Critical Globalization Studies

This paper seeks to address a specific aspect of the condition of youth today which results from the link between the impact of neoliberal policies and the critical reaction of young people to them. Starting from an awareness that the life experiences of young people in contemporary societies have changed significantly, we will attempt to analyze some aspects of this great transformation. The most influential changes that impact on the everyday life of young people are the transition from education to work, which forges their life experience. The paper focuses on a specific analytical approach which highlights a " structural ecology of youth " which is determined by the intertwining of macro (structural), meso and micro policies, that is the relationship between economics and politics, State and Market, public services and a private quasi-market, all of which define the framework of opportunities available to young people that can influence their lives and transition to adulthood. These conditions also affect both the constraints and opportunities for youth participation in politics. Neoliberal policies on the one hand, the mobilization protest and response on the other define the analytical structure of the paper. Some observations on the last global wave of social movements protest as a reaction to the global economic crisis in 2008-2011 are developed here, highlighting the involvement of youth in this mobilization and describing the main features of youth political participation.

This paper decomposes global inequality in redistribution, using data from the World Development Indicators data set of the World Bank. It finds that per capita income has a modest, yet persistent effect on redistribution. More provocatively, the paper also demonstrates that, over and beyond the impact of per capita GDP, global inequalities in redistribution over the last generation or so strongly reflect the double legacies of colonialism (improving the likelihood of redistribution in former-colonizer societies and sharply reducing it in erstwhile-colonized, recently independent societies). In addition, it also finds that the history of recent exposure to state socialism increases the presence of redistributive institutions, partly counterbalancing the effects of lower national incomes. The data have been obtained from the World Bank's online open-access data site World Development Indicators, http://data.worldbank.org.

Access here: http://gilbertleung.net/2014/01/01/towards-a-radical-cosmopolitanism.

Cosmopolitanism as an expression of human unity can be traced back to the noble philosophy of the Ancient Stoics, from Cleanthes to Seneca to Cicero. Yet the Stoics did not, contrary to popular perception, have a monopoly over the use of the term. Long before them, Diogenes the Kynic (kyon [gen. kynos] "dog" whence cynic), the founder of the most scorned form of anti-philosophy in Ancient Greece, had already identified himself as "kosmopolitēs". This essay is an original attempt to think through this other use of the word. The aim is not to replicate or monumentalize kynical cosmopolitanism. Instead, I try to conceive a form of 'postkynical' cosmopolitanism through, inter alia, a productive thinking of the aporetic relation between law and freedom. In stark contrast to the conventional Stoic/Kantian cosmopolitanism of global pacification, I eventually arrive at a radical cosmopolitics of world creation or what I simply term 'political cosmogenesis'.

Globalization via the digital age is upon us, demanding a new ethics and an intercultural awareness while the dialectics of globalism and cyberspace mandate a committed reflection on what the synthesis between the digital realm and global citizenship entails. In many ways, the borders that previously separated us as citizens physically and culturally have begun to dissipate, replaced by a call for an intercultural accountability and a form of global citizenship that, on one hand, surpasses borders, patriotism, and nationalism alike, but while on the other, demands an understanding and respect for the cultural idiosyncrasies among us, acknowledging the unique existential paradox of universal citizenship that posits each of us as both stranger and citizen on a commonly shared globe.

What is cosmopolitan in the digital age? Is a global digital citizen the same as merely a digital citizen? While talk of digital citizenship has increased in recent years, usually centered on a capitalist drive, encouraging a full electronic participation in society and a responsibility to digital commerce, many questions remain unanswered.  Is the netizen the citizen of a democratic state, and of digital democracy? As a citizen of the world interacting online, how will one’s “rights” and “duties” be determined? And are these “rights” universal, and in such a case, what does “universal” mean? What are the legal parameters of netizenship, and what will they be as globalization further takes hold? Is democracy critical to citizenship, or is it not? What are the political landscapes of global citizenship in the digital age? And last of all, is the concept of digital citizenship even tangible? Is it real?

News headlines warn of rivalries and competition between nations across Asia and the Pacific, even as powerful, cross-border relations form on an unprecedented scale. This book looks at the reality behind this façade of nation-state competi- tion, examining the new forms of social, economic, and political integration and conflict fostered by a global capitalist system rife with contradictions, inequali- ties, and crises. We move beyond traditional conceptualizations of the interstate system, with its nation-state competition as the core organizing principle of the world economy, and the institutional framework in which global social forces operate. Political economists have long viewed nations as containers that hold social formations, yet these important studies map the growing transnationality of both material (economic) relations and social relations. To what degree are such processes taking place? How do transnational capitalist-class fractions, new middle strata, and labor undergird capitalist globalization in Asia and Oceania? How do states and institutions connect to these shifting social patterns? How do local, national, regional, and international processes clash or link with transna- tional processes? This book provides insight into a field of dynamic change.

Paper presented at 'Practicing Theory - ASCA International Workshop and Conference 2011', Amsterdam School for Cultural Analysis, University of Amsterdam, 2nd-4th March 2011 https://asca.uva.nl/programme/archive-conferences/asca-international-workshop-2011-practicing-theory/asca-international-workshop-2011-practicing-theory.html?1583659550967

The Janani Suraksha Yojana is an Indian maternal health policy that financially compensates women for institutional child delivery. After shadowing health workers in Uttar Pradesh, I claim that the JSY has come to closer to resembling a global health program than a national one, revealing a transformation of state roles. I first offer a theoretical dissection of how large-scale health interventions conceptualize 'health' and 'life.' I then examine the use of 'partnerships' in service provision, one of the most common techniques employed to fulfill the right to health. Ultimately, I consider whether the right to health has been, or can be, fulfilled through such paradigms and programs.

Review essay of Negativity and Revolution: Adorno and Political Activism eds. Holloway, J. Matamoros, F. & Tischler, S. (2009) (London: Pluto Press) in Logos: A Journal of Modern Society and Culture Vol. 8, Issue 2 http://logosjournal.com/2011/garland/