and the unfavorable international political economy. In this context, the 'new normal' has been defined by drawing the conceptual framework of politics and forms of government that have been implemented until today. Then, today's complex problems are analyzed in global security and economy, income distribution, social security, education, environment socio-cultural and other dimensions. In the following section, the selected government models were compared within the framework of the determined parameters, and the success of the problems in the solution was determined. In the conclusion, the contribution of government models to this success has been questioned, and some solution proposals have stated. It has been determined that the form of government alone is not sufficient in the success of solving today's complex problems, and other variables such as power ability, geopolitics, identity, religion and moral values are also effective. In addition, the importance of the power model in the country as well as the way of prioritizing the problems understood, while the importance of how international and domestic policies have been determined as the allocation of budget resources also has revealed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article titled "Commentary on Kvangraven and Styve, 'The Hierarchies of Global Finance'" by Caroline E. Schuster provides a positive review of the paper written by Ingrid Harold Kvangraven and Maria Dyveke Styve. The paper focuses on the concept of "international financial subordination" and its impact on developing economies. The authors argue for a more robust understanding of finance from a global perspective, emphasizing the importance of power dynamics and social relations. However, the reviewer raises questions about the disciplinary division of labor in knowledge production and suggests the need for a critical political economy perspective. Overall, the article invites readers to engage in cross-disciplinary dialogue and challenges conventional assumptions about global finance. [Extracted from the article]

This article mobilizes Jesus Martín Barbero's magnum opus, Communication, Culture, and Hegemony, towards a better understanding of the contemporary global success of Turkish television drama, known as dizi, in Latin America, the land of the once-mighty telenovela. Hilighting Martín-Barbero's centrality to my own intellectual project on the transnational connection and transcultural resonances between the Middle East and Latin America, I draw on preliminary fieldwork in Argentina and Mexico, where Turkish dizi have been hits, to revisit Martín-Barbero's pivotal conceptualization of mediaciones and accounts for forces of global media competition, aesthetic mimicry, and the fundamental problematic of South-to-South relations that got a new lease on life with the success of dizi in Latin America. Ultimately, I probe Martín-Barbero's "precious anachronism" to elaborate a notion of "coiled temporality" that emerges between different geocultural zones through the consumption of narrative television fiction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serbia has exported raspberries since socialism. Its production network withstood the post-Yugoslav property transformations and grew despite global competition. This article traces the configuration of the 'infrastructures of value' that underwrite the raspberries' spatio-temporal reach to distant markets. Combining new and historical materialism, it contributes to economic anthropology by studying the interplay between two infrastructures – agronomics and the 'cold chain' – and their differential weathering of historical transformations. During socialism, the agronomists 'infrastructured' the environment in collaboration with farmers and plants, while the containment technologists upgraded the freezing infrastructure, solidifying the fruits into graded, storable, and transportable commodities. After socialism, private entrepreneurs replicated the cold-chain modules, while agronomic research and quality control became de-institutionalised. As the agronomic infrastructure stagnated, the cold chain went into overdrive. In this late-capitalist 'infrastructural involution', political-economic transformations reshaped multispecies infrastructures, devaluing the contributions of plants and rural labour while benefiting entrepreneurs and wholesalers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For five years now, Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany has hosted The Compound Challenge—a global retrosynthesis competition. When the event kicked off in 2018 on the occasion of the 350th anniversary of the company, no one could have predicted the path it would take—from a novel competition to a pivotal event within the synthetic chemistry community. But what makes the Compound Challenge tick and what drives its popularity? And, more importantly, what lessons can be taken from the Compound Challenge and applied to other challenges in scientific education and outreach? In this Viewpoint Article we will tell the story of the Compound Challenge, from its inception to its current status. Through examining feedback following each of its iterations, we begin to define what makes an open innovation challenge so compelling. It is our hope that educators, leaders, and innovators will be able to learn from our successes as well as our mistakes and apply these lessons to their future outreach activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the intensification of global economic competition, innovation has become one of the core elements of vigorous development in various regions. Improving the innovation ability of cross-regional central cities is the main factor influencing whether a region can achieve economic and social development. In this paper, an innovation primacy index system is designed according to the links of the innovation value chain, and the innovation advantages and empirical effects are comprehensively analyzed by using the point-to-point method, entropy weight method, gravity model and two-way fixed effect model. Based on the data of 8 cities in the core area of the Huaihai Economic Zone from 2010 to 2020 in China, Xuzhou's innovation primacy ranks first in the core area of the Huaihai Economic Zone, which accords with its status as the central city of the region. Its index has been rising, and its development trend is also good. However, the overall innovation ability of the core area of the Huaihai Economic Zone is unbalanced; the overall economic foundation is not solid enough. In terms of knowledge innovation, R&D innovation and industrial innovation, the industrialization level, around the activation of Xuzhou city vitality, enhances the Xuzhou innovation radiation drive, leading to a decrease in the Huaihai Economic Zone. Finally, some corresponding suggestions on innovation primacy have been proposed for the city of the Huaihai Economic Zone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyber operations as a facet of international competition pose a direct challenge to alliances. Designed to respond to conventional military attacks, alliances like the North Atlantic Treaty Organization must now determine whether their defensive commitments extend into cyberspace. This question is not limited to political and military elites, as the use of force in defense of allies is among the most politically charged decisions a state can make and relies significantly on public support. This article extends recent public opinion literature on cyber conflict to investigate public attitudes towards existing treaty commitments following a destructive cyber operation against an allied state. Using a survey experiment involving United States nationals, we find that while participants are sensitive to treaty obligations, these effects are moderated by individual factors like domain expertise. Furthermore, we observe that specific aggressor-ally dyads tied to geographic regions can shape public preferences, with participants being more reactive to Europe-based scenarios than comparable treatments in Asia. Las operaciones cibernéticas, como una faceta de la competencia internacional, plantean un desafío directo a las alianzas. Aunque fueron diseñadas para responder a ataques militares convencionales, alianzas como la Organización del Tratado del Atlántico Norte deben determinar ahora cómo se traducen sus compromisos defensivos en el ámbito digital. Esta cuestión no está limitada a las élites políticas y militares, ya que el uso de la fuerza para la defensa de los aliados es una de las decisiones con mayor carga política que puede tomar un Estado y depende en gran medida del apoyo público. Este artículo amplía la literatura reciente, en materia de opinión pública, sobre conflictos cibernéticos con el fin de investigar las actitudes públicas hacia los compromisos de los tratados existentes después de una operación cibernética destructiva contra un Estado aliado. Descubrimos, mediante el uso de un experimento de encuesta en el que participaron ciudadanos estadounidenses, que, si bien los participantes son sensibles a las obligaciones de los tratados, estos efectos están moderados por factores individuales como la experiencia en el dominio. Además, observamos que las díadas específicas agresor-aliado que están vinculadas a regiones geográficas pueden dar forma a las preferencias del público, y que los participantes son más reactivos a los escenarios que tienen lugar en Europa que a aquellos comparables en Asia. Les cyberopérations, facettes de la concurrence internationale, présentent un défi direct pour les alliances. Conçues pour répondre aux attaques militaires conventionnelles, les alliances comme l'Organisation du Traité de l'Atlantique Nord doivent aujourd'hui déterminer comment leurs engagements défensifs se traduisent dans le domaine numérique. Cette question ne se limite pas aux élites politique et militaire, car l'usage de la force pour défendre des alliés compte parmi les décisions les plus polémiques qu'un État peut prendre. Or, elles reposent en grande partie sur le soutien public. Cet article s'inscrit dans le prolongement de la littérature récente sur l'opinion publique en matière de cyberconflits. Il s'intéresse à l'attitude de la population à l'égard des engagements existants par traité à la suite d'une cyberopération destructrice à l'encontre d'un État allié. À l'aide d'une expérience de sondage impliquant des citoyens américains, nous remarquons que bien que les participants soient sensibles aux obligations au titre de traités, leurs effets sont modérés par des facteurs personnels comme l'expertise au sein d'un domaine. De plus, nous remarquons que certaines dyades agresseur-allié au sein de régions spécifiques peuvent façonner les préférences de la population, les participants réagissant davantage à des scénarios basés en Europe qu'à des traitements comparables ayant lieu en Asie. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the reform and opening up, China's foreign trade has developed rapidly. The import and export trade volume has doubled, and the team of foreign trade enterprises is constantly expanding. After China's accession to the WTO and the liberalization of foreign trade management rights, a group of small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises have grown up in recent years and are becoming a new force in the development of China's foreign trade industry. So, how to make these enterprises grow and grow in the international market competition, and focus on cultivating the core competitiveness of small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises, has become a strategic issue related to the overall development of foreign trade. Recently, COmbinative Distance-based ASsessment (CODAS) method computes the Euclidean distances as the primary measure and Hamming distances as the secondary measure to assess alternatives based on predetermined attribute. Moreover, the probabilistic linguistic term sets (PLTSs) are effective tool for depicting uncertainty of the multiple attribute group decision making (MAGDM) problems. The core competitiveness evaluation of small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises is a classical MAGDM. In this paper, the CODAS method is extended to the MAGDM with PLTSs. Firstly, the definition of PLSs is introduced. Then, on the basis of the classical CODAS method, the PL-CODAS method is proposed to cope with MAGDM under PLTSs and its significant characteristic is that it can fully consider PLED and PLHD. Finally, a practical example for core competitiveness evaluation of small and medium-sized foreign trade enterprises is given to verify the developed approach and some comparative analysis was also given to verify the PL-CODAS approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until recently, developing countries were supposedly enjoying an unprecedented 'age of choice' when borrowing. Many observers were arguing then that geopolitical competition between lenders allowed them to extract better terms. Today, many face a looming debt crisis: financing options have shrivelled and restructuring talks are painfully slow, compounding debtors' misery. This is frequently attributed to creditors' geopolitical rivalry, reflecting China's rise as a sovereign lender. But why should competition between providers, once supposedly a boon for borrowers, now be a bane? This article explains this, by switching an inadequate geopolitics lens for a political economy analysis. The earlier expansion in lending was primarily driven not by geopolitical contestation but by prevailing politico-economic conditions within China and on international financial markets amid US-led quantitative easing, and was, furthermore, facilitated by China's fragmented internal governance. As economic conditions changed, financing dried up and creditors scrambled to secure returns. China's current chief competitors are not western states, but rival lenders: commercial bondholders and multilateral development banks. Given China's fragmented governance, lenders' commercial motives to recoup their loans primarily drive Chinese behaviour, not geopolitical objectives. This limits China's hegemonic potential and suggests developing countries may benefit less from the 'second Cold War' than some imagine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We ask how women are faring in the field of international trade both as knowledge producers and as policy-makers, with a focus on the former. This is an important question in light of the increased, if belated, attention paid to the gendered impact of international trade rules and of the gendered nature of academia. Using article publishing as a proxy for international trade scholarship, we create a unique dataset consisting of trade-related articles published in the 27 most influential journals in the field during the past 20 years. Examining the gender balance of authors in our database reveals that, despite recent progress, women's voices are still peripheral in the field, comprising just 31.5 percent of authors in the past five years. We find no reasons to believe this is a peculiarity of knowledge creation in the field of international trade. Rather, the analysis suggests that it is the highly gendered nature of the broad fields of International Relations and International Political Economy that explains the gender imbalance we find. Looking ahead, if we are serious about addressing gender imbalances in international trade policy-making and knowledge production, new knowledge and strategies are needed that address the structural reasons that contribute to the arbitrary but very real gender inequalities both in academia and policy-making. Ensuring women scholars and policy-makers are fully represented in formulating and implementing these strategies is a basic, even if insufficient, precondition for their success. Only after the weaknesses and hurdles are addressed will the deterrence and defence of the region attain a fully credible level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The varying nature of the competitive environment of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), contributing significantly to gross domestic product in most countries, has made their moving toward internationalization and global competition unavoidable in such a way that the life cycle of research in this area is experiencing a period of rapid growth. This study aims to evaluate the status of research on SME internationalization based on bibliographic records retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus. Design/methodology/approach: Using a scientometric analysis, reviewing the important points and the boundaries of research on SME internationalization as well as practicing co-occurrence and burst detection analysis. Findings: Through a rigorous examination of the crucial points and boundaries within the realm of SMEs internationalization research, coupled with an analysis of co-occurrence and burst detection techniques to detect contemporary hotbed topics, this study has uncovered that the predominant focus of current discourse centers around the areas of networks and networking, as well as internationalization models and entry into the global arena. Moreover, it gives insight that future investigations will shift toward enhancing SME internationalization performance, while simultaneously prioritizing the expeditiousness of their entrance into international markets. The insights garnered from this inquiry are expected to facilitate salient contributions to future literature in this area, thereby advancing our understanding of these complex phenomena. Practical implications: The trend of the research in this field can be useful for enthusiasts. In this context, the life cycle of research on SME internationalization has been drawn that shows the period of research growth of publications is almost between 2005 and 2023, and the saturation will be approximately from 2023 to 2035. The top researching SME internationalization in the world have been occurred in the USA, England, Canada, Sweden countries and in Department of Management, Department of Marketing, School of Management, Faculty of Management Studies institutions. Also, most of the research has been published in Journal of International Business Studies, International Business Review and Strategic Management Journal. Originality/value: This study accordingly provided a valuable perspective for future research in this line. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the gradual evolution of the French Régulation school (FR) for the study of capitalism through the lens of structure and agency. The analysis first segments the school into two epochs, the early Régulation, led by authors Aglietta and Lipietz, and the later Régulation, which saw the rise of Boyer. We find that the gradual progression that occurred within the FR school is linked to its authors' implicit ontic engagement with structure and agency, which, in turn, provides natural linkages to Critical Realism. In the second part of the paper, we demonstrate how the comparison between Morphogenetic Régulation and French Régulation (FR) can facilitate a much deeper reading of the structure‐agency debate pertaining to the transformation of capitalism. In so doing, it discusses the value addedness of Morphogenetic Régulation through three specific concepts by stressing their relevance for contemporary studies in international political economy. These concepts are: stratified emergence; causality and the problématique of hierarchy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Finland, agriculture is practiced in variable growing conditions that are further challenged by climate change and under external pressure caused by international competition, changing consumer preferences and demands, and the renewal of the European Union Common Agriculture Policy and Paris Agreement climate targets. Futures studies in agriculture have focused on scenario building with expert panels, though usually without farmers' involvement. This study focuses on farmers' views of shaping the future of Finnish agriculture. It builds on the disaggregative Delphi method and combines interviews and a representative survey of Finnish farmers. The study is based on a bottom-up process in which a farmer panel of 20 farms defined their views of the future in a semi-structured thematic interview. The views were turned into statements in a structured survey sent to the second panel, which comprised all Finnish farmers who had received agricultural subsidies in 2016, with 4401 respondents. The results were analyzed using quantitative factor analysis, which produced five future images for Finnish agriculture. The images were shown to the original farmer panel for reflection. They considered the probability of each future image and their own role in it. Technology solves as a future image was most favored by farmers, followed by Ecological and specializing small-scale production image. Business-as-usual was the least likely future images according to the interviewed farmers. This paper describes the process and discusses both methodological benefits and pitfalls, as well as farmers' future views of the forthcoming decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Radiology virtual teaching sessions utilize live video conferencing to promote collaborative learning and engagement by discussing radiology cases. Because of its convenience and flexibility, this mode of education has gained popularity, particularly after the corona virus disease 2019 pandemic. Objective: We describe our experience in organizing a series of "Global Health Imaging Case Competitions" for trainees in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). These competitions provide the trainees with an opportunity to present unique radiology cases, network with radiologists, learn about various radiology topics, win prizes and potentially publish their case reports in a peer-reviewed journal. Materials and methods: Planning and execution of the competition involves several steps. First, trainees are invited to participate and submit abstracts discussing unique cases. The organizing committee grades these abstracts; the authors of the 20 abstracts with the highest scores are asked to submit a video presentation of their cases to be presented during the live webinar. During this webinar, presentations are displayed and graded to select winners. Additionally, the audience votes to choose a participant as the people's favorite. We have completed four cycles (Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and the Middle East and Asia) and will continue in the same order of rotation. Results: Attendance totalled 2,510 participants from 50 countries. Pediatric cases represented the majority of cases among finalists. Feedback was positive; 26 out of 29 (90%) participants surveyed indicated that the webinar was "very good" to "excellent" with well-organized and challenging cases. Diversity of participating countries was noted. Limitations included technology barriers such as internet connectivity. Conclusion: This innovative approach emphasizing audience participation engaged trainees from LMICs and fostered locoregional collegiality and mentoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is a review of the book "Can heterodox economics make a difference? Conversations with key thinkers" by Phil Armstrong. The book consists of interviews with economists who have important contributions to make about heterodox economics, even if they do not necessarily identify themselves as heterodox. The interviews shed light on the relationship between heterodoxy and methodology, how heterodoxy is seen by mainstream economists, and the possibility of heterodoxy becoming widely accepted in social debates and policymaking. The book also explores the role of mathematics in heterodox economics and discusses the potential social impact of heterodox approaches. [Extracted from the article]

How do ideology, foreign policy, and the international system interact with and shape one another? This paper examines the relationship between ideology and foreign policy in the United Kingdom, India, and China and finds three common threads. First, while ideology likely affects foreign policy formulation, the causal mechanisms involved are complex and not necessarily uniform across states. Second, destabilizing forces like populism are increasing around the world with the potential to disturb current conceptions of the international order. Finally, from a policy perspective, distinguishing between a state's operational and symbolic rhetoric can reduce the likelihood of strategic miscalculation. With these commonalities in mind, we contend that foreign policymakers must approach other states understanding that each state's domestic situation is unique and that while Sino-American competition looms large in American policymaking, it might not be the driving force behind other states' foreign policy decisions. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the official policy or position of the U.S. Army, Department of Defense, or United States Government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

America's embracement of a competition posture against China has redefined their bilateral relationship and reordered the latter's strategic environment. However, how China has responded to US strategic competition has been understudied. This study seeks to fill the gap by using structural realism to gauge China's reactions. It argues that China's periodic confrontations with the United States, such as the one over Nancy Pelosi's Taiwan visit, do not define its strategy towards the United States. In fact, this strategy incorporates three components: binding, balancing, and competition. China continues to seek to bind further with the US to limit Washington's ability to shift towards a full containment posture. As the same time, China has also been pursuing bolder or new balancing and competition measures to safeguard its security and influences. While binding represents China 'hoping for the best', balancing and competition show it is 'preparing for the worst'. China's balancing and competition measures have only further intensified the strategic rivalry with the US, even though Beijing prefers as much cooperation with Washington as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Halal has become one of the core measures among the hotels' global competitions, which is based on the growth of the Muslim population. This research is managed to understand the quality of the halal-friendly attributes' impact on the loyalty of a Muslim-friendly hotel. Qualitative and quantitative employing methods were used for the survey. Our results demonstrated that two of the elements, which included halal service-encounter quality and halal physical environment quality, affirmatively influenced the image of a hotel and value perception, and these two elements significantly influence the customers' loyalty. In addition, the image of a Muslim-friendly hotel, value perception, and attachment to the hotel functioned as mediators. In accordance with these findings, this research provides an idea for hospitality researchers and marketers, which is about the area of the quality they need to improve to attract Islam guests and enhance the loyalty to a Muslim-friendly hotel. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indonesia’s economic growth has slowed down during the pandemic. Coffee is a foreign exchange-producing agricultural commodity for Indonesia and has become a pillar of the national economy because of its contribution to the gross domestic product. The purpose of this study was to analyse the competitiveness of Indonesian coffee exports in the United States market. The methods employed included the Revealed Comparative Advantage, which can measure export competitiveness comparatively, and the Export Product Dynamic method to analyse and map the position of export competitiveness. The analysis results were also measured to compare the export competitiveness of Vietnamese coffee. The findings showed that Indonesian coffee and Vietnamese coffee in the United States market have a value above 1, proving that both have export competitiveness advantages. The average Revealed Comparative Advantage value of Indonesian coffee is higher than that of Vietnamese coffee, meaning that Indonesian coffee exports are superior to Vietnamese coffee exports to the United States. Meanwhile, the results of the Export Product Dynamic analysis showed that the competitiveness of Indonesian coffee exports is in the position of Lost Opportunity, where the position has shifted from the pre-pandemic position, namely Retreat. Meanwhile, the competitiveness of Vietnamese coffee exports was in the Rising Star position, which shifted from the previous position of Lost Opportunity. Lost Opportunity of Indonesian coffee shows that the strength of Indonesia’s coffee commodity business is weak, but commodity exports are still competitive. The analysis results indicated that even though Indonesia’s coffee has export competitiveness, it is not competitive enough in the United States. This study provided an overview of the export competitiveness of Indonesian coffee in the United States, which can be used as a basis for determining strategic steps in an effort to dominate the market to obtain trade benefits

Prior research in international markets has yielded two seemly opposing views regarding customer engagement with local/domestic versus foreign-made brands: a preference for foreign brands based largely on country-of-origin effects or a preference for local/domestic brands based primarily on consumer ethnocentrism. In the present research, the authors contextualize the investigation across international markets and propose that, in two national markets with different cultural characteristics, a combination of local and foreign appeals leads to more favorable brand and product evaluations, compared with either local or foreign appeals alone, due to a heightened level of perceived brand globalness, a phenomenon called "the coalescence effect." The authors report results from seven studies conducted in China and the United States and discuss ways to design branding strategies that enhance customer engagement in an era of intensified global competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the debate between a Marxist political economy approach and a geographical political economy approach in housing studies. The author argues that the geographical approach lacks a middle level of abstraction and overemphasizes consumption. They suggest that understanding land as a financial asset is crucial for analyzing urban dynamics and capitalism. The author also criticizes the Marxist approach for focusing too much on production and not enough on finance. They discuss the blind spot in housing provision regarding mortgage financing and the state's regulatory role, highlighting how mortgages drive house price inflation. While the author critiques the framework of "social property relations," they acknowledge the importance of a Marxist approach in understanding the political economy of housing and rent struggles. They conclude by suggesting that political economy analyses of housing systems should incorporate the strategies of specific institutionalized actors. [Extracted from the article]

This article studies the influence of the antineoliberal social movements in Peru and Ecuador in the face of the Multiparty Trade Agreement (MTA) between both countries and the European Union (EU). To identify and analyze this influence, a transdisciplinary theoretical framework was created, integrating debates and concepts from social movement theory and critical international political economy. In Peru, the movement used European allies to establish their demands on the EU's agenda, which resulted in increased pressure on the government to enforce labor rights and environmental standards. In Ecuador, the movement was able to establish food sovereignty and the rejection of free trade in the national constitution. As a result, the negotiations with the EU were delayed and Ecuador achieved certain exceptions in its adhesion protocol. Nevertheless, both movements were unable to maintain their influence, due to political and socioeconomic dynamics on the domestic and global levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shortly after the laser was invented in 1960, scientists sought to use it for thermonuclear fusion. By 1963, Livermore had a classified laser inertial confinement fusion (ICF) program and leaders predicted scientific breakeven by 1973. In 1974, KMS Fusion, Inc. announced thermonuclear neutrons from a laser target and promised grid electricity within 10 years. Private capital was attracted, but the data fell far short of the optimistic simulations. Magnetic fusion energy has had civilian funding (DOE), while ICF has primarily received military funding (DOE Defense Programs and now NNSA). As bigger lasers have been built and better simulations performed, optimism about ICF breakeven has waxed and waned. The achievement of ignition and gain on NIF has validated ICF's scientific basis, and the DOE and venture capital funded private companies are again interested in inertial fusion energy (IFE). The new DOE Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program is creating public–private partnerships to accelerate progress toward fusion pilot plants. ARPA-E, DOE INFUSE, and DOE IFE STAR are also building a U.S. IFE program within DOE. The U.S. leads in ICF, but developing IFE is an international competition. Private companies are leading the way. HB11 Energy Pty Ltd. is pursuing the aneutronic proton–boron fuel cycle. Xcimer Energy is developing a disruptive IFE technology to achieve high laser energies at dramatically lower costs. This 50-year perspective discusses where the U.S. IFE program is headed and promising strategies for progress in establishing an effective U.S. IFE program from both public and private perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the rationale for a four-asset growth policy model, which the US economy has executed only on a partial and intermittent basis over the past four decades. The need for such a model is driven by (1) growing global competition, (2) resulting slower gross domestic product and personal income growth, and (3) a consequent rise in income inequality. Without a more effective growth model to both broaden and deepen the role of technology, declining growth and its skewed distribution among income classes will perpetuate current social and political unrest. To achieve both broader and deeper technology-based growth across the economy, the proposed technology element model specifies the four major asset categories that characterize technology-based economic development, which combine to drive more effective growth policy analysis and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital technology innovation is the core driving force for the high-quality development of the digital economy, and in-depth exploration of the regional distribution pattern and formation mechanism of digital technology innovation in China is conducive to the rational layout and coordinated development of the inter-provincial digital economy. Based on the Reference Relationship Table of the Classification of Core Industries of Digital Economy and the International Patent Classification (2023), the patent authorization data of digital technology from 2012 to 2022 were obtained, and the spatiotemporal situation of China's digital technology innovation was analyzed by using ArcGIS software, Dagum's Gini coefficient, and Moran's I index, and the spatial Dubin panel model was used to explore the influencing factors of digital technology innovation. It is found that: (1) the scale and vitality of China's digital technology innovation have increased significantly, and there are obvious spatial differentiation characteristics, and the innovation level of "eastern coastal—central and western interior" is decreasing, forming a cluster distribution pattern in the Yangtze River Delta region, Beijing, Guangdong, and other places, and the degree of agglomeration is decreasing. (2) The overall regional differences in China's digital technology innovation are large, the differences between the East and the West dominate the interregional differences, and the net differences between regions are the main factors leading to regional differences. (3) There is a significant positive spatial correlation between the scale and vitality of digital technology innovation, which has a significant spatial spillover effect. (4) The results confirm that the level of economic development, digital access, financial scientific and technological support, technology market development level, and R&D intensity have a significant positive impact on the scale and vitality of digital technology innovation; The investment in scientific and technological talents has a significant positive impact on the scale of digital technology innovation, but has no significant impact on the vitality of digital technology innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Internet of Things (IoT) has significantly impacted international trade, benefiting national and international economies. It has increased trade and financial liberalization in many countries. Ecological and environmental protection have become critical issues due to the fast mobility of money and commodities. The purpose of this paper is to find a way to balance foreign trade growth with environmental protection. We aim to achieve this by using IoT to establish a co-integration model that takes into account the comprehensive environmental index, imports and exports, and the capital-labor ratio. We have collected data from Quanzhou City between 2011 and 2019, based on various environmental pollution indicators, import and export trade volume, capital-labor ratio, and other factors. Our analysis includes an examination of the empirical model of foreign trade and the ecological environment, as well as the impulse response. Additionally, we used prediction variance decomposition and the Granger causality test to understand the coordinated relationship between foreign trade and the ecological environment. Our results demonstrate that when the volume of exports (EX) increases by 1 percent, the ecological environment in Quanzhou City is negatively impacted by about 0.06%. On the other hand, when the volume of imports (IM) increases by 1 percent, there is a 0.26% positive effect on the ecological environment of the city. Finally, when the capital-to-labor ratio (K) increases by 1 percent, there is a 0.40% deterioration of the city's ecological environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article shows that economic inequality between nations has systematically worsened in monetary terms since 1950, and that the principal explanator is inequality between blocs of nations, notably the persistent gap between the Global North and Global South. By 2022, the GDP per capita of the North was 12 times greater than that of the South, this ratio being twice as great as in 1950. This general trend has two consistent exceptions, China and Vietnam. There was also a brief reversal of the trend from 2000 to 2012. However, except for China and Vietnam, it has resumed since then. The article shows that both the Global South and North are coherent entities: they are historically stable and converge internally while diverging from each other. It assesses the implications for international inequality and convergence research and draws out some consequences for world geopolitical relations. Finally, the article sets out the case for an international classification standard that facilitates systematic research into inter‐bloc inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geopolitical rise of emerging economies has led to contestations and renegotiations of the boundaries of the developing country status. Established powers put pressure on emerging economies to give up this status and the benefits it comes with in global regimes. In this article, we analyse the (re)negotiation of China's developing country status within the context of US–China geoeconomic competition with respect to two core areas in the global economy—finance and trade. We show that whether private or public actors are responsible for status classification influences the outcomes of contestation over China's status. When private sector actors are central, China is more likely able to defend its developing country status against US pressure. We also find that these processes are mitigated by how decision-making processes are institutionalised. Our two case studies thus illustrate that regulatory processes such as status classification influence the outcomes of geoeconomic competition in international politics. These findings also shed new light on the power of states versus non-state actors within global governance amidst the geoeconomic turn: the public–private divide can serve as an important context factor that influences the probability of the international economic order to cater more towards US or Chinese geoeconomic strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exporting enterprises representing countries in global competition constitute a valuable research area and create the opportunity to conduct research on them. Exporting enterprises have a crucial place in the welfare of developing countries, especially with the foreign exchange revenues they will bring. Therefore, many different aspects of exporting enterprises need to be examined both from a business and scientific point of view. This study aimed to comprehend the mutual relationship between business performance and export performance among 192 exporters in Turkiye. In the study, data were collected through scales for export performance and business performance of enterprises, and performance outputs were revealed as a result of factor analysis. Afterwards, it was examined whether there is a significant difference in the export performance of companies with high and low business performance and whether there is a significant difference in the business performance of companies with high and low export performance. Achieved t-test findings, show that significant differences existed in both the export performance of companies with high business performance and the business performance of companies with high export performance. These findings of the study indicate that exporting companies' financial business opportunities may have an impact on export performance, and similarly, companies with good export performance can also achieve a strong financial output. In this context, it has been suggested that businesses should focus on performance outputs with a two-way perspective and that exporting businesses should not only focus on exports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of China has accelerated Renminbi (RMB) internationalization. While there seems to be global support for RMB internationalization, there is a gap in understanding how developing nations, facing potential domestic skepticism, rationalize and articulate their support. This article discusses narratives that states use to legitimize their support for RMB internationalization. Using the case of Indonesia, this article examines the country's policy responses to China's RMB internationalization strategy. It uncovers that Indonesia frames its engagement with RMB internationalization not merely as an endorsement of China's global ambitions but as a strategic move to hedge against US dollar vulnerability and to foster broader Asian regional integration, particularly in terms of currency cooperation. This article enriches the existing literature, providing a nuanced perspective on how states navigate the complexities of international economic diplomacy, crafting narratives that align with their strategic interests and policy objectives in the evolving landscape of global currency politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the many impacts of Russia's war on Ukraine, the most consequential may be in pushing the world in the direction of Three Worlds—the global West, the global East and the global South. One is led by the United States and Europe, the second by China and Russia, and the third by an amorphous grouping of non-western developing nations. These Three Worlds are not blocs or coherent negotiating groups, but loose, constructed and evolving global factions. This article makes four arguments. First, the Three Worlds system has the makings of a fairly durable pattern of global order, shaping struggles over rules and institutions. Second, the Three Worlds system will encourage a 'creative' politics of global order-building. The global West and global East will have incentives to compete for the support and cooperation of the global South. Third, there are deep principles of world order that provide a foundation for the Three Worlds competition. Finally, if the global West is to remain at the center of world order in the decades ahead, it will need to accommodate both the global East and the global South, and adapt itself to a more pluralistic world. But in the competition with the global East for the support of the global South, it has the advantage. The global South's critique of the global West is not that it offers the wrong pathway to modernity, but that it has not lived up to its principles or shared sufficiently the material fruits of liberal modernity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The way in which international political economy (IPE) developed in Anglo-Saxon countries set the main standards for its study in other regions of the world, establishing a transatlantic order that separated mainstream IPE from the periphery. This article is part of a debate that seeks to raise awareness of Latin American contributions to IPE. It underlines the connections between thought and political practice, examining how the subfield has developed between 2000 and 2021 by studying works published in the leading journals of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico. Three central arguments are discussed. First, the field of IPE in Latin America developed before its conception in the Anglo-Saxon world and separately of mainstream views because distinctive regional problems did not fit well within the frameworks of mainstream approaches. Second, there is a vibrancy in the debate about IPE topics in regional journals, and the intellectual tradition of the 1950s and 1960s is under constant revision. Third, in contrast to the bias in mainstream IR that focuses on policy successes, Latin American IPE has been closely related to the formulation of policies that have often examined adversities in the implementation of policies connected to the different crises the region has faced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global multi-regional input-output (GMRIO) analysis is the standard tool to calculate consumption-based carbon accounts at the macro level. Recent inter-database comparisons have exposed discrepancies in GMRIO-based results, pinpointing green- house gas (GHG) emission accounts as the primary source of variation. A few studies have delved into the robustness of GHG emission accounts, using Monte-Carlo simulations to understand how uncertainty from raw data propagates to the final GHG emission accounts. However, these studies often make simplistic assumptions about raw data uncertainty and ignore correlations between disaggregated variables. Here, we compile GHG emission accounts for the year 2015 according to the resolution of EXIOBASE v3, covering CO2, CH4 and N2O emissions. We propagate uncertainty from the raw data, namely the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and EDGAR inventories, to the GHG emission accounts, and then further to the GHG footprints. We address both limitations from previous studies. First, instead of making simplistic assumptions, we utilise authoritative raw data uncertainty estimates from the National Inventory Reports (NIR) submitted to the UNFCCC and a recent study on uncertainty of the EDGAR emission inventory. Second, we account for inherent correlations due to data disaggregation by sampling from a Dirichlet distribution. Our results show a median coefficient of variation (CV) for GHG emission accounts at the country level of 4% for CO2, 12% for CH4, and 33% for N2O. For CO2, smaller economies with significant international aviation or shipping sectors show CVs as high as 94%, as seen in Malta. At the sector level, uncertainties are higher, with median CVs of 94% for CO2, 100% for CH4, and 113% for N2O. Overall, uncertainty decreases when propagated from GHG emission accounts to GHG footprints, likely due to the cancelling out effects caused by the distribution of emissions and their uncertainties across global supply chains. Our GHG emission accounts generally align with official EXIOBASE emission accounts and OECD data at the country level, though discrepancies at the sectoral level give cause for further examination. We provide our GHG emission accounts with associated uncertainties and correlations at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10041196 (Schulte et al., 2023) to complement the official EXIOBASE emission accounts for users interested in estimating the uncertainties of their results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to provide an alternative framework to the theory of optimum currency areas by mobilizing the concept of sustainability. If the success of a fixed exchange rate regime is, above all, a political choice, economic growth can be considered a minimal economic condition and a good indicator of the success of a fixed exchange rate regime. We conclude that specific institutional settings allow economic growth to occur and can be defined as sustainable. We determine three configurations that share the same conclusion: sustainability happens when states have macroeconomic autonomy, whereas political and fiscal integration are necessary conditions. The first configuration refers to a monetary union with high capital mobility. The second one corresponds to a fixed but adjustable exchange rate regime with low capital mobility, while the third configuration is an application of Keynes' plan with high capital mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid integration of digital technologies into e-commerce platforms, online sales have increased dramatically in recent years. Additionally, customers' awareness of the global competition among hundreds of e-commerce companies has increased their expectations such as high quality, low price, fast and free delivery like never before. In response, e-commerce companies have started revisiting their logistics systems to survive in such a business environment by meeting rising expectations and minimizing operational costs. Thus, most companies have been focused on order-picking processes, which are characterized by high operating times and labor costs. Accordingly, collaborative robots (cobots) have been used in many warehouses to make order-picking operations more efficient and profitable. Depending on the distance between pick locations, a cobot can either be ridden by the order picker or autonomously move to the next pick location while the order picker is walking. This paper proposes a bi-level programming model to find the optimal designs of order-picking warehouses employing collaborative robots. The top-level model is used to determine the optimal shape factor (width-to-depth ratio) minimizing the order-picking time; whereas, the bottom-level model determines the optimal route and collaboration strategy. Based on Monte Carlo simulation, it is shown that the shape factor significantly affects the length of an order-picking tour when the pick-list size is small. However, it is concluded that the optimal shape factor varies depending on the pick-list size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why do legislators support some free trade agreements but oppose others? Despite a wide variation in legislative support for free trade agreements, the heterogeneous preferences of legislators have received little attention in the literature, which largely focuses on general trade policy preferences of legislators and individual voters. We bring in geopolitical factors as a key source of legislative preferences on specific free trade agreements. Using voting records of the U.S. House representatives on all major bills related to free trade agreements, we find that the geostrategic importance of potential trading partner has a substantial effect on voting for trade agreements. We find that legislators become less sensitive to their constituents' economic interests when considering trade agreements with allies or countries with closely aligned interests. This highlights the importance of examining security externalities of trade cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many issue areas in international political economy (IPE), interstate cooperation is governed by a dense network of distinct but overlapping international institutions. Whether this environment of 'regime complexity' strengthens or undermines cooperation is a subject of intense debate. Some argue that overlapping institutions enhance legitimacy and flexibility, while others claim that opportunistic forum shopping enables states to escape compliance with rigorous rules. This article reconciles this debate, demonstrating that regime complexity has contrasting effects depending on the degree of value differentiation among institutions. In issue areas where undifferentiated institutions function as substitutes, forum shopping will reduce the regime's ability to discipline state behavior. However, in issue areas where institutions are differentiated by value - i.e. the benefits they provide increase as rules become more rigorous - institutional overlap can increase policy change among states. I demonstrate these dynamics formally and provide empirical evidence in a comparative analysis of the regime complexes for election observation and forest-related carbon offsets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of international regime complexity offers a useful lens for examining the increasing density of international institutions in global governance. A growing literature in International Political Economy (IPE) identifies clusters of overlapping institutions in many important policy areas, yet some scholars argue that complexity undermines governance effectiveness, while others perceive distinct advantages over unified institutions. To bring coherence to these findings, we present a general theoretical framework that characterizes regime complexes based on two structural features: Authority relations and institutional differentiation. These dimensions jointly determine the opportunities and constraints that states and other actors confront as they navigate institutional rules. As a result, they shape important outcomes, such as policy adjustment, regime shifting and competitive regime creation. The article proposes testable hypotheses regarding the effects of authority and differentiation, and we assess their correspondence with the eight regime complexes examined by the five companion articles in this special issue. We further identify a set of dynamic processes that shape the evolution of regime complexes over time. Our framework strengthens the foundation for comparative analysis of regime complexes and charts a new agenda for the research program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, International Political Economy (IPE) scholars have increasingly turned their attention to cities. However, their primary focus has been on the role of a select few global 'cities' that regulate global flows of capital, goods, and services. Nonetheless, a significant gap in the IPE literature pertains to the limited exploration of how processes of neoliberal globalization are impacting and regulating the low-income 'informal' housing sector in cities located in the global South. To address this gap in the existing IPE literature, this paper critically analyzes the processes of formation and demolition of informal housing settlements against the backdrop of the neoliberal regime of accumulation. Informal housing settlements have been extensively examined by critical geographers and scholars in the field of urban studies. What distinguishes this paper is its unique contribution to the literature on IPE, that is, it utilizes the political economy of informal housing settlements as an entry point to critically analyze social ontology and the inherent contradictions of the postcolonial state. The paper argues that the relationship between informal housing settlements and the postcolonial state can be better understood through the lens of the 'institutional hybridity.' This concept refers to the fusion of contradictory socio-economic and institutional impulses within the postcolonial state, which aims to manage social reproduction and capitalist accumulation simultaneously. The inherent tension between social reproduction and accumulation manifests in the informal housing settlements in the form of a dialectic of 'benevolence-violence.' On one hand, the postcolonial state attempts to appear 'benevolent' towards marginalized groups by 'allowing' them to establish informal housing settlements through a multi-layered network of clientelism. On the other hand, the postcolonial state resorts to violent displacement of marginalized groups as soon as they pose obstacles to real estate-led capitalist accumulation. Thus, the paper contends that IPE scholars should carefully consider the political economy of informal housing settlements, as it provides captivating insights into the mechanisms through which the postcolonial state becomes subject to regulation and is pulled in different directions by the socio-economic forces of neoliberal globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Between 1765 and 1789, the Spanish crown issued a series of comercio libre decrees that liberalised trade between Spanish America and peninsular Spain. What was the crown attempting to do by relaxing trade restrictions within the empire? Because the comercio libre decrees only authorised free trade within the confines of the empire, it may be easy to conclude, as the extant scholarship has, that these decrees were a delayed attempt to revitalise an increasingly obsolete mercantilist system. Indeed, Spain's new imperial system of free trade appears to be little more than an outmoded form of protectionism centred on hoarding bullion. This article pushes against this perspective and shows that Spain's decrees of comercio libre were part of an attempt to erect a peculiar interconnected system of free ports within the empire. Even though Spain's free trade system excluded international trade, its intellectual architects deployed Enlightenment political economy to dynamize and integrate the imperial economy while avoiding the increasingly bellicose competition for international markets that was ascendant among European empires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid figures serve as an important component of artistic swimming, however, no prior research has investigated objective indicators for predicting total scores in competition. This study aimed to identify significance of hybrid figure (HF) elements in predicting total scores in artistic swimming competitions and compare these variables between the Beijing team trials and international official competitions. Eight HF variables were measured in the videos from the international artistic swimming competitions, with calibration and measurement of the variables leg height index and leg angle deviation being performed by means of Kinovea. Multiple linear regression was conducted to predict the total scores based on these variables investigated for the international teams, which showed 5 significant predictors including movement frequency, leg height index, leg angle deviation, mean pattern duration, and rotation frequency. Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to determine the differences in the variables between the Beijing team and the international teams (top 5), which showed significant difference on movement frequency, leg angle deviation, leg height index and total score. When designing hybrid figures choreography of team free routine in artistic swimming, coaches should prioritize appropriate movement frequency, pattern changes and rotations over excessively long durations. Overly complex HF choreography may lead to a decline on performance in artistic swimming competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]