Neoliberal Trade Policies Research Articles

OECD Ülkeleri Örneğinde Türkiye’nin İhracat Analizi: 1982Q1 ve 2021Q1

International economics is a field that primarily examines the liberalization of trade and its impact on a country’s gross domestic product (GDP). The trade policies in the World economy, specifically Türkiye as a developing economy, have experienced different cycles since the 1980s, and Türkiye has been following liberal trade policies in an attempt to overcome instabilities in its economy since 24 January 1980. In particular, the long-term, including, the 1994, 2001, 2018 currency crises in Türkiye, the 1997 Asia, the 2007-2009 global financial crisis, and the 2020-2022 Covid 19 global recession, further increases significance of the analysis. This article specifically explores the effects of neo-liberal trade policies on Türkiye and its primary export market, the OECD countries. In particular, the impact of changes in the OECD Countries’ GDP on Turkish exports is analyzed in relation to the Terms of Trade (TOT) and foreign exchange (FX) volatility of the Turkish Lira through Auto Regressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) method. The results reveal that Türkiye’s exports follow a statistically significant correlation with OECD’s GDP and FX volatility but not with the TOT for the period between 1982Q1 to 2021Q1. However, the lagged variables evaluated by the ADRL method indicate that five periods of lagging Turkish exports have a statistically significant relationship with two periods of lagging GDP of OECD, and one period of lagging FX, as well as with one period of lagging TOT. This article also offers valuable insights into the impact of exceptional events like COVID-19 pandemic on national economies, thus findings presented in this paper can help governments and policy makers predict potential implications of other extraordinary circumstances or global disasters and make informed decisions to mitigate their impact on the national economy. This is a long term analysis of neoliberal FX policies applied in Türkiye.

From Hyper-Globalization to Global Value Chains Decoupling: Withering Global Trade Governance?

While the 1990s and early 2000s were seen as a golden age for Global Value Chains, the 2010s have witnessed a series of crisis that shacked the political and institutional foundations of global trade.  After years of neo-liberal trade policies, trend is now towards neo-realist mercantilism and trade politics. The COVID-19 pandemics and the rise of geopolitical tensions are redefining and perhaps reversing what have been the drivers of world trade since the end of the Cold War in 1989. Geopolitical and institutional uncertainties increase the chance of unpredictable or unforeseen event disrupting entire international segments of the value chain, with potentially extreme consequences. When fat-tailed black-swans run around like headless chickens, disruptions are unpredictable. Yet, understanding the main changes affecting the geo-politics of trade and the possibilities of safeguarding a functional global trade governance is expected to reduce the risks and help future managers preparing for new business paradigms. 

The Architecture of the Metacity: Land Use Change, Patch Dynamics and Urban Form in Chiang Mai, Thailand

This essay analyzes the spatial and temporal dynamics which have emerged from the rapid development of Chiang Mai, Thailand over the last four decades. Modern urbanization since the 1980s in the previously remote Chiang Mai-Lamphun Valley has coincided with digital and financial globalization, neo-liberal governance, and the articulation of a new geological era of the Anthropocene based on evidence of human induced climate change. This time frame serves as a lens to theorize the architecture of the “metacity”, a new urban form and new form of urban practice responding to the demands of global digital financial networks and neo-liberal trade policies, but grounded in the ecology and life worlds of particular localities. The metacity appears in Chiang Mai within the interstices of a particularly fragmented rural/urban mix within a self-organized rather than plan-controlled built environment. The entire valley has been the site of intensive inhabitation for centuries, and recently urbanized, yet is spatially heterogeneous, extensive and patchy rather than ordered, bounded and uniform. The resulting landscape is marked by a disjunction between a feudal wet-rice cultivation land tenure structure overlaid with a market-based typology of urban real estate products with little enforcement of land use controls. The essay begins with theorizing the form of the metacity, continues with a description of the Chiang Mai case study, and concludes with a general assessment of the need to create a new form of metacity urban practice. A metacity design practice would re-conceptualize urban theories and forms by inking architectural and ecological thinking with inclusive social practices, enhanced by new digitally-enhanced urban imaginaries and new representational tools of mapping, modeling and design.

Biblical literacy and transnational Mayan liberation movements

The Zapatista and other Mayan movements in Mexico and Guatemala are demanding autonomy and respect for indigenous cultures. Still struggling for land-rights lost during colonialism and now suffering from neo-liberal trade policies, Mayan communities have creatively appropriated Christian doctrine to deal with their suffering. This paper examines the central role of the Bible in the mobilisation of Mayan communities where the majority of members identify themselves as Christian as well as Mayan. Revisiting the period of Yoruba identity formation and the Yoruba anti-slavery struggle in the 1800s will help illuminate the role of Christianity in contemporary liberation movements. In both cases, Christianity primarily impacted marginalised populations suffering the effects of colonialism. The scriptures have helped undermine colonial relationships as well as internal hierarchies within indigenous societies. Specifically, Biblical literacy has led to broader identifications across multiple dialects and has given women and lower classes greater access to religious doctrine.

Making Migration Policy: Reflections on the Philippines' Bilateral Labor Agreements

This article discusses the changing influences on migration that destination states of migrant workers are exerting through bilateral labor agreements. As neoliberal trade policies have become more common across the Asia‐Pacific, labor agreements have proliferated as well. Both bilateral and regional free trade agreements are now in place or under negotiation across the region. Likewise, states are engaging in labor relations liberalization through bilateral agreements, particularly those concluded between states with labor surpluses and others with labor shortfalls. Within these bilateral frameworks, new targeted migrant schemes have been introduced to expedite the process of getting workers to where they are needed. Workers' welfare has also been a hallmark of such agreements. This article will analyze several cases of agreements between the Philippines and migrant worker destination states in an attempt to find a model for bilateral labor agreements. The model could then be used to entice destination states hitherto reluctant to forge bilateral labor agreements into engagement with the Philippines on the issue. This research fills a void in the literature in regard to the structure and content of completed bilateral labor agreements between states. Although case studies from the Philippines will be used, it is expected that analysis and conclusions drawn will have wide regional applicability.

Moved to act: communication supporting HIV social movements to achieve inclusive social change

Social movements have generated interest in development circles since the mid-1990s as relatively independent expressions of civil society, mobilising people to set their own development priorities and agendas for issues as diverse as water privatisation, neo-liberal trade policies, the rights of women and indigenous peoples, and access to HIV anti-retroviral treatment. In the case of HIV and AIDS, independent civil-society initiative has been key to successful responses. Social movements of people living with HIV and AIDS, gay men, women, sex workers, and people who inject drugs have developed innovative institutions and responses to HIV and AIDS, and organised against stigma and discrimination. By bringing people together and advocating effectively, social movements have amplified voices of people most affected by HIV, enabling them to influence governments and decision makers.

Introduction

Introduction AnnArthur LarabeeVersluis We launch our second year of the Journal for the Study of Radicalism with an issue devoted primarily to radicalism and ecological movements. Although ecological movements have often provided sweeping criticisms of and alternatives to the technological projects associated with human advancement, they are often overlooked in the histories of radicalism, which tend to emphasize anti-imperial and labor struggles. Indeed, those who critique human supremacy and insist on the intrinsic value of nature not infrequently have been disregarded as dreamers who ignore the realities of economic, political, and social conditions. At the same time, the law enforcement arms of many governments inflate the threat of radical environmentalist groups, especially those engaged in direct action and sabotage. The political landscape for environmentalist groups like Earth First! has changed because the 9/11 attacks provoked greater intolerance of any dissent, much less violence, even if solely directed at physical property. The authors in this issue discuss the role of such movements in a time of deep suspicion and a rapid expansion of capitalism and neo-liberal trade policies that have severe consequences for the world's land, water, and air, and the living beings that reside there. The two opening articles explore the theoretical and spiritual underpinnings of radical ecology, especially the perceived separation of humans from nonhuman nature. The leading philosopher in the field of ecology, Mick Smith argues that radical ecology's ethico-political stance is a fundamental critique of human sovereignty, but that an ethical relationship between humans and nonhumans must continue to acknowledge that they have both separate and "co-constitutive" histories. Bron Taylor discusses this relationship through a survey of environmentalist discourses that sacralize nature through "a metaphysics of interrelatedness," tracing some of the intellectual origins of contemporary radical ecology. Both authors emphasize the values of diversity and freedom in the relationship between humans and nature, which contrast with techno-rationalist and monotheistic worldviews that limit possibilities and justify exploitation. [End Page vii] Verity Burgmann and Miroslav Mareš examine the intersections between radical environmentalism and other social movements in specific historical moments. Contributing to a growing body of work on labor and environmentalism, Burgmann details the "green bans" movement—in which construction workers and other laborers refused to participate in environmentally damaging building projects—which in turn influenced Petra Kelly's formation of the Green Party in Australia. Miroslav Mareš surveys the emergence of radical ecological groups and figures in post-Soviet Eastern Europe, showing that radical ecology took root and even flourished fairly widely in the wake of the Soviet Union's collapse. We also include in this issue two articles on the theme of terrorism. The first, by DeMond Miller, Jason Rivera, and Joel Yelin, analyzes the contemporary legal status and rhetoric surrounding ecoterrorism, and concludes that the rhetorical use of the term "terrorism" is in many such cases stretched too far. The second, by Martin Miller, develops this theme in a different direction, focusing on the largely overlooked significance of state-sponsored terrorism in relation to recent international rhetorical and legal practices. There was a profusion of terrorological books in the early twenty-first century, but relatively few dealt with the kinds of subjects analyzed here. Our interview this issue is of John Zerzan, an influential primitivist philosopher whose books and articles have been of particular import for green anarchist and related ecological movements. The interview includes his observations on the intellectual history and origins of the primitivist movement, and reflections on such themes as the emergence of ecological movements out of the remains of the conventional Left. This issue represents a shift for the journal, as we are now including more than one theme at a time, and expect that these articles will inaugurate continuing discussions. We have been delighted with the many articles on these topics, and in fact are already planning another issue featuring ecological radicalism, in addition to an issue on historical memory. Other future topics will include Christian radicalism as well as international dimensions of radicalism, and we certainly expect to offer more articles on terrorism and what Martin Miller terms "terrorology." Including several themes per issue, and continuing...