Political Economy Framework Research Articles

Democracy, regulation and competition in emerging banking systems

This paper develops a political economy framework to analyse the relations among democracy, financial regulation and banking competition in the emerging banking systems of Central and Eastern Europe. We develop extensive new yearly non-structural indices of bank competition instead of concentration indices as in the previous literature that show its evolution over time with the level of democracy. In addition, we directly test for linkages between democracy, financial regulation and banking competition. Using an unbalanced panel data set over the period 1994–2016 for 617 banks, we show that more democratic countries with better regulatory framework lead to the enhancement of competition. We also find significant support for the core hypothesis that financial regulatory framework in a “partially” democratic environment is inadequate. Given that financial regulatory framework in a “partially” democratic environment can be inadequate we find a U-shaped relation in the sense that there is a threshold level of democracy beyond which banking systems in those countries are more competitive.

Resisting Protection: Rackets, Resistance, and State Building

The state occupies a central place in the study of a range of political, economic, and social outcomes. This article brings into dialogue literature on the state and emerging research on criminal politics through a study of protection rackets. Conceiving of criminal protection rackets as institutional arrangements of extraction and domination, I develop a political economy framework to explain variation in forms of resistance to rackets. The framework shows that distinct configurations of economic and political resources influence the type of resistance available to subordinates. I illustrate the framework's utility using micro-level data on resistance to rackets in Latin America. Attention to how resource endowments shape patterns of resistance to projects of extraction and domination provides a novel window into the bottom-up dynamics of state building.

Towards a global health practice based on the liberation and sovereignty of populations under siege: a theoretical analysis

BackgroundThe 1990s were dubbed the sanctions decade, typified by the situation in Iraq. The past 10 years have seen continued use of siege, ostensibly in the interest of promoting political change. For this decade, the Gaza Strip has been the model of siege. Siege regimes have also been imposed on Yemen, and to a lesser extent on Qatar, Iran, and areas of Syria. This paper examines the consequences of siege for those in the field of health-care provision, and what responsibilities medical staff have in the face of the human rights crises that accompany siege. Can public health needs be served without an explicit agenda that promotes sovereignty and liberation of populations under siege? MethodsThe primary source of data for this paper is secondary literature, popular media and non-governmental organisation (NGO) reports dealing with the effects of siege on health-care provision in Gaza, Yemen, Iraq during the Sanctions period, and Iran. These primary data are supported by participant observation and interviews with medical staff in the Gaza Strip. These data were analysed using a critical political economy framework. Ethics approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board of Bucknell University. FindingsSiege continues to be promoted as an alternative to warfare in the press and in academic writing. Medical and other NGOs document the strain that blockades represent as they record the extent of health-care crises, but they do not confront the coalitions that impose siege. Discussions of the importance of sovereignty to the promotion of health care remain sidelined within a discourse of wars on terror. InterpretationFamiliarity and engagement with geopolitical practices of isolation and resistance is important for health-care providers in territories under siege. As health-care providers represent front line witnesses of the effects of siege on local populations, their testimonies represent a substantial challenge to the status quo. International and local health workers should coordinate with activists and academics to create a global health paradigm of liberation by promoting local sovereignty and international solidarity. FundingBucknell University.

Politics, Music and Social Mobilization in Africa: The Nigeria Narrative and Extant Tendencies

The impact of music on politics in Africa has seemingly remained dominant. But the overall sway of the African political processes has also become bewildering. The panacea to the disconcerting results of these political procedures in Africa is the adequate levels of social mobilization, while music ostensibly mobilizes massively. This chapter thus examines the linkages among politics, music and social mobilization in Nigeria (the most populous African country). Framed on the hypothesis that the relationship among politics, music and social mobilization in Nigeria (Africa) is now downbeat and using the elite theoretical and the political economy frameworks of analyses, the authors study the intervening factors responsible for the observed gloom in what had amounted to progressive relationships among politics, music and social mobilization in Nigeria and the wider continent. The research setting is qualitative. The chapter delves into its premises through the historical and descriptive research methodologies and logical argumentation.

The visible hand: the role of government in China’s long-awaited industrial revolution

ABSTRACT China is undergoing its long-awaited industrial revolution. There is no shortage of commentary and opinion on this dramatic period, but few have attempted to provide a coherent, in-depth, political-economic framework that explains the fundamental mechanisms behind China’s rapid industrialization. This article reviews the Embryonic Economic Development theory put forth by Wen (2016a). This article reviews the Embryonic Economic Development theory put forth by Wen . It illuminates the critical sequence of developmental stages since the reforms enacted by Deng Xiaoping in 1978: namely, small-scale commercialized agricultural production, proto-industrialization in the countryside, a formal industrial revolution based on mass production of labor-intensive light consumer goods, a sustainable ‘industrial trinity’ boom in energy/motive power/infrastructure, and a second industrial revolution involving the mass production of heavy industrial goods. This developmental sequence follows essentially the same pattern as Great Britain’s Industrial Revolution, despite sharp differences in political and institutional conditions. One of the key conclusions exemplified by China’s economic rise is that the extent of industrialization is limited by the extent of the market. One of the key strategies behind the creation and nurturing of a continually growing market in China is based on this premise: The free market is a public good that is very costly for nations to create and support. Market creation requires a powerful ‘mercantilist’ state and the correct sequence of developmental stages; China has been successfully accomplishing its industrialization through these stages, backed by measured, targeted reforms and direct participation from its central and local governments.

English as a Site of Evangelical Contact: A Critical Ethnography of Missionary English Teaching between South and North Koreans

ABSTRACTDrawing from a larger ethnography of North Korean young adults learning English in Christian educational programs in South Korea, this article explores the power relations between evangelicals and minority people and the political economy of missionary English teaching. This article follows Christian educational programs that provided various forms of resources—including English teaching—to North Korean young adults to examine how access to resources was regulated in relation to learner identity. Building on the sociolinguistic framework of political economy of language and emerging research on religion and second language learning, this study illustrates the integration of Christianity and English, and the intersection of religion, nationalism, and neoliberalism. The findings elucidate how English works as a secular resource in religious spaces, thus serving as a site of religious contact between people of divergent goals. Issues of professional ethics are also discussed.

A Crossroads for Social Entrepreneurship: Profits versus Ethics

This paper reveals one of the most critical challenges faced by Spanish social entrepreneurship: either prioritizing ethical, social and environmental objectives or profit-seeking. Social entrepreneurship (those initiatives that pursue social and environmental objectives as well as economic ones) has become a very celebrated sector welcomed by political leaders, international corporations, large financial actors and the public opinion alike. The motto that another economy is possible is gaining momentum while an enormous number and variety of both public and private promotional programs are fostering and energizing such promising sector in practically any spot of the world. However, unlike more conventional enterprises, social entrepreneurship face some crucial challenges due to its own hybrid nature and the goal of making philanthropy (i.e., ensuring the social and environmental values) compatible with profit. A mixed-methods oriented research conducted in Catalonia (Spain) reveals some of these contradictions and challenges. As concluding remarks, we provide some clues to reconsider the scope of social entrepreneurship under a different political economy framework.

Stigma, problem drug use, and welfare state encounters: changing contours of stigmatization in the era of social investment

Aim: This study examined the ways in which citizens who have self-identified as having problem drug use experienced welfare state encounters in Denmark and considered the findings in the context of the social investment paradigm.Methods: We conducted qualitative interviews with 106 Danish citizens who identified as having a problem drug use. The interviews were transcribed and coded in Nvivo to classify different types of welfare state encounters experiences.Results: Previous research has documented extensive prevalence of drug-related stigmatization in welfare state encounters; however, approximately two-thirds of the citizens in this study did not recount this kind of stigmatization as predominating. Three prevailing narratives were conveyed by these participants: (1) narratives describing encounters where welfare state authorities approached the participant as ‘a whole person,’ (2) narratives depicting encounters where the participants were submissive, and (3) narratives about welfare state authorities who discredited the significance of the participants' drug problems and imposed expectations considered unrealistic by the participants, e.g. expectations related to labor market performance. In the third type of encounter, participants experienced incongruence between their actual and virtual identities; not because problem drug use was granted master status but because their self-identified severe drug problems were downplayed by the welfare state authorities.Conclusion: Encountering welfare state authorities who downplayed the importance of drug problems gave rise to a form of stigmatization which we conceptualize as ‘neo-stigmatization’ to emphasize the contrast to drug related stigmatization where the importance of drug use is elevated to the point of master status. Neo-stigmatization emerges as politically productive in the context of the social investment paradigm that increasingly ties social worth to labor market value. Alleviating neo-stigmatization requires a political-economic framework that recognizes the value of citizens as not just workers but also caregivers and care receivers.

The making of public investments: The role of champions, co-ordination, and characteristics of nutrition programmes in Mozambique

This study examines governance and institutional factors that influence how public resources are allocated for nutrition interventions in the context of a developing country—Mozambique—with very high rates of malnutrition. Based on qualitative empirical analysis building on a political economy framework, we explore the importance of two agent-centred and two investment-centred factors that determine how decisions on budget allocation to nutrition are made. The analysis finds that public decisionmakers strongly favour highly visible nutrition investments and those with a short duration between the time that spending is incurred and outcomes or outputs are achieved. Co-ordination has been quite successful among donors, and mainly of a spatial nature. Co-ordination is significantly weaker among government agencies, given the absence of fiscal tools of the co-ordinating agency, and its placement in a sector ministry rather than at a supra-sectoral level. Champions as change agents have had a truly influential role in attracting more funding to nutrition and improving its allocation. But their influence is also fleeting and difficult to sustain.

“A Wide-Angle View of Fragile Earth”: Capitalist Aesthetics in The Work of Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Abstract Taking the widely viewed media work of French filmmaker and environmentalist Yann Arthus- Bertrand’s as its subject, this essay posits that despite the filmmaker’s stated ecological and humanist position, the formalist strategies he employs-particularly the fly-over and the database-bring with them a set of historical conventions that paradoxically import capitalist and imperialist ideologies and phenomenologies. In particular, the article considers the films Home (2009) and Human (2015) and the database project 7 Billion Others (2003-ongoing) as documentaries that deploy techniques of technologically-virtuosic seeing that end up obscuring the very possibility of cognitive mapping that would allow viewers to situate their contents in legible political economic frameworks. Closely related to the concept of the Anthropocene, which holds all people equally accountable for the current environmental crisis, Arthus- Bertrand’s work tends to obscure the causes and therefore meaningful solutions for the current situation. The article concludes by postulating that the model of cognitive mapping itself requires more attention to the ways in which particular aesthetic forms mobilize affective dimensions of viewer experience.

Significance of Literacy in Inclusive Growth and Coherent Development Planning to Deal with Challenge of Quality Education for All in Pakistan

The study focused on the strategic planning to achieve the sustainable development goal 4 quality education for all in context of Pakistan where more than forty percent people are illiterate and females are more than that, it examines the major obstacles in the system to improve as per need of the hour to develop innovative approach for improvement in schooling system particularly in Pakistan and generally in developing world because problems are mostly same in their nature and structure. It finds that development allocation fared poorly in the past for education development in the region, lower literacy rate strengthen feudalism and contributing to unskilled- or semi-skilled labour which is spreading poverty and inequality in the country. Above all social ill also spreads negative approach like street crime terrorism, slow and unstable economic growth. Weakened Governance, Poor Quality of Teachers & Managers needs to improve, Quality of curriculum, textbooks & exams, out of school children, steady dropouts, In-adequate financing, Gender discrimination’s, Poor monitoring & evaluation, Imbalance in primary, middle & secondary schools, Low Incentives and teacher’s manager tussles are the major obstacles of the schooling system which impacted as low literacy and poor quality. Above mentioned issues direly need to adopt an innovative approach to tackle all obstacle’s in decent manners and through coherent development planning, policies and practices within the political economy frame work due to growth and literacy nexuses in larger public interest to bring quality educations for all in Pakistan within due course of time.

Perverse incentives and the political economy of South African academic journal publishing

Academic publishing in South Africa attracts a state research incentive for the universities to which the authors are affiliated. The aim of this study was twofold: (1) to examine the composition of the research value chain and (2) to identify the effects of broken links within the chain. The methodology selected was a lived cultural economy study, which was constructed through incorporating dialogue with editors, authors and researchers in terms of my own experience as a journal editor, read through a political economy framework. The prime effect is to exclude journals, especially independent titles, from directly earning publishing incentives. The behaviour of universities in attracting this variable income is discussed in terms of rent-seeking which occurs when organisations and/or individuals leverage resources from state institutions. Firstly, this process commodifies research and its product, publication. Secondly, the value chain is incomplete as it is the journals that are funding publication rather than – in many cases – the research economy funding the journals. Thirdly, authors are seeking the rewards enabled by the incentive attached to measurement systems, rather than the incentive of impacting the discipline/s which they are addressing. Fourthly, the paper discuses some policyand institutional matters which impact the above and the relative costs between open access and subscription models. Editors, journals and publishers are the un- or underfunded conduits that enable the transfer of massive research subsidies to universities and authors, and, in the case of journals, editors’ voluntary work is the concealed link in the value chain enabling the national research economy.Significance:
 
 The South African scientific publishing economy is built on a foundation of clay: this economy distorts research impact and encourages universities and academics to commoditise output.

Network embeddedness as a dependence-balancing mechanism in developing markets: differential effects for channel partners with asymmetric dependencies

Channel relationships with dependence asymmetry, which are especially harmful to partners with dependence disadvantage, abound in developing markets. To help these dependence-disadvantaged parties find feasible solutions for dependence balancing, this study examines network embeddedness and its differential role in enforcing the counterpart’s relationship-specific investments (RSIs), thus leading to improved channel performance for both partners. Based on the political economy framework, we posit that a dependence-disadvantaged partner’s embeddedness in business and government networks entices its partner to commit more RSIs, which in turn improve its channel performance; conversely, such an effect is weaker for the dependence-advantaged partner. We also predict that under high dependence asymmetry, a dependence-disadvantaged partner’s embeddedness in the business network will exert a smaller effect, but its embeddedness in the government network will exert a larger effect. We collected dyadic survey data of buyer–supplier pairs in consumer product industries in China. In general, the results provide support for our predictions. The findings provide theoretical and managerial implications for partners in asymmetric channel relationships in developing markets.

The bumpy trajectory of performance-based financing for healthcare in Sierra Leone: agency, structure and frames shaping the policy process

BackgroundAs performance-based financing (PBF) has been increasingly implemented in low-income countries, a growing literature has developed, assessing its effectiveness and, more recently, focussing on the political dynamics of PBF introduction and implementation. This study contributes to the latter body of literature by exploring decision-making processes on PBF in Sierra Leone during the 2010–2017 period. Sierra Leone presents an interesting case because of the ‘start-stop-start’ trajectory of PBF.MethodsThe qualitative case study is based on a document review and 25 key informant interviews with national stakeholders and international actors. Documents and interviews were analysed based on a political economy framework focusing on actors and structure, but also making use of concepts drawn from interpretive policy analysis to look at frames.ResultsOur analysis describes the process of negotiation and re-negotiation of PBF in Sierra Leone, highlighting the role of different players, both internal and external, their ideas, capacity and power relations, and the shifting narratives around PBF. It is shown that external actors driving the debate make use of ‘frames’, both actual (i.e., defining the timing and pace of the discussions, the funding available, etc.) and metaphorical (i.e., how PBF is interpreted, defined and understood) to fit in and influence the debate. This is facilitated by the lack of capacity and resources in the fragile setting. Other strategies, such as ‘venue shopping’ are employed, though they may add to fragmentation in the volatile context.ConclusionsThe retrospective view of the study has an analytical advantage, but findings are also relevant to guide practice. Although power relations and rent-seeking issues are difficult to overcome in resource and capacity-constrained settings, more attention could be paid to other elements. In particular, adopting shared frames to ensure a common and inclusive understanding of technical concepts such as PBF may be useful to ensure the political sustainability of reforms. Also, the ‘actual frames’ which define negotiation and implementation should remain flexible, allowing for disrupting events (e.g., the Ebola epidemic in Sierra Leone) as well as for time to develop national capacity and ownership in order to ensure longer-term political support and better health system integration.

Socio-economic Issues in the Theory and Practice of Institutional Christianity

The article outlines the problem of the current crisis of institutional Christianity, which is developing against the backdrop of a systemic crisis of the world economy. In this context, the problems of reducing the mass Christian religiosity of the modern “developed” society, the marginalization of the Christian consciousness, as well as the attempts of the institutional Churches to offer an answer to the current socio-economic issues of the present are considered. The basis for the development of socio-economic teaching of the Roman-catholic theology is provided by a long historical tradition. Its emergence is due to the reaction of the Holy See to the “crisis of faith” associated with the genesis of industrial capitalism. This teaching substantially evolved in time – from classical political economy and trade-unionism through post-industrialism and neo-liberalism in the direction of neo-Keynesianism, while retaining the quite traditional terminological framework of classical political economy. An important place in this took the overcoming of “Catholic Modernism”, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, attempts at institutional reception of a number of phenomena that have arisen within the Church. Russian Orthodox theology passed a more complex and less consistent path in the field under investigation. The genesis and development of industrial capitalism had no real effect on the domestic theological discourse – two or three publications on this subject are an exception. In fact, the first approach to the problem turned out to be the “Outlines of the Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church”. The positive potential of its content is connected precisely with the beginning of the path from concept to teaching. Due to a number of reasons, as socio-religious and economic, and conceptual, a system of social initiatives of the ROC is now in the early stages of development.

Property Rights in an Entangled Political Economy

Abstract This paper outlines key applications of property rights theory from the standpoint of ‘entangled political economy,’ which conceptualises economic and political agents interacting within society. The entangled political economy framework stresses that property rights denote relationships between societal members, and that property rights are the subject of evolutionary change. The nature and role of property rights in an entangled political economy reinforces the ‘bundle of rights’ perspective, challenging notions of property rights that emphasise the primacy of ownership. Far from necessarily imperilling the integrity of a market-based economic order, the bundle orientation inherent in entangled political economy can accommodate extensive market activities grounded in robust property right protections.

Islam and ideology at the movies: Prototypes, stereotypes, and the political economy

Marketing controversial Islamic images in Western settings led recently to several deaths. Consumer researchers should examine the societal impact of such ideologically laden commercial representations. Our research analyses and interprets the stereotypes applied to Muslims in American motion pictures, within a political economic framework that incorporates notions of historic Western colonial/postcolonial perspectives.

Institutional arrangements of outgrower sugarcane production in Southern Africa

ABSTRACT Management models are needed that empower local communities to produce biofuel feedstock in a manner that drives rural development. Much can be learnt through the accumulated experiences of sugarcane outgrower schemes in southern Africa. Early schemes provided limited empowerment, but protected outgrowers from the risks of volatile sugar value chains. In later schemes, processing plants were responsible for all operations and simply paid dividends to participating farmers. More recent schemes offer full ownership, which comes with greater rewards and empowerment, but also exposure to risks. The underlying institutional structures of outgrower schemes largely dictate their performance, and thus the factors that affect their viability or collapse. To understand the different institutional arrangements of sugarcane outgrower schemes we undertake a comparative analysis of 13 schemes in southern Africa employing a political economy framework that uses the three key questions: ‘who owns what’, ‘who does what’, and ‘who gets what’.

Governing multisectoral action for health in low-income and middle-income countries: unpacking the problem and rising to the challenge

Multisectoral action is key to addressing many pressing global health challenges and critical for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, but to-date, understanding about how best to promote and support multisectoral...

Economic violence against women: Testimonies from the Women’s Court in Sarajevo

This article uses a feminist political economy framework to analyse economic violence against women in the context of the violent disintegration of Yugoslavia and the introduction of neoliberal regimes in its successor states from the late 1980s until 2015. The authors’ focus is on the following processes before, during and after the breakup: the wider social, political and economic context of Yugoslavia before the war, already marked by the introduction of orthodox neoliberal standards and practices and combined with nationalism; the period during the war, with escalation of conflict and growing nationalism; and the post-socialist transformation, marked by aggressive neoliberalism. The analysis is based on women’s testimonies given in preparation of (from 2011 until the end of 2014) and during the Women’s Court in Sarajevo in 2015. It points to the conclusion that orthodox neoliberal policy and privatization, intersecting with patriarchy, nationalism and conflict, induced economic violence against women in the region.