Capital Regime Research Articles

Language and Gender: Insights from Japanese Feminists in the 1980s

This essay examines how language contributed to the feminist movement’s decline in Japan in the 1980s, a period that witnessed major legal reforms and socioeconomic shifts. While earlier studies have linked the sluggish progress of feminism in Japan to legal deficiencies and the shortcomings of capitalist regime, this paper clarifies that few achievement in feminist campaign during this period can be mostly ascribed to the linguistic distinctions between men and women. By analyzing the works of prominent feminists Aoki Yayoi and Ide Sachiko, the essay illustrates how gendered linguistic conventions perpetuated the marginalization of women and brought the destruction of feminist progress in the 1980s. The research underscores the importance of recognizing language’s role as an obstacle in the development of feminism and proposes that changing linguistic conventions could support feminist movements in Japan and elsewhere.

The limits to working-class property ownership: The case of Spain’s ‘society of owners’

The promotion of property ownership has been a key legitimating mechanism for capitalist regimes, across their authoritarian, liberal and neoliberal variations. The 2007–2008 global financial crisis critically undermined this agenda, leading to political turmoil. This paper analyses the material conditions underpinning the ‘society of owners’ project in Spain, centred on making proletarians property-owners. Drawing from large-scale surveys, we look at the degree to which workers have become property-owners and the forms and functions of ownership taken on. We observe an initial expansion and dispersal of ownership, followed by a period of contraction and concentration. Through a political economy analysis of the ‘society of owners’, we argue that the processes driving its expanded reproduction have encountered their limits and contradictions.

Al Qaeda, Islamists and Terrorism in Southeast Asia: A Lesson from the Past

This article aims to explore the involvement of the Al-Qaeda network in Southeast Asia at the beginning of the 21st century. As an international terrorist organization with sufficient financial and human resources, Al-Qaeda's arrival in Southeast Asia came as a major shock to the local communities affected by it—an injustice caused by the capitalist regimes in the region. The methods used in writing this article are case studies and historical analysis. This article will provide specific examples of Al-Qaeda involvement in several countries in Southeast Asia, such as the case in Poso, Indonesia, where Al-Qaeda members Omar Bandon and Jusuf Galan from Spain provided military training and funding to militant Islamic groups in Malaysia. This article will also discuss Al-Qaeda's involvement in the Philippines, where they formed cells and networks with the Abu Sayyaf and other extreme Islamic groups. The results of this research show that the entry of the Al-Qaeda network in this area has caused terrorism problems and resulted in quite large losses in the form of property and lives. It is hoped that this article will provide new insights and policy recommendations to strengthen counterterrorism efforts in the future.

Latin American Participation in the Current Process of Economic Globalization

From World War II to the present, Latin America has participated in the current process of economic globalization to varying degrees. The Washington Consensus of the late twentieth century supplanted the region’s earlier model of state-led development and increased its participation in the global capitalist regime. However, Latin America has shown minimal participation in the current process of economic globalization since the late 2000s and, instead, espouses regionalization. Nevertheless, regionalization has proven to be an arduous undertaking in Latin America, especially with China’s increasing regional influence. Variations of benefits are discussed, and recommendations are offered. While the future of Latin America’s participation in the current process of economic globalization has yet to be determined, the region is aware of its toolbox to guide its development in the rest of the twenty-first century.

Latin American Participation in the Current Process of Economic Globalization

From World War II to the present, Latin America has participated in the current process of economic globalization to varying degrees. The Washington Consensus of the late twentieth century supplanted the region’s earlier model of state-led development and increased its participation in the global capitalist regime. However, Latin America has shown minimal participation in the current process of economic globalization since the late 2000s and, instead, espouses regionalization. Nevertheless, regionalization has proven to be an arduous undertaking in Latin America, especially with China’s increasing regional influence. Variations of benefits are discussed, and recommendations are offered. While the future of Latin America’s participation in the current process of economic globalization has yet to be determined, the region is aware of its toolbox to guide its development in the rest of the twenty-first century.

Becoming Spectral

Often defined by its characteristic and heavy use of autotuned vocals, the microgenre hyper-pop is perhaps just as recognizable for the ubiquitous transness of its most important artists. Reading trans hyper-pop performers Blackwinterwells, laura les, and quinn's uses of the figure of the “bedsheet ghost,” this article explores trans artists’ responses to late capitalism's regimes of alienation as a means of desubjectivization through strategies of becoming spectral—resisting commodification through a spectral orientation toward their sonic corporeality.

Eisenstein's Capital Diaries: An Introduction

Abstract This text serves as an introduction to the first publication of an extensive new selection from Sergei Eisenstein's notebooks for a film of Capital (made “according to the script of K. Marx”): the Capital Diaries. While these texts have haunted the imaginations of historians, artists, and writers (from Guy Debord to Milica Tomic and Alexander Kluge) ever since short excerpts were first published in Russian in 1973 and English in October in 1976, this introduction presents a different and much broader selection, situating the experimental dimension of the notes between their main sources, Karl Marx's Das Kapital and James Joyce's Ulysses, as well as in the discursive framework of Viktor Shklovsky's theory of “defamilarization,” Nikolai Marr's “palaeontology of speech,” Mikhail Bakhtin's notion of “polyphony,” and Eisenstein's own conceptual and cinematic propositions, such as “intellectual attraction,” “typage,” and “inner monologue.” Furthermore, it traces the use value of images and collages in Eisenstein's diaries according to their potential to recirculate Marx's concepts and reveal cinema's participation in the entangled regimes of fascism and capitalism.

STEVE TESICH’S ON THE OPEN ROAD AND NAOMI WALLACE’S THINGS OF DRY HOURS AS DISCOURSES ON ART AND FREEDOM

Through the analysis of Steve Tesich’s and Naomi Wallace’s dramatic masterpieces On the Open Road (1992) and Things of Dry Hours (2007), respectively, the paper strives to examine the dramatists’ insights into the role of art and theatre within the context of the contemporary artistic landscape and the societal ethos. Tesich and Wallace, both acclaimed as engaged and dissenting writers, envision theatre as a hallowed space for social and imaginative metamorphosis. They challenge the prevailing cultural norms and values, serving as beacons of resistance against dehumanizing practices that have taken root in modern society, often perpetuated by capitalist regimes. In this light, the paper underscores the seminal importance of their artistic contributions, which delve into the disintegration of art’s societal significance, the pervasiveness of societal apathy, the absurdity of warfare, and the overarching influence of organized religion. Within the framework of On the Open Road, Steve Tesich poignantly underscores the dwindling influence of art in a dystopian world where it has been commodified. The characters Al and Angel grapple with a post-apocalyptic society fragmented into distinct factions under the dominion of potent entities. Art, once the source of profound inspiration, is relegated to the status of a mere bargaining chip. Tesich contemplates the devaluation of art appreciation, underscoring the dire need to fathom art, rather than merely rationalize it. He cogently argues that this transformative paradigm poses an existential threat to humanity and its moral underpinnings. However, amid the bleak future depicted, the play offers a glimmer of hope - the restoration of human nature through acts of love devoid of ulterior motives. In a parallel vein, Naomi Wallace’s Things of Dry Hours is distinctly situated in the early 1930s Alabama, a locale that encapsulates myriad sociopolitical nuances. The play unfolds as an intricate tapestry of themes encompassing race, class, and political turmoil. The characters, notably Tice Hogan, his daughter Cali, and the enigmatic Corbin Teel, confront the divisive aspects of racial privilege and economic disparities. The dramatic narrative adroitly negotiates the interplay between Christian religiosity and the tenets of Communism. Concurrently, Wallace delves into the ineffable dimensions of spiritual desolation, perceptibly etched into the characters’ existential identities. The characters undergo a transformative journey, awakening dormant desires and rekindling hope for social transformation and a more meaningful existence.

The concept of banking capital risk-sensitivity revisited

The article studies the foundations of the risk-sensitivity concept of regulatory banking capital. The author states that risk of losses, including unexpected ones covered in accordance with the concept by banking capital cannot be measured with satisfactory accuracy. This is the principal obstacle to the concept implementation. The efficacy of Basel III capital regime with parallel use of risk-sensitive and risk-insensitive approaches is under scrutiny. Rationales are adduced that under this regime risk-sensitive approach has no real value. The study of risk-sensitive approach abilities among macro-prudential tools leads to the conclusion that its efficiency is apparently insufficient. The analysis of the academic study on the issue is carried out. This research recommends to impose risk-sensitive capital requirements if the risk of bank assets can be measured quite accurately. It is shown that the study is based on the implicit assumption of the absence of unexpected losses phenomenon in banking activity. This assumption is unrealistic and makes research in effect objectless. The major inference from the study is that the regulatory capital risk-sensitivity concept is not well-founded and its use for capital adequacy regulation is inadvisable. For micro-prudential purposes the simple leverage deems more expedient. It is capable to ensure for capital regulation the reasonable balance of risk-sensitivity to failure, simplicity and comparability.

Toward the democratic reconstruction of the urban

This commentary offers a critical assessment of Ross Beveridge and Phillippe Koch's article “Seeing democracy like a city.” While there is much we can learn from their analysis and perspective, in the end, it offers only marginal resistance against the colossal structural forces quashing the democratic emancipation of the urban, leaving us with little hope for systemic and comprehensive democratic reconstruction. Only through a mass politics designed to capture and wield state-centered democratic power can we hope to realize broader system change in late-stage, neoliberal capitalist regimes.

Retraction notice: Calibration issues under the EU capital regime for investment firms

Retraction notice: Calibration issues under the EU capital regime for investment firms

Inclusive education in Japan and its role in international cooperation: analysis of a project for children with disabilities in Mongolia

This study explores the influence of educational ideologies and practices of donor countries on the educational systems in recipient countries in the context of international cooperation. Previous research on international education cooperation has focused on international cooperation policies, ignoring the educational systems of both donor and recipient countries. This study seeks to fill this gap by examining how Japan’s dualistic model of inclusive education is reflected in the Strengthening Teachers’ Ability and Reasonable Treatments for Children with Disabilities (START) project in Mongolia. This study reviews the literature on inclusive education in Japan and Mongolia, and analyzes documents produced through the project. It finds that despite some instances of inclusive practices in Japanese schools, special needs education in Japan is still predicated on individualized and medicalized approaches to disabilities. Conversely, Mongolia has struggled to provide children with disabilities with accessible and quality schooling since its transition from a socialist to a capitalist regime in the early 1990s. The START project aims to identify children’s disabilities as early as possible, provide individualized support and guidance, and develop educational settings that allow the inclusion of children with disabilities in their peer groups. In implementing the project, Japanese-style inclusive education is negotiated between Mongolian teachers and officials rather than imposed by Japanese experts. By embracing the dualistic nature of Japanese inclusive education, Mongolia can better promote the ideal of inclusion for all children.

Exploitation of the Natural World in Bulgarian Science Fiction Utopias and Dystopiasofthe Socialist Period

The articleexamines the exploitation of the natural world and its individual consequences as they are presented in a number of utopian and dystopiannovels of Bulgarian science fiction during the socialist period. Attention is first given to the post-1956 scientificand technical utopias that depictthe future communist world. In these texts, nature is the enemy and victim of man; there are many scenes of ecocide and ofsevere industrialisation which changesnature’s landscapein accordance with theto human needs and desires. This exploitation is seen as positive andnecessary for the construction of the new human world.However, later,towards the end of the 1970s, Bulgarian science fiction began to develop a more ecological attitude towards nature. The exploitationof the natural world became something characteristic of dystopiantexts and the capitalist regimes described in them, albeit this time seen in its destructive aspect.

The institutionalisation of the social and solidarity economy in France as a meso-space

Nowadays, the social and solidarity economy (SSE) is seen as a relatively specific economic system within contemporary economies. Despite a relative lack of interest in the SSE, certain “institutional” economists—in particular regulationists–have underlined its specificity within an array of various institutional arrangements in capitalist economies. More specifically, regulationist studies view the SSE, or some of its components at least (e.g., cooperatives, mutual insurance, etc.) as relatively autonomous meso-economic spaces within capitalist regimes. From this perspective, this article aims to shed light on how the SSE has become, over time, a relatively unified and autonomous meso-economic space around three main periods, corresponding to three historical compromises of the SSE as a meso-space with regard to its constituent elements (entities, legal rules, ideologies, etc.) and its integration into the evolution of French capitalist regimes. The first (liberal) compromise (1790–1880) was characterised by the emergence of the original, fragmented SSE entities, in a regime dominated by economic liberalism. The second (republican) compromise (1880–1970) saw the institutionalisation and division of large SSE “families” (e.g., cooperatives, mutual insurances, associations) under the guidance of the social state. The third (neoliberal) compromise (since 1970) reflects the recent unification and institutionalisation of the SSE as a meso-economic space, but whose unity and autonomy in the face of contemporary capitalist pressures remain fragile.

Can we imagine a new telos for democracy in a non-teleological world?

ABSTRACT Many political and economic forces are driven by the desire to eliminate democratic plurality in today’s political juncture. Democratic republicanism itself in its contemporary forms has failed to address many of the daunting moral, political, economic, social, technological, and ecological challenges we face today. It is argued that to fulfill its essence of egalitarian freedom and social justice, democratic republicanism must first decouple from the global neoliberal capitalist regime and secondly embrace some form of postcapitalist and posthumanist orientation guided by a new attractor, a teleological approach anchored in a new telos of superhumanity. Democracy without a telos of superhumanity is a democracy in name only. It is time to lay our teleophobia aside and propose a strong teleological account in the vein of a Buddhist no-self doctrine at the heart of the onto-politico-economy.

Dispossession, social reproduction and the feminization of refugee survival: Ethiopian refugees in Nairobi, Kenya

This paper theorizes the gendered consequences of refugee dispossession for social reproduction, focusing on Ethiopian refugees in Nairobi, Kenya. We analyze the Kenyan refugee regime as structured by colonial legacies of racialization and by neo-colonial global political economy strategies of managing ‘surplus’ populations. We demonstrate that refugees’ ongoing experiences of interpersonal and structural violence constitutes an attack on their capacity for social reproduction and argue the ‘feminization of refugee survival’ is an important gendered consequence. We identify two transnational displacements that produce a new form of racialized enclosure and the alienation of refugees from the means of social reproduction. The first transnational displacement occurs due to their dispossession from support infrastructure for social reproduction in their origin country, and in the host country. A second, invisible but racialized transnational displacement is the refusal of global North countries to take on the anticipated welfare costs of refugee social reproduction. Transformative and re-generative approaches to refugee social reproduction would need to address both forms of displacement. The paper thus urges IPE scholarship to recognize that the crisis of refugee social reproduction is not only produced by global capitalist regimes, but also deeply structured by gendered, racialized, and colonial hierarchies of inequality.

Calibration issues under the EU capital regime for investment firms

PurposeThe EU prudential regime for investment firms comprising the Directive (EU) 2019/2034 (IFD) and Regulation (EU) 2019/2033 (IFR) introduces a fit-for-purpose capital framework for investment firms. The capital impact on the practice of investment management can be material depending on firms’ specific business models and risk profiles, which may require them to take strategic decisions with respect to the services they provide. Despite the importance of this issue for the practice of investment management, there exists no study among the existing studies that focuses on this issue. This study aims to fill this gap in the literature.Design/methodology/approachThis paper reviews the calibration approaches the European Banking Authority (EBA) has used by exploring the deficiencies of the regime with respect to the calibration of categorization thresholds and coefficients that are used by the EBA to calculate regulatory capital requirements.FindingsThis paper sets out that the choice of the relevant percentile for setting the firm categorization thresholds was not based on any theoretical rule. It also discusses that the calibration of the K-factors was subjective and lacked consistency. In addition, it criticizes the sample that the EBA used for business model coverage on the grounds that it was unbalanced, resulting in certain K-factors driving the overall capital impact.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research is needed on the calibration of thresholds as this will remain a crucial factor for the effectiveness of the new regime. In particular, a more data-driven and transparent approach would be necessary to ensure the accuracy and consistency of the thresholds.Practical implicationsThis paper leads to the policy implication that, despite its merits that overweigh its shortcomings, potential market competition and financial stability issues that may stem from inconsistencies and a general lack of objectivity in certain aspects of the regime should not be underestimated by the EU policy makers.Originality/valueThe present paper contributes to the existing knowledge primarily by reviewing the EBA’s calibration approaches with respect to the K-factor coefficients and firm categorization thresholds, concluding that lack of objectivity and precision in the relevant methodologies could distort capital allocation decisions in the practice of investment management.

Housing’s values: Housing as an ethical urbanism

Housing’s values are a key topic of public and policy debate, with discussions including the social value of housing in the form of human rights or care, rising property values, value-capture in infrastructure development, Indigenous values of land, and the value of housing for social reproduction. With this in mind, we engage with the various ways housing is valued, not as a reductive exercise to find ‘the value’ of housing but to recognise and engage with the ways various valuations of housing inform a situated and relational politics of value. The analysis is concerned with how people make valuations about housing as well as how these different housing valuations intersect to constitute a politics of housing values. It is a common reduction to associate housing with its economic value and home with social values. Attempts to reconcile these values typically involve proxy valuations to commensurate the social to the economic. However, value pluralists resist such easy reduction of social values to the market, holding that plural values are incommensurable. Our more-than-political economy approach draws on anthropology and moral philosophical theories of value to conceptualise an agonistic politics of housing value. To illustrate this conceptual case, we discuss three regimes of value in Australia, that is, capitalist regimes of real estate value as the dominant value regime, Indigenous cultural values tied to land and housing and care ethics and human rights as housing discourse. These cases highlight the processes of value realisation, not just within these regimes of value, but within and between them, to animate an agonistic tournament of housing’s value. We are interested in the politics within and between these different claims about value and argue the utility of value theory is to show how value is produced through the politics of competing value claims, rather than to try to show what the value of housing as-an-object is.

Evolution in the Consumer ABS Market (Past, Present, and Future)

The consumer ABS market provides a large and growing source of funding to the US economy. Historically the market consisted primarily of auto loans, credit card receivables, and student loans. Over the past decade, esoteric ABS issuance has proliferated, as more markets are able to securitize cash flows to unlock a lower cost of funding relative to comparable corporate alternatives. Sectors that did not exist 10 years ago have grown to be large and liquid market sectors, including marketplace lending, solar, PACE, and consumer handset receivables. This trend has been aided by a pullback in bank lending, driven by post-Great Financial Crisis (“GFC”) regulation and capital regime changes. The Fed’s imposition of higher interest rates throughout 2022 and into 2023 is designed to slow the economy and reduce inflation but is also likely to put pressure on consumer performance in the coming months. While consumer balance sheets remain relatively healthy, excess savings accumulated during the pandemic have been eroding, and delinquency rates are expected to rise. While performance is expected to deteriorate, consumer ABS structures have gotten safer since the GFC—including via more credit enhancement and better-quality collateral—and some of the longer-standing structures have shown their ability to withstand a variety of macroeconomic environments without taking a loss. Despite the more robust structures, performance of newer esoteric asset classes will be watched closely as we enter a more volatile macroeconomic environment. The ABS market will continue to evolve in the coming years, as large structural change has tended to correspond to material changes in macroeconomic conditions. Regardless of the changes, we expect the market to remain an integral source of funding for the US consumer.

Reorienting the Institutionalist Analysis of State Capitalism in a Post-Socialist Context: The Vexed Case of Russia

This article argues that there are two main roles for the authoritarian regime of state capitalism in post-socialist transition: a constructivist one, in which the state moves market-based national economy toward greater equality, democracy, and social justice, and a predatory one, in which a powerful state leverages its control over the national economy to primarily serve the political needs of the state and advance its geopolitical ambitions. Using modern Russia’s predatory order of state capitalism as a case in point, the paper situates the analysis of these differing models of state capitalism within traditional institutionalism and demonstrates the need for a careful re-evaluation of some standard institutionalist positions. More specifically, the paper advocates for constraining existing particularistic bias in favour of more robust acknowledgement of what is not culturally specific but rather universal and intrinsic to democratic institutions. Furthermore, it calls for rehabilitation of the much- maligned concept of teleology in heterodox institutionalism in order to accurately situate the analysis of potential associated with a positive vision for state capitalism and its role in constructing socially just, democratic and humanist economy.