Era Of Neoliberal Globalization Research Articles

Reading the ‘new world’: neoliberalism in the South Korean gangster film

ABSTRACTthis article analyses some recent trends of theme, form and characterisation in South Korean gangster cinema. Using Beat (Biteu, Kim Sung-su, 1997), Bloody Tie (Sasaeng gyeoldan, Choi Ho, 2006) and New World (Sinsegye, Park Hoon-jung, 2013), these trends are considered within the context of neoliberal economics and ideology, both in their global manifestations and as particular to South Korea. The potential for a more neoliberal gangster type in South Korean cinema is considered: one who eschews the tropes of the traditional East Asian ‘gangster hero’ (such as moral righteousness and interpersonal care) and embraces a more competitive, individualistic worldview. By way of contrast between the three films studied, this article demonstrates how the generic diversification of the gangster protagonist in recent cinematic output corresponds with, and in many ways refers to, a wider ideological shift towards individualism and self-sufficiency in South Korea in the era of neoliberal globalisation.

Soggettività Politica Delle Donne, Emancipazione e Giustizia Nell’età Della Globalizzazione

This article enquires into the conditions of possibility of women’s emancipation in the era of neoliberal globalization or, to borrow Nancy Fraser’s words, in a post-socialist and post-Westphalian context, where both social egalitarianism (justice as redistribution) and identity politics (justice as recognition) are in crisis. In order to do this, I will have to address, first, the “who” of emancipation, the political subject incarnating it. This is done from two different but interconnected perspectives: the existentialist one, usually associated with the particularistic or relativistic viewpoint of some strands of feminist thought, and Ernesto Laclau’s Hegelianism, which put to the forefront the Gramscian notion of hegemony and its emancipatory implications. Secondly, I will explore Fraser’s post-socialist and globalist perspective in search of new possibilities of expression for women’s political subjectivity.

Development, security, and aid: Geopolitics and geoeconomics at the U.S. Agency for International Development

In Development, Security, and Aid Jamey Essex offers a sophisticated study of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), examining the separate but intertwined discourses of geopolitics and geoeconomics. Geopolitics concentrates on territory, borders, and strategic political and military positioning within the international state system. Geoeconomics emphasises economic power, growth, and connectedness within a global, and supposedly borderless, system. Both discourses have strongly influenced the strategies of USAID and the views of American policy makers, bureaucrats, and business leaders toward international development. Providing a unique geographical analysis of American development policy, Essex details USAID's establishment in 1961 and traces the agency's growth from the Cold War into an era of neoliberal globalisation up to and beyond 9/11, the global war on terror, and the looming age of austerity. USAID promotes improvement for millions by providing emergency assistance and support for long-term economic and social development. Yet the agency's humanitarian efforts are strongly influenced, and often trumped, by its mandate to advance American foreign policies. As a site of, a strategy for, and an agent in the making of geopolitics and geoeconomics, USAID, Essex argues, has often struggled to reconcile its many institutional mandates and objectives. The agency has always occupied a precarious political position, one that is increasingly marked by the strong influence of military, corporate, and foreign-policy institutions in American development strategy.

The Islamist Politics in the Era of Neoliberal Globalization The Case of Jamaat-E-Islami Pakistan

The essentialist theoretical approaches assume Islamic movements, if got access to state power, will lead their respective societies to a kind of totalitarian state, a condition resulting into complete destruction of the existing social, political and cultural traditions and replacing them with new political institutions. Such an imagination of the Islamic movements is further ignited by the Islamic movements’ self-portrayal as the harbingers of “total” change and “radical revolution” that is normally termed as Islamic revolution. In a political sociology setting, this research focuses on an empirical example of one of the oldest Islamic movements in the Mulsim world, the Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan—a religious political party founded in 1941 by Sayed A. A Mawdudi. Using multiple sources of information, this paper drags the discussion beyond essentialist assumptions of Stone Age and Islamists’ claims of bringing about radical revolution. It does so by focusing on news content data collected from two major Pakistani newspapers published in Urdu language as well as the content analysis of 1997 electoral manifesto of the Jamaat-e-Islami. The data set consists of time period 1988-2006. However, the post 2006 developments are also added to the analysis. This research makes contribution to the existing body of academic scholarship on the subject both methodologically and substantially. Whereas most of the hitherto conducted researches deal either with the history, ideology, electoral politics or Jamaat-e-Islami’s connection with global jihad. This research departs from the conventional treatment both methodologically and theoretically. Using simple descriptive statistics, this paper makes a humble attempt to measure the diverse responses of the Jamaat leaders to issues of national and global importance. It shows that how statements of its leaders and the manifesto content reflect on variety of issues that might not fit into the theoretical assumptions, stereotypical categories and textual readings by essentialists and reductionists. By bringing political practice in the analysis, the data confirms that unlike Islamophobic provocations, the mainstream political Islamists are not dragging Pakistan into a “Stone Age”. Likewise, the fears of a radical revolution, if the Islamists take control of the state, have no firm grounds. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n15p507

Our stadium of four million

In 2009, Prime Minister John Key announced that 2011 would be a milestone year for New Zealand, as it hosted one of the world’s biggest sports events, the Rugby World Cup.1 He also stated “the New Zealand Government is proud to be a key partner with Rugby World Cup Ltd in staging Rugby World Cup 2011 here in our Stadium of Four Million”.2 In an era of neoliberal globalization and media spectacle, the hosting of such a sporting mega-event is seen as all positive, as an integral component of a sound national development strategy and as a guarantee of perceived economic benefits, especially in terms of brand building, tourism and place marketing. Reference to ‘perceived economic benefits’ is important here, because the host country pays for the privilege of staging such an event, and it is only through the promise of potential, future benefits that the cost to local and state authorities can be justified.

Divergent Paths of Counter-Neoliberalization: Materiality and the Labor Process in Bolivia's Natural Resource Sectors

Social scientists have often focused upon how transnational corporations and elites mold socioeconomic organization and change in an era of neoliberal globalization. Often overlooked, however, are the active roles played by labor and nature in the construction of contemporary forms of capitalism. Examining the case of Bolivia, this paper explores how the laborers and natures in the country's two dominant economic sectors—hydrocarbons and minerals—shaped the country's neoliberal and counter-neoliberal shifts. I argue that, while both sectors were subjected to similar processes of neoliberalization, the materiality of the natural resources and the labor required to extract them have created divergent paths of counter-neoliberalization with different implications for the scope and reach of post-neoliberal possibilities. In theorizing neoliberal and counter-neoliberal shifts, scholars should thus seek to understand not only changing property rights, regulations, and institutional forms, but also the intimate relationships between commodities and their creators.

Pre-capitalist Reproduction on the Nepal Tarai: Semi-feudal Agriculture in an Era of Globalisation

This article highlights the continued significance of pre-capitalist formations in shaping the trajectory of economic transition in peripheral regions, even in an era of neo-liberal globalisation. There is a tendency for Marxist scholars to assume the inevitable “dominance” of capitalism over older modes of production. Using a case study from Nepal's far eastern Tarai, this paper seeks to understand the reproduction of feudal social relations in a region which is both accessible and integrated into regional and global markets. The paper traces the early subordination of indigenous groups to feudalism from the eighteenth century onwards, and the political and ideological processes through which these social relations were reinforced. Through examining the historical role of feudal-colonial alliances, however, the paper notes that pre-capitalist reproduction in Nepal is a dynamic process, actively negotiated and reinforced by the external imperatives of capitalist expansion itself as well as through the entrenched political power of landed classes. Today feudal and capitalist formations co-exist and articulate, with surplus divided between landlords and non-farm employers. Understanding the complex dynamics of feudal or “semi-feudal” reproduction in an era of globalisation is crucial if one is to identify avenues for collective mobilisation against inequitable pre-capitalist and capitalist class relations.

Militarism, Conflict and Women's Activism in the Global Era: Challenges and Prospects for Women in Three West African Contexts

This article develops a feminist perspective on militarism in Africa, drawing examples from the Nigerian, Sierra Leonean and Liberian civil wars spanning several decades to examine women's participation in the conflict, their survival and livelihood strategies, and their activism. We argue that postcolonial conflicts epitomise some of the worst excesses of militarism in the era of neoliberal globalisation, and that the economic, organisational and ideological features of militarism undermine the prospects for democratisation, social justice and genuine security, especially for women, in post-war societies. Theorisations of ‘new wars’ and the war economy are taken as entry points to a discussion of the conceptual and policy challenges posed by the enduring and systemic cultural and material aspects of militarism. These include the contradictory ways in which women are affected by the complex relationship between gendered capitalist processes and militarism, and the manner in which women negotiate their lives through both. Finally, we highlight the potential of transnational feminist theorising and activism for strengthening intellectual and political solidarities and argue that the globalised military security system can be our ‘common context for struggle' 1 as contemporary feminist activist scholars. 1 Mohanty, 2003.

Supporting the City: economic patriotism in financial markets

This contribution argues that economic patriotism constitutes a specific form of managing the relationship between open borders and the political pressures of specific territorial units in an era of neo-liberal globalization. It focuses on the case of the City of London and shows how, in the period from 1997 to 2007, the state pursued specific strategies that would support the international position of the City in ways which were firstly within global and EU rules and secondly gave credibility to the claim that this support was beneficial to the whole of British society. The financial crisis undermined this credibility. Although the City has re-established its centrality to the UK economy and there is no obvious alternative, support for it can no longer be justified as an act of economic patriotism given the strength of criticism it has endured.

Labor Solidarity in the Era of Neoliberal Globalization

Under the context of neoliberal globalization, governments have pursued marketdriven economic reform policies and large firms have adopted the business model of shortterm profit maximization. In this context, intensification of labor polarization has produced growing concerns over the solidarity crisis faced by the labor movement in Korea, which reveals serious weaknesses in internal and external solidarity requiring rectification in order to overcome labor polarization. Internal solidarity of the labor movement in Korea has been weakened by union members’attitude of self-interest toward job security and economic gain, by fragmented co-worker relations, and by intensified competition among activist factions for political power within unions. The most crucial factor constraining external solidarity of the Korean labor movement is the legacy of enterprise unionism, which has produced differentiated interest structures between organized and unorganized workers, while hindering the two worker groups from fostering a common ground of union activities and political vision. Reflexive leadership of labor movement, substantiation of industrial unionism, and fostering of communitarian activism are recommended for revitalizing labor solidarity.

The Enforcement of Minimum Labour Standards in an Era of Neo-Liberal Globalisation: An Overview

AbstractThis article has three objectives. First, we examine what is meant by minimum labour standards, including the array of different standards and their procedural and substantive elements, in differing or even diverging regulatory jurisdictions. Examination of different areas of labour standards provides instruction in the dynamics of these protections and we give illustrative examples, from several countries. The second objective is to highlight the importance of enforcement of standards. We do this through a brief historical overview of the emergence of labour standards as well as of how the recent rise of neo-liberalism has shaped current debates over their development and application. The third element of the analysis is an examination of some contemporary debates, pointing to areas requiring further study as well as to positive examples both in research and in policy/regulation.

The Death of Socio‐Economic Rights

Over the last decade, apex courts in Canada, India, and South Africa – which have traditionally been viewed as socio‐economic rights friendly – have issued judgments fundamentally at variance with the meaningful protection of socio‐economic rights. This jurisprudential turn can be understood as part of a de facto harmonisation of constitutional rights protection in the era of neo‐liberal globalisation. These national courts, although dealing with idiosyncratic domestic constitutional systems, have nonetheless begun to articulate analogous conceptions of fundamental rights which are atomistic, ‘market friendly’ and, more broadly, congruent with the narrow neo‐liberal conception of rights, and consequently antithetical to the protection of socio‐economic rights. This view of rights is becoming, well established as the hegemonic view and the pre‐eminence of this view, taken with the entrenchment of neo‐liberal policy prescriptions – and tacit judicial approval of such policies – signals the end, in substantive terms, for the prospect of meaningful protection of socio‐economic rights.

Like a Fish in Water: Physical Education Policy and Practice in the Era of Neoliberal Globalization

Globally, Physical Education (PE) carries the stamp of neoliberalism and as a field we are keen, it seems, to accrue more of the vestiges of this ideology. While neoliberal positions and practices are not necessarily harmful to the long-term interests of the field or the students we teach, indeed it may be strategic to take them up, the field needs to realize and reflect upon the pervasiveness of neoliberalism. Two trends in PE will be presented: (a) high stakes testing and (b) outsourcing PE to private providers, making the case that each is a response to neoliberalism and potentially the deprofessionalization of PE. Yet each trend or set of practices is not only embraced by many in the PE profession but each is often espoused by the profession as a way of buying into the dominant policy agendas (e.g., accountability, reducing health costs, supporting choice) and gaining the ensuing recognition as a legitimate school practice.

Surveying the agrarian question (part 2): current debates and beyond

This two-part article surveys the origin, development and current meaning of the ‘agrarian question’. Part One of the survey explored the history of the agrarian question, elaborating its origin in the work of Marx, Engels, Kautsky, and Lenin, and its development in the work of Preobrazhensky, Dobb, Brenner, and others. Part Two of the survey identifies seven current variants of the agrarian question and critically interrogates these variants in order to understand whether, and if so, how, the location of small-scale petty commodity food and farm production within contemporary capitalism has been reconfigured during the era of neoliberal globalisation. Together, the two parts of the survey argue that the agrarian question continues to offer a rigorously flexible framework by which to undertake a historically-informed and country-specific analysis of the material conditions governing rural production, reproduction, and the process of agrarian accumulation or its lack thereof, a process that is located within the law of value and market imperatives that operate on a world scale.

Surveying the agrarian question (part 1): unearthing foundations, exploring diversity

This two-part article surveys the origin, development, and current meaning of the ‘agrarian question’. Part one of the survey explores the history of the agrarian question, elaborating its origin in the work of Marx, Engels, Kautsky, and Lenin, and its development in the work of Preobrazhensky, Dobb, Brenner, and others. Part two of the survey identifies seven current variants of the agrarian question and critically interrogates these variants in order to understand whether, and if so, how, the location of small-scale petty commodity food and farm production within contemporary capitalism has been reconfigured during the era of neoliberal globalisation. Together, the two parts of the survey argue that the agrarian question continues to offer a rigorously flexible framework by which to undertake a historically-informed and country-specific analysis of the material conditions governing rural production, reproduction, and the process of agrarian accumulation or its lack thereof, a process that can now be located within the law of value and market imperatives that operate on a world scale.

Marketization of Higher Education in Vietnam in the Era of Neoliberal Globalization: The Institutional Practice at Vietnam National University, Hanoi

Marketization of Higher Education in Vietnam in the Era of Neoliberal Globalization: The Institutional Practice at Vietnam National University, Hanoi

Human Rights in an Era of Neoliberal Globalization: The Alien Tort Claims Act and Grassroots Mobilization in Doe v. Unocal

This article examines a widely publicized corporate accountability and human rights case filed by Burmese plaintiffs and human rights litigators in 1996 under the Alien Tort Claims Act in U.S. courts, Doe v. Unocal, in conjunction with the three main theoretical approaches to analyzing how law may matter for broader social change efforts: (1) legal realism, (2) Critical Legal Studies (CLS), and (3) legal mobilization. The article discusses interactions between Doe v. Unocal and grassroots Burmese human rights activism in the San Francisco Bay Area, including intersections with corporate accountability activism. It argues that a transnationally attuned legal mobilization framework, rather than legal realist or CLS approaches, is most appropriate to analyze the political opportunities and indirect effects of Doe v. Unocal and similar litigation in the context of neoliberal globalization. Further, this article argues that human rights discourse may serve as a common vocabulary and counterhegemonic resource for activists and litigators in cases such as Doe v. Unocal, contrary to overarching critiques of such discourse that emphasize only its hegemonic potentials in global governance regimes.

The Way We Were: Command-and-Control Centres in the Global Space-Economy on the Eve of the 2008 Geo-Economic Transition

This is a short note to take stock of where we were before the financial crisis began to seriously undermine the global economy in late 2008. For once the phrase ‘to turn the world upside down’ could hardly be more merited: the most right-wing US President in living memory is accused by members of Congress in his own party of being a ‘Bolshevik’ pursuing ‘financial socialism’ while in the UK the ‘New Labour’ government is being praised for nationalising more of the British economy than the most socialist, post-1945 Labour government ever did. Instead of the diminution of the state, the era of neoliberal globalization appears to have culminated in a reassertion of state economic power: place-based public finance has come to the rescue of flow-based private finance.

Socialist Development Theory in the Era of Neoliberal Globalization

Socialist Development Theory in the Era of Neoliberal Globalization

Primitive accumulation, accumulation by dispossession, accumulation by ‘extra-economic’ means

David Harvey's adaptation and redeployment of Marx's notion of ‘primitive accumulation’–under the heading of ‘accumulation by dispossession’–has reignited interest in the concept among geographers. This adaptation of the concept of primitive accumulation to different contexts than those Marx analyzed raises a variety of theoretical and practical issues. In this paper, I review recent uses and transformations of the notion of primitive accumulation that focus on its persistence within the Global North, addressing especially the political implications that attend different readings of primitive accumulation in the era of neoliberal globalization.