Neoliberal Globalization Research Articles

On the True Men and Women, and Rebel Beetles: Utopia as Revolutionary Method and Practice in the Zapatista Tales of Subcomandante Marcos

In 1994, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) took up arms in Mexico against the daily oppressions and injustices faced by Indigenous Mexicans in neo-colonial political systems and juridical orders tailored to their discrimination and economic exploitation. The EZLN soon broadened its demands from local Indigenous Mexicans to encompass other socials groups oppressed by global neoliberalism. The mestizo spokesperson of the EZLN, Subcomandante Marcos, accordingly employed a comprehensive communication strategy fundamentally involving storytelling and myth-making. This paper will outline a revolutionary utopian method capable of informing anti-colonial practices emerging from Marcos’ stories, which ultimately envisage a world capable of holding other worlds by reinvigorating democracy and enriching our current conceptions of justice.

Who navigates the “elite” of communication journals? The participation of BRICS universities in top-ranked publications

Abstract Purpose Despite the increasing volume of research addressing the relevance of de-Westernizing Media Studies, we lack a comparative evaluation of the performance of Global South universities regarding their presence in the most prestigious domains within the field of Communication. Against this background, the article explores if and to what extent the publication of articles authored by BRICS-based scholars in top-ranked journals is restricted to a handful of academic institutions – making them a national “elite” authorized to engage in the mainstream intellectual debate. Design/methodology/approach We pose three questions: RQ1) To what extent is the academic output of BRICS countries in the field of Communication concentrated within a select few “top-level” institutions? RQ2) How are the research articles from the most productive universities distributed across the journal rankings comprising the SJR database? RQ3) What partnerships do institutions from BRICS countries engage in when producing research articles? Using data from the SciVal (Elsevier) and SJR (SCImago Journal Rank) platforms, the empirical study encompasses a set of articles published between 2012 and 2021. Findings Our findings reveal that South Africa, Russia, and Brazil had the highest concentration of academic production within a select few universities. The disparities among the most and least productive universities can be attributed to a lack of ambitious policies in terms of academic innovation. The contrast becomes more evident when we consider China’s performance – which has implemented a range of strategies to foster international partnerships with Western academic communities. Practical implications/social implications We contend that the demand for “de-Westernization” must go beyond a mere plea for increased numerical representation. The exclusion of perspectives or phenomena from developing regions hinders the progress of knowledge production itself. Once Social and Human Sciences traditionally occupy a peripheral position in terms of funding, it is as if Communication researchers based in the Global South were part of a “periphery of the periphery.” Originality/value The paper is relevant for enabling us to discuss Global South universities’ international insertion and the dynamics influencing the academic contributions of semi-peripheral communities. We also consider to what extent the SciVal and SJR metrics reinforce an academic rationale that upholds the mechanisms of neoliberal globalization and the standardization of the scholarly agenda.

Dismantling the Master’s House

While critical scholars have attempted to decenter internationalization, limited research has aimed to understand internationalization efforts in the context of the socio-historical particularities of the postcolonial condition. This paper takes a decolonial perspective in the study of internationalization, in light of the Eurocentric tendencies of modernity, whose major manifestation in higher education is neoliberal globalization. We unpack internationalization in the U.S. and examine how it is embedded in and reproduces neoliberalism, racism, and colonialism. Since decolonization is not merely deconstructive but also regenerative, we reconceive what it means to be international and recommend how internationalization can be deployed as a tool of decolonization, considering various possibilities for hopeful and ethical praxis. We identify promising practices to spark ongoing reflection and action about ways to contest coloniality/modernity and rethink mobility. This paper can benefit educators seeking to reclaim internationalization and [re]align it with an ethos of mutuality and practices geared at strengthening cooperation, rather than competition.

Geoeconomics geohistoricised

AbstractIntroducing a special commentary section focused on geoeconomics, this paper reviews why such commentary is especially timely given current world events and the break‐down in neoliberal globalisation. It thereby points to the geo‐historical importance of the call for critical geoeconomics made by Mallin and Sidaway (2023a), and also introduces the backgrounds of the five commentators on their article's key contributions.

Three waves of schooling marketization in urban China amid changing political economy since the 1990s

Schooling marketization is a global syndrome characterizing post-1980 societies. However, while many studies have examined the political economy and politics of schooling marketization in Western economies, China’s schooling marketization remains insufficiently understood. Moreover, the existing studies have the analytical tendency to fall into the trap of methodological nationalism, with an exclusive focus on the state restructuring under neoliberalism and neoliberal globalization, leading to schooling marketization being viewed as a static and locally homogeneous practice. This paper fills these gaps by developing a city-level and time-sensitive analysis of local practices of marketizing the urban schooling system in the post-reform age. Two cities in western China—Chengdu and Mianyang—are taken as cases for comparative analysis. We found three waves of schooling marketization in urban China that are driven by the changes in the political economy between the 1980s and 2010s. Through a cross-fertilization of the outward-looking approach to geographies of education and geographic political economy, we understand China’s schooling marketization as a state-mediated institutional transformation that is employed to serve the local economic restructuring/time-varying urban growth strategy, which is staged by the changing (inter)national political economy.

Urban Modeling in the Global South and Sustainable Socio-Territorial Development: Case of Puebla-San Andrés Cholula Urban Binomial, Mexico

To understand urbanization across the Global South, it is indispensable to consider situated heterogeneous urban situations shaped by global and local forces and their intersections. In the case of Mexico, the political and economic desire for globalization has extended beyond the great metropolis of Mexico City to mid-size cities triggering the formulation of their own urban strategies to become global. This paper explores the connections between neoliberal public policy, globalization, urban modeling, and socio-territorial sustainability in the territorial binomial of the city of Puebla and the municipality of San Andrés Cholula in the period of 2011–2017 and its current consequences, addressed by the local planning route map, and informed by the Orange Economy-guide of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), using relevant bibliographical sources, mapping, interviews of stakeholders, and fieldwork. The ultimate purpose of the research project described herein is to provide a multi-dimensional analysis of the development of the territorial situation of the Puebla-San Andrés Cholula-urban binomial, and of its current and potential future consequences, offering supporting information for its urban planning. The research results exposed here reveal urban modeling processes informed by the Global North urban globalization theory, development of global cities in the Global South, local socio-territorial dynamics characterized by economic and political interests imprinted in the public policy, and socio-territorial patterns inherited from the colonial past, resulting in socio-economic and racial discrimination, population displacements, real estate speculation, and risking ecological and environmental sustainability.

The Political Implications of Unequal Exchange: Towards a Common Agenda for Global Social Movements

ABSTRACT Unequal exchange in international trade lies at the crossroads of all the major contradictions of the current global capitalist system: class, spatial and ecological. Countering unequal exchange can offer the basis for a broad global social coalition demanding a new international economic and ecological order. It can unite the claims of social and ecological movements around a common agenda where global social justice meets global environmental justice. The objective conditions are provided by the common ground of concrete interests that binds together various political and social actors in the global South and North who are harmed by corporate neoliberal globalisation. Building the subjective conditions, however, requires overcoming theoretical reductionisms and political sectarianisms that contribute to the fragmentation of social struggles.

The Connection Between Neoliberal Globalisation and Authoritarian Populism in the US

This study delves into the growth trajectory of authoritarian populism in the United States, focusing on its surge during the Trump administration. By dissecting the phenomenon from three different perspectives - political, economic and cultural - the paper provides a holistic understanding of its overall impact on the American landscape. The paper not only highlights the impact of this wave of populism, but also explores possible future strategies and measures that the US government may adopt in response. Furthermore, this study extends its utility beyond the borders of the United States. The insights and recommendations presented in this paper can serve as an important blueprint in an era where populist sentiments are becoming increasingly prevalent across the globe. Countries around the world can develop strategies to mitigate potential threats and challenges as they grapple with similar populist tendencies. In essence, this study can serve as both a diagnostic tool for understanding the extent of the rise of authoritarian populism in the United States and as a guide for countries around the world aiming to navigate and respond to such political currents.

The Jersey of modernity: post-national masculinity and South Asian English Premier league football fans

The English Premier League (EPL) has sought to expand its consumer base globally over the last three decades, leading to the establishment of fanbases all over the world. South Asian football fans constitute today a significant proportion of all supporters of English football clubs. This has social and cultural effects in South Asia itself, where urban elites are starting to show affinity to football over cricket. South Asian EPL fans participate in a form of ‘post-national’ masculinity that confers them with status as ‘modern’ in the context of neoliberal globalisation. Through the structures of masculinity enabled by EPL fan culture, South Asian fans participate in cosmopolitan ‘global’ communities centred on the football club, contesting the exclusion from modernity that South Asia has been historically subjected to. South Asian EPL fans wearing their team’s jersey, in that sense, amounts to wearing ‘the jersey of modernity’.

How has the media's construction of a discourse of nationalism evolved? Critical discourse analysis of Korean sports nationalism through the FIFA World Cup

Drawing on Fairclough's critical discourse analysis, this study sheds light on sports nationalism and traces changes in the media's discursive construction of the Korean national football team over time by analyzing news articles from three different World Cups. Korean sports nationalism has evolved in complex ways and has been influenced by a combination of factors, including the colonial experience, initiatives by the former military government, the hosting of mega-sporting events, local professional leagues, and the globalization of athletes on the world stage. Given the multifaceted nature of Korean sports nationalism, this study aims to examine how it has changed in response to social transformations, particularly the impact of neoliberal globalization. The findings reveal that sports nationalism is often manifested in the terms of “fighting spirit” or “sacrifice” as a core national trait. However, it increasingly incorporates and embraces a new neoliberal meritocratic culture and subjectivity that foregrounds individual success on the world stage as a new form of nationalism in an era of accelerating globalized and commodified sports elitism.

Amin’s progressive internationalism

ABSTRACT In 2018, Samir Amin called for a ‘new wave of revival and progress’ which would replace the system of neoliberal globalisation which is to blame for leaving multiple, interlinked global crises. Five years after his death, this article aims to evaluate if his call has been heeded and how far the world is from a new wave of revival and progress. The article investigates the movement of ‘progressive internationalism’ - as a movement that opposes the perpetuation of the legacy of global imperlialism that has manifested in global power assymetry, producin structural inequality and poverty - as a possible response to Amin’s request. . The core research question is: ‘how far are we from realising Amin’s vision’. To do this, the article will also explore initiatives of the progressive internationalist movement with reference to south-south cooperation thorough the BRICS bloc, structural reform of the international system and the United Nations Security Council, and Active Non-Alignment, among other nascent initiatives.

Between the Bogside and boy bands: Pop music and place-based identities in Derry Girls

The British teen sitcom Derry Girls has been noted for its unique spatial and historical setting: the Northern Irish city of Derry in the 1990s. These coordinates furnish a number of intersecting transition narratives in which place-based identities are negotiated against the backdrop of the ‘Troubles’ in Northern Ireland as well as neo-liberal globalization and European integration. The role of pop music is of vital importance in narrating and structuring the teenaged protagonists’ identity formation processes. Through a recognizable mix of commercially successful pop, Eurodance and hip hop songs, the show inscribes the main characters’ experiences into a wider social fabric – one marked by post-ideological, post-nationalist and consumerist undertones. This social fabric is shown to be delineated by middle-class Whiteness, thereby reflecting the role of, in particular, Europop as the soundtrack of a (perceived) 1990s post-cold war liberal hegemony. The inclusionary and exclusionary aspects of western popular music are also shown to work in tandem with pre-Brexit nostalgia and the renegotiation of gendered power structures vis-à-vis local traditionalism. Overall, Derry Girls employs popular music in ways which foster accessibility for universalized adolescent transition narratives built around White cosmopolitanism.

Political economy of the ‘informal’ housing question: institutional-hybridity of the postcolonial state

In recent years, International Political Economy (IPE) scholars have increasingly turned their attention to cities. However, their primary focus has been on the role of a select few global ‘cities’ that regulate global flows of capital, goods, and services. Nonetheless, a significant gap in the IPE literature pertains to the limited exploration of how processes of neoliberal globalization are impacting and regulating the low-income ‘informal’ housing sector in cities located in the global South. To address this gap in the existing IPE literature, this paper critically analyzes the processes of formation and demolition of informal housing settlements against the backdrop of the neoliberal regime of accumulation. Informal housing settlements have been extensively examined by critical geographers and scholars in the field of urban studies. What distinguishes this paper is its unique contribution to the literature on IPE, that is, it utilizes the political economy of informal housing settlements as an entry point to critically analyze social ontology and the inherent contradictions of the postcolonial state. The paper argues that the relationship between informal housing settlements and the postcolonial state can be better understood through the lens of the ‘institutional hybridity.’ This concept refers to the fusion of contradictory socio-economic and institutional impulses within the postcolonial state, which aims to manage social reproduction and capitalist accumulation simultaneously. The inherent tension between social reproduction and accumulation manifests in the informal housing settlements in the form of a dialectic of ‘benevolence-violence.’ On one hand, the postcolonial state attempts to appear ‘benevolent’ towards marginalized groups by ‘allowing’ them to establish informal housing settlements through a multi-layered network of clientelism. On the other hand, the postcolonial state resorts to violent displacement of marginalized groups as soon as they pose obstacles to real estate-led capitalist accumulation. Thus, the paper contends that IPE scholars should carefully consider the political economy of informal housing settlements, as it provides captivating insights into the mechanisms through which the postcolonial state becomes subject to regulation and is pulled in different directions by the socio-economic forces of neoliberal globalization.

The Ideology of Social Traditionalism (Social Tradition)

The Ideology of Social Traditionalism (Social Tradition) scientifi c manifesto off ers a modern concept of traditionalism. Today, this line is based on the principles of “double” social solidarity: both between contemporaries (horizontal solidarity) and intergenerational (vertical solidarity). The idea of the fi rst type of solidarity has historically evolved against the background of the leftist thought. The second type of solidarity dates back to classical traditionalism. It insists on placing the priority on the historical heritage, traditional values and on the rejection of historical gaps in public life. According to the author, the relevance of social traditionalism (social tradition) is growing as the crisis of neoliberal globalism deepens and currently observed deglobalization processes accelerate. The opposition of the ideas of social justice and traditional values is one of the false alternatives imposed on the society. It emerged and is still maintained within the framework of the ideology of neoliberalism, which is now in a state of decay. The article highlights the common value basis of colonialism, Nazism and neoliberal globalism. A way out of the historical impasse is possible if two conditions are met: the neoliberal ideology must be rejected and the cultural and spiritual connection with the native tradition — authentic Christianity — must be restored. After the ideological paradigm and the socioeconomic model are changed, the synthesis of socialist and traditionalist ideas can take priority in the society. The right-wing traditionalism needs to be opposed to the left-wing social traditionalism, in which the ethics of justice comes fi rst. Instead of the classic triad “conservatism—liberalism—socialism”, the society will have to develop within another political triangle: “nationalism—socialism—traditionalism”. Social traditionalism assumes the equality of nations, peoples and cultures, aff irms their incomparability, incommensurability and uniqueness. It also advocates the society governed by the social justice and supports the overcoming of painful historical gaps in the life of each people. The author proceeds on the basis that “tradition is a set of ways to preserve the historical continuity based on endowing inheritance procedures with ethical meaning”. Tradition is a method of social and cultural construction rather than a subject of restoration. The basis of the Russian (Russian-Byzantine) tradition and identity can be defi ned using the well-known formula by Max Weber as follows: “Orthodox Ethics and the Spirit of Solidarity”.

Compradors of China’s Global Power: The Colonialization of Hungarian and Nicaraguan Academia through Anti-imperialist Tropes

Abstract Literature discussing imperialism and neo-colonial practices focuses on the alleged power of the West and/or the United States, as well as global neoliberalism. This article argues that neo-colonial knowledge production in the autocratizing regimes of Hungary and Nicaragua reflects the rising importance of China. It shows how both governments seek to set forth new schools of thought suiting their worldview. The People’s Republic of China serves as a narrative fix point for legitimizing dissociative diplomatic agendas via comprador academics supported by their government. In what is presented as changing global orders, China joins Russia as a new counterweight to the presupposed U.S. hegemonic and liberal interests. Besides advocating for new partners in the East, compradors colonializing academia argue for the distinctive needs of their respective nations represented by the government. Interviews, publications, and news reports allow one to reconstruct their colonialization efforts to support such nationalist narratives on China’s rise as a global power.

VISUAL CULTURAL PRACTICES OF POSTCOLONIAL ELITE SCHOOLS IN GLOBALIZING CIRCUMSTANCES

In this article the author reports on the matter of the contemporary management and conservation of histories in the visual domains of three postcolonial elite school sites: Old Cloisters in Barbados, Rippon College in India, and Straits School in Singapore. These schools form part of a 5-year, 9-country study of postcolonial elite schools in globalizing circumstances—a flash point of articulation between these schools and profound change. The article turns on this fundamental fact: that these schools, which are the products of societies marked historically by British colonial and imperial encounters of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and the first half of the twentieth, are now driven forward by new energies associated with marketization, neoliberalism and globalization as these countries lurch forward unevenly towards a postdevelopmental era. This turn towards neoliberal globalization has precipitated radically new needs, interests, desires, capacities and competitive logics among the middle class and upwardly mobile young and their parents in each of these societies that then press powerfully onto these elite schools, and their cultivated pasts as they reside in school anthems, flags, emblems, banners and rituals of assembly, formal dress and decorum. All of this is taking place in the glow of digitalization as these schools increasingly move online locating themselves in photo and video-sharing websites such as YouTube, Facebook and Flicker as well as websites that each individual school is creating to consecrate school heritage. In what follows, then, the author calls attention to the theoretical significance and practical dimensions of the work that these select schools are doing on their rich heritages and historical archives in response to the new demands of globalization and transforming educational markets.

Partisans and Participants: Democracy, New Media, and Nigerian Diaspora in New Zealand

Abstract This article argues that in the era of neo-liberal globalization there has been intensification in the movement of goods, people, and capital across national boundaries. Our ethnographic studies of Nigerian immigrants in New Zealand point to the dispersal of Africans with very active partisan roles in their homeland democratic developments. This African transnationalism, as will be seen in the case of Nigeria, is made possible and sustained by developments and transformations in the media where today new Internet-based media enable Africans abroad to play a central, partisan, and participatory role in democratic developments in the same way as those residing on the continent. The article will also argue that through the unfolding mediation new terms and acts of citizenship have been imposed on transmigrant Africans.

The journey of subalternity in Gayatri Spivak’s work: Its sociological relevance

This article explores Gayatri Spivak’s journey of subalternity, demonstrating the empirical and sociological salience of this category beyond its theoretical and epistemic features, by highlighting its potential for increasing our understanding of society and bringing about social change. This argument contests assumptions in the literature about an epistemic/empirical fracture in Spivak’s work, recasting her theoretical frameworks as sociologically relevant. Moreover, it demonstrates that this sociological reading, although it goes ‘against the grain’ of Spivak’s own reticence about understanding subalternity sociologically, is well-founded: the theoretical-epistemic aspects of Spivak’s subalternity contribute to analyses about the situation of subaltern groups under colonialism and neoliberal globalisation and the means by which that subordination can be challenged. This illustrates that her conceptions of subalternity maintain sociological specificity vis-a-vis vague characterisations of subordination (e.g. oppression). Spivak’s later reflections on subalternity then grapple with the sociological deadlocks of her early approach: the disentanglement between subalternity and class exploitation. Her work thus delineates an explanatory matrix, interweaving sociological, philosophical and literary tools to explore entangled aspects of the subaltern condition. This systematic reading of Spivak’s approach expands and contests current scholarship, highlighting its sociologically compelling aspects and indicating the analytical and transformative potential of her matrix for future sociological debates on subalternity.

Exposing Colonial and Imperial Roots in Neoliberal Globalization of BC K-12 International Education System

With the rise of British Columbia (BC) kindergarten to Grade 12 (K–12) international education (formerly known as onshore schools) and the BC Offshore School Program, the business of international students is no longer limited to higher education. Working from a decolonizing framework, this study argues that the ever-changing, complex global system of international education in the context of BC’s public education system is a continuing form of imperialism and colonialism working under the guise of neoliberal globalization and the knowledge-based economy. Through a critical review of the current development of BC public schools’ K–12 international education, this study investigates how the shift from public schools dependent on shrinking government expenditure to relying on market-driven funding mechanisms has enormous implications on the way we think about education and the values that underpin educational endeavours.

Barcelona, Naples and Salonika: Ethnic and Civic Nationalism in Three Mediterranean Port Cities (1888–1915)

How far is port cities’ cosmopolitan inclination reflected in the type of nationalism prevailing in the surrounding area or region? How do these relationships change in different timeframes, one determined by nationalist modernization, the other by neoliberal globalization? This article attempts to respond to this question by looking at three Northern Mediterranean port cities (Barcelona, Naples, and Salonica) in two different time settings: the advent of the centralizing nation-state preceding WW1 and the advent of free-market deregulation policies adopted worldwide since the 1980s. It does so by adapting a new critical reading of Hans Kohn’s dichotomy on civic/ethnic nationalism—and extending it to the realm of culture in an age of deep global transformations.