Globalisation and Development

"Objectives: There has been an attention to inequality as a causal factor for deficient health in the
medical journals over the last decades (Richard G. Wilkinson et al. and Schnell et al.); however,
the reasons for inequality and the interactions of the underlying causes of inequality at the level
of the world economy have not yet been properly explored in this kind of literature. The aim of
this article is to provide a new, globalization‐oriented, multi‐disciplinary perspective on life
expectancy, under‐five mortality, inequality and socio‐economic development in the world
system, compatible with the advances in international sociological research on the subject over
the last three decades.
Design: Taking up the traditions of quantitative sociology to study the effects of
multinational corporation (MNC) penetration as a key determining variable for development
outcomes such as socio‐economic inequality and infant mortality, this article analyzes from
the perspective of quantitative political science and economics this particular role of MNC
penetration as the key variable for the determination of health, inequality and socioeconomic
development in 183 countries of the world system, using international social
science standard data.
Main outcomes: As correctly predicted by quantitative sociology, but largely overlooked
by the medical profession, the development style, implied by a high MNC penetration of
their host countries, reflects the oligopolistic power, which transnational corporations wield
over local economies. We took up an idea from Austro‐American economist Joseph Alois
Schumpeter (1883–1950), which states that the long‐term effects of oligopolistic power are
negative and lead toward economic and social stagnation. Our data show that although
MNC penetration indeed led to certain short‐term growth effects after 1990, today, social
polarization and stagnation increase as a consequence of the development model, based on
high MNC penetration. There is a negative trade‐off between MNC penetration and health,
both in terms of life expectancy and avoiding under‐five mortality. But it can be shown for
the 115 countries with complete data that Richard G. Wilkinson’s hypothesis still plays an
important role in explaining deficient health development in the world system, once we
control for the effects of MNC penetration‐driven globalization. Copyright © 2012 John
Wiley & Sons, Ltd."

""NOTE: If you would like a copy of this article please email me and I will gladly provide you with one.

Through imaginative geographies that erase the interconnectedness of the places where violence occurs, the notion that violence is 'irrational' marks particular cultures as ‘other’. Neoliberalism exploits such imaginative geographies in constructing itself as the sole providence of nonviolence and the lone bearer of reason. Proceeding as a ‘civilizing’ project, neoliberalism positions the market as salvationary to putatively ‘irrational’ and ‘violent’ peoples. This theology of neoliberalism produces a discourse that binds violence in place. But while violence sits in places in terms of the way in which we perceive its manifestation as a localized and embodied experience, this very idea is challenged when place is reconsidered as a relational assemblage. What this re-theorization does is open up the supposed fixity, separation, and immutability of place to instead recognize it as always co-constituted by, mediated through, and integrated within the wider experiences of space. Such a radical rethinking of place fundamentally transforms the way we understand violence. No longer confined to its material expression as an isolated and localized event, violence can more appropriately be understood as an unfolding process, derived from the broader geographical phenomena and temporal patterns of the social world.""

Contemporary theorizations of neoliberalism are framed by a false dichotomy between, on the one hand, studies influenced by Foucault in emphasizing neoliberalism as a form of governmentality, and on the other hand, inquiries influenced by Marx in foregrounding neoliberalism as a hegemonic ideology. This article seeks to shine some light on this division in an effort to open up new debates and recast existing ones in such a way that might lead to more flexible understandings of neoliberalism as a discourse. A discourse approach moves theorizations forward by recognizing neoliberalism is neither a ‘top down’ nor ‘bottom up’ phenomena, but rather a circuitous process of socio-spatial transformation.

"Variables contained in Table 1 of the EXCEL documentation, based on earlier data at http://www.hichemkaroui.com/?cat=6 and http://economics.uni-corvinus.hu/index.php?id=47854

(see below). Table 2 lists the sources. The study mentioned in data sources "this study" is a forthcoming mathematical-statistical analysis of the World Values Survey and the European Social Survey under the title"The political algebra of global value change and the waning of the West. General models and regional implications by Arno Tausch, Almas Heshmati and associates



Variable Name
Combined Failed States Index
Civil and Political Liberties violations
closing economic gender gap
closing educational gender gap
closing health and survivial gender gap
closing of global gender gap overall score 2009
closing political gender gap
Corruption avoidance measure
Country share in top world 500 Universities
Crisis Performance Factor
Democracy measure
ecological footprint (g ha /cap)
economic growth IMF prediction growth rate in 2009
economic growth IMF prediction growth rate in 2010
economic growth in real terms pc. per annum, 1990-2005
Environmental Performance Index (EPI)
ESI-Index Environment Sustainability Index (Yale Columbia)
female survival probability of surviving to age 65 female
gender empowerment index value
Global tolerance index
Happy life years rs)
Happy Planet Index, HPI
"Human development index (HDI) value
2004"
Infant mortality 2005
Labour force participation rate of migrants (both sexes)
Life Expectancy (years)
Life Satisfaction (0-10)
net exports of ecological footprint gha per person
per capita world class universities
quintile share income difference between richest and poorest 20%
Rule of law
tertiary enrollment
Total unemployment rate of immigrants  (both sexes)
unemployment rate
cyclones - average number of tropical cyclones per year
ln (number of people per mill inhabitants 1980-2000 killed by natural disasters per year+1)
Tertiary emigration rate
droughts - average number of droughts per year
earthquakes - average number of earthquakes per year
Carbon emissions per million US dollars GDP
Carbon emissions per capita
% women in government, all levels
% world population
2000 Economic Freedom Score
Absolute latitude
Annual population growth rate, 1975-2005                                                                                        (%)
comparative price levels (US=1.00)
foreign savings rate
FPZ (free production zones) employment as % of total population
ln GDP per capita
ln GDP per capita ^2
Membership in the Islamic Conference
military expenditures per GDP
military personnel rate ln (MPR+1)
MNC outward investments (stock) per GDP
MNC PEN - stock of Inward FDI per GDP
MNC PEN: DYN MNC PEN 1995-2005
Openness-Index, 1990 (export-share per GDP + import-share per GDP)
population density
public education expenditure per GNP
UNDP education index
worker remittance inflows as % of GDP
Immigration - Share of population 2005 (%)
Muslim population share per total population
net international migration rate, 2005-2010
Years of membership in the EU, 2010
years of membership in EMU, 2010
social security expenditure per GDP average 1990s (ILO)
overall 30 development index
overall 35 development index
overall 35 development index, based on 7 dimensions
avoiding net trade of ecological footprint gha per person
mean economic growth rate crisis years
principal component growth 2008-2011, final version
LFPR 55-59
MIPEX
International Stock of refugees
Share of international immigrant stock (%)
annual rate of growth international migration, 1960-2005
total population in millions
thousand asylum seekers per total population (in millions)
asylum seekers as promille of total population
dummy: employment permit for asylum seekers
Asylum recognition rate
Honor Killings permissible: male offender
Honor Killings permissible: female offender
Wife must obey husband
Islam alone leads to Heaven
% not worried by Muslim extremists
suicide bombing justified
% favor making sharia the law of the country
sharia should apply for all citizens, not Muslims only
stoning adequate punishment for adultery
death penalty for leaving Islam
gender bias in accepting honor killings
polygamy morally acceptable
coverting others is a religious duty
no knowledge about Christianity
Islam and Christianity are very different
not comfortable with son marrying a Christian
not comfortable with daughter marrying a Christian
gender bias being uncomfortable with religfiously mixed marriage
Index of Muslim Tolerance
ln GDP per capita
"Asabbiya" (factor analysis from WVS data)
WVS: mean left-right position
WVS: % of population not satisfied with democracy
WVS: % of population openly racist
WVS: % of population openly anti-semitic
WVS: % population believe in hell
WVS: only God-believing politicians should be politicians
WVS: mean acceptabilioty homosexuality
WVS: mean acceptance competition
WVS secularization rate (% of population never attending religious services)
WVS: % of population saying: always respect parents
WVS: % of population saying education for tolerance and respect important
WVS: % population never praying
WVS: % of population saying thrift important in education
WVS: mean "workoholic" scale (work preference over free time)
WVS: % of population saying when jobs are scarce men have more rights
WVS: % population belong to voluntary welfare elderly
WVS: unpaid social welfare work
WVS: % of population saying you just can't be too carefull
WVS: mean satisfaction income
WVS: mean acceptance gov benefits fraud
WVS % Roma-phobic
mean economic growth rate crisis years
principal component growth 2008-2011, final version
permissiveness, pessimism (‘Jahiliyyahha’)
traditional religion
racism
higher education of the younger generation (education gap between the generations)
distrust of the army and the press
authoritarian character
tolerance and respect + postmaterialism
the ‘ego’ company (rejection of obedience + unselfishness)
female rejection of the market economy and democracy
moral (sexual) permissiveness (‘Jahiliyyahha 1’)
shadow economy mentality (‘Jahiliyyahha 2’)
distance from religion (‘Jahiliyyahha 3’)
educational values: independence and imagination
distance to market economy values
education values: responsibility and tolerance
educational values: determination and perseverance and being against saving
right wing acceptance of inequality
education values: unselfishness and being against hard work
Inglehart TRADITIONAL/SECULAR RATIONAL VALUES WVS 1-4/2006
Inglehart TRADITIONAL/SECULAR RATIONAL VALUES LATEST WAVE
Inglehart SURVIVAL/SELF-EXPRESSION VALUES
Inglehart SURVIVAL/SELF-EXPRESSION VALUES
Hofstede Power Distance
Hofstede Individualism vs. Collectivism
Hofstede Masculinity versus Femininity
Hofstede Uncertainty Avoidance Index
Hofstede Long-Term Orientation
Hofstede Indulgence versus Restraint
ln GDP per capita
ln GDP per capita ^2
Dummy: currently or formerly under a communist regime
former USSR dummy
"

"Designed to appeal to teachers and students of international relations and political theory, this exciting, user-friendly text explores the ethical dimensions of some of the most complex problems in world politics.

The book opens with a discussion of different methods and approaches employed to study the subject, including analytical political theory, post-structuralism and critical theory. It then surveys some of the most prominent perspectives on global ethics, including cosmopolitanism, communitarianism of various kinds, theories of international society, realism, postcolonialism, feminism, and green political thought. Part III examines a variety of more specific issues, including immigration, democracy, human rights, the just war tradition and its critics, international law, and global poverty and inequality.

Reviews:

"Ethics and World Politics is the leading interdisciplinary introduction to justice beyond borders. Global poverty and inequality, democracy, war, terrorism, human rights, military intervention, immigration, national identity, and other vital issues are explored by some of our leading authors. The dominant theoretical frameworks for debating these topics are explained with unusual clarity. This is an excellent text for students working at the intersection of Politics, International Relations, and Philosophy on some of the most crucial questions in the world."

Leif Wenar, Kings College London

"Useful to both students and advanced scholars, this is a superb collection of essays by major contemporary thinkers in international politics and political theory. ... Highly recommended."

William E. Scheuerman, Indiana University

"This excellent volume explores many of the most important ethical dilemmas in world politics; provides a reliable and carefully organized guide to the diverse, and often conflicting, ways in which they have been addressed; and draws on the insights of a high-quality range of contributors. A highly recommended text for all those involved in teaching courses on ethics in world politics."

Andrew Hurrell, Oxford University

"""

The article employs an historical approach to cooperation and integration in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) in order to argue that, to date, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America - Peoples’ Trade Agreement (ALBA-TCP) is the only integration project under construction in Our America that not only actively integrates the entire LAC, but also is the most comprehensive, sophisticated and dynamic regionalism in the area. I draw on Frederik Söderbaum and Luk van Langenhove’s notion of ‘generations’ of regionalisms, identifying the import substitution influenced initiatives, the neoliberal ‘open regionalisms’, and the post-neoliberal and counter-imperialist projects launched over the past decade, especially the ALBA-TCP. By explicitly associating generations of regionalisms with particular political economic models, I emphasise politics and ideologies in the analysis, which are absent in Söderbaum and van Langenhove’s classification. The politics, institutionalisation and organisational structure of the ALBA-TCP as a third generation regionalism and counter-globalisation project are discussed.

Seaports in West Africa had played a distinguished role in the economic introduction of this region into global markets since the second half of the nineteenth Century. These ports were the places where external trade was developed, and they acted as gateways for their great hinterlands. Seaports linked the interior regions through railway connections which permitted the expansion of industrial capitalism and the openning up of new markets and cash-crop productions to serve metropolitan interests. This chapter presents the modernization process at the port of Dakar (Senegal) both in its infrastructures and in its management structure. The result is a global explanation of port modernization at Dakar from the perspective of the first globalisation process and the introduction of Senegal into the global commodities markets.   

Because New Guinea is little known to the world at large, I have prepared a brief profile of the island, together with some snippets of personal experience from my time as an academic in Papua New Guinea. More detailed information is readily available from Internet search engines.

"
These background materials should illustrate some main results of the study “The hallmarks of crisis. A new center-periphery perspective on long cycles” which go beyond the usual page and word limits of scientific journals nowadays (usually somewhere between 8.000 and 10.000 words).

The recurrence of major world economic downturns and depressions, such as the one which began in 1929 and 2007, are linked forever with the name of the Russian economist Nikolai Dmitriyevich Kondratiev/Kondratieff (Никола́й Дми́триевич Кондра́тьев; 4 March 1892 – 17 September 1938). Hundreds of books and articles were devoted to his idea of the assumed recurrent major longer cyclical fluctuations of approximately 40 to 60 years duration in the capitalist world economy, and caused sharp theoretical, methodological and other divergent views on his theories and methodologies ever since. If the crash of 2007/2008 is but a continuation of earlier economic major downturns in the 1970s, the 1930s, the 1890s and 1850s, then the prospects for our patients in Europe’s South and in Ireland, recently referred to in the economics profession as the “PIIGS countries” (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, Spain, see, for differing perspectives on this issue, Baglioni and Cherubini, 2010; De Grauwe and Ji, 2012; Erber, 2013; Hadjimichalis, 2011; Noren, 2011; Richardson, 2011; Wind, 2011) are even grimmer. And if we manage to show convincingly that these countries, in addition to suffering a “national” long-term downswing, are also caught in the long-term downturn of their once so successful convergence and catching-up process with the capitalist centers, then we realize how much of an economic and social tsunami we are now confronting in the European South.

The background to this study is thus the current severe recession on the European continent and in several other regions of the world economy since the crisis, which began in 2008. Is it a world system coincidence or does it correspond to a world systemic regularity that parts of the global periphery crash at regular intervals? What does our social scientific knowledge tell us about the regularity of such crises, and what conclusions can one draw for the center-periphery relationship on a global scale and also for the probable future continued decline of these regions in Europe?
"

"Este trabajo recoge los resultados del proyecto “Nuevos retos para el desarrollo territorial. Los espacios del vino y del calzado en la provincia de Zaragoza”, que resultó seleccionado en la convocatoria de Premios a la Investigación 2009 de “Zaragoza Provincia. Cuarto Espacio”. Los objetivos planteados eran: analizar la situación de las áreas especializadas en la producción de vino y calzado en el marco de la intensa reestructuración que afecta a ambos sectores; describir y evaluar las estrategias de las empresas, poniendo especial énfasis en las relacionadas con la apuesta por la calidad, la innovación, la imagen, la internacionalización o la cooperación; aportar elementos de reflexión enfocados a establecer pautas de desarrollo para una mejor competitividad actual y futura de los territorios del cuarto espacio zaragozano.
El trabajo se estructura en los siguientes capítulos: Introducción, Presentación de los espacios de la provincia de Zaragoza especializados en la producción de vino y de calzado, Aspectos de interés de la reestructuración productiva de los sectores tradicionales e impacto en el desarrollo rural, Análisis de las estrategias productivas y territoriales en los espacios del vino y del calzado de la provincia de Zaragoza, Síntesis de propuestas y conclusión."

The global intellectual property (IP) regime is in the midst of a paradigm shift in favor of greater access to protected work. Current explanations of this paradigm shift emphasize the agency of transnational advocacy networks, but ignore the role of academics. Scholars interested by global IP politics have failed to engage in reflexive thinking. Building on the results from a survey of 1,679 IP experts, this article argues that a community of academics successfully broke the policy monopoly of practitioners over IP expertise. They instilled some skepticism concerning the social and economic impacts of IP among their students as well as in the broader community of IP experts. They also provided expert knowledge that was widely amplified by NGOs and some intergovernmental organizations, acting as echo chambers to reach national decision makers. By making these claims, this article illustrates how epistemic communities actively collaborate with other transnational networks rather than competing with them, and how they can promote a paradigm change by generating rather than reducing uncertainty.