Political Economic Orientations Research Articles

Speculating on shale: Resource-making and the ‘politics of possibility’ in Poland and the UK

This paper focuses on the speculative character of knowledge and action in relation to subterranean resources, drawing on the curtailed histories of shale gas development in Poland and the UK. It adopts a political-economic orientation towards speculation rather than a narrowly financial one, seeking to understand the ‘politics of possibility’ associated with speculative resources. Specifically, we build on work in political geography to understand speculation as a form of productive ‘resonance’ replicating across epistemic, economic, and political domains. Thinking of speculation as resonance – as synchronous vibration across different areas of social life, stimulated by and intensifying uncertainty - offers a novel way of thinking about the possibilities of subterranean resources for forging political alignments. We show how speculation was integral to demonstrating the resource potential of shale in both Poland and the UK, and consider how this speculative character of shale subsequently infiltrated into economic and policy realms. Resonating across these domains, and amplifying epistemic uncertainties about shale, speculation produced a politics of possibility orientated towards ‘gambling’ on potential outcomes. By taking seriously the political possibilities of the uncertainties attached to subterranean resources, we extend the value of speculation as a concept for analysing the constitutive role of uncertainty in political-economic governance.

The Hansalim Life Movement and new cooperativism in South Korea

The concept of New Cooperativism (NC) marks a shift in thinking and practice among a growing number of academics and activists seeking to draw the global co-operative movement back to its roots in the values of mutual solidarity and resistance against oppression. Crucially, it moves the debate beyond economic arguments for co-operative models to introduce a more holistic perspective which explores the political, ecological, social, and ethical implications of more inclusive forms of co‑operation. Until now, however, the literature on NC has focused on its emergence in North America, Europe, and South America since the 1970s. This article argues that the Hansalim Life Movement shares many of the values and characteristics of NC. Hansalim’s growth into a large multi-stakeholder federation of producer and consumer co-operatives gives them unique insights into the opportunities and challenges of implementing NC values in practice. To demonstrate the alignment of Hansalim with the emerging concept of NC, I present a re-framing of NC across four dimensions which forms the basis of a brief outline of Hansalim’s values, structure, and activities. These are: purpose, ethic, political-economic orientation, and governance. I conclude by suggesting four lines of enquiry through which to enrich the concept of NC.

Liberal Democracy on the Edge? Anxieties in a Shifting Global (dis)order

The future of liberal democracy appears to be uncertain. This article develops a holistic approach to examine the prospects of liberal democracy by focusing on how three main regime types—that is, “established democratic regimes,” “hybrid regimes,” and “established authoritarian regimes”—interact with each other. We argue structural global political economy trends, which largely created the current authoritarian populist tide, remain strong despite signs of democratic renewal emerged with the recent new green Keynesian turn in established Western democracies, a more unified transatlantic response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and growing political-economic fragility of key hybrid regimes ruled by authoritarian populist leaders. Also, the resilience of various types of autocracies which co-exist and reinforce one another through economic linkages and political coalitions should not be underestimated, especially demonstrative effects of the Russia–China partnership. Both democratic and authoritarian forms of capitalism face serious problems of income and wealth inequality, raising challenges over “performance legitimacy” in both regime types. In this context, the performance and political-economic orientation of hybrid regimes will have a crucial bearing on the fortunes of liberal democracy on a global scale.

Formação do professor para a educação superior em eventos nacionais (2014-2016)

O presente artigo sobre formação do professor para a Educação Superior, se justifica pela relevância e protagonismo que esse processo tem, em um cenário de preocupação com a Educação Básica, decorrente das orientações político-econômicas das organizações multilaterais a que se submetem os países Latinos Americanos. Com o objetivo de analisar, por meio de pesquisa do tipo “Estado da Arte”, a produção científica que focaliza a formação de professores para a Educação Superior em cinco eventos da área de Educação no Brasil (ANPAE 2015, ANPEd 2015, ANPEd SUL 2014 e 2016 e EDUCERE 2015). Teve aportes teóricos de diversos autores, bem como documentos legais, como a LDB (1996) e o PNE (2014), entre outros, subsidiaram a análise dos artigos aprovados e publicados que discutiram a formação do professor para a Educação Superior. Os resultados indicam que a formação desse professor, ao estar pautada em conhecimentos técnicos e científicos e em conhecimentos de como se desenvolve o processo de ensino-aprendizagem, deve possibilitar uma formação que os prepare para realizarem análises críticas e reflexivas de sua prática e do próprio contexto em que atuam (Educação Superior). Reitera-se a importância dessas análises e de pesquisas para a proposição de subsídios para a formulação de políticas públicas voltadas para essa formação.

Migration Incorporation Regimes and Institutionalized Forms of Solidarity: Between Unconditional Institutional Solidarity and Welfare Chauvinism

Despite compelling literature, research has so far failed to provide substantive empirical evidence on the relationship between individual preferences on the inclusion of immigrants into institutionalized forms of solidarity and migration incorporation regimes. I argue that, apart from individual factors and welfare state generosity, citizenship models shape citizen’s attitudes on immigrant social rights. Concretely, I examine the effect of the civic and cultural dimensions of the models of citizenship relative to attitudes of unconditional institutional solidarity toward immigrants and welfare chauvinism. The results show that individual attitudes about welfare eligibility of migrants differ among sociodemographic characteristics, political economic orientations, and social depositions of deservingness but at the same time yield from the cultural barriers to the access of immigrants to the political community.

Albanian Parliament and Economic Concessions to Italy (1925-1928)

This work will address the following issues: 1-Discussions in Albanian Parliament about the economic situation in the country. Stand of Albanian Parliament on political-economic orientation of Albanian Government regarding Italy. Views of Albanian Parliament about Italian political system and experience of Italian administration in relation to further organization of Albanian state and economy. 2- Views and different groupings at Albanian Parliament and their stances regarding Italian-Albanian agreements for establishment of National Bank of Albania, loan from Italian company S.V.E.A and other economic concessions. 3- Stand of Albanian Parliament about level of practical efficiency of Italian-Albanian agreements and other economic concessions, problems occurred during their implementation and Parliament's approach about these problems. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n10p169

A Few Advantages of Economic Democracy

The aim of this article is to discuss some of the main advantages of an employeemanaged system: a labour productivity edge on capitalistic businesses, the suppression of external firm control, slower monopoly-building and softer competition, the eclipse of the paramount role of economics in social evolution and a reduced need for state intervention into the economy. The author's analysis sheds light on whether, and in what sense, economic democracy is a public good proper or just a "merit good". From the classification of cooperative as merit goods it follows that any government, regardless of political-economic orientation, should make it its task to support the growth of the democratic firm system by enforcing tax or credit benefits in its favour.

Divining Nuclear Intentions: A Review Essay

Although projections of nuclear proliferation abound, they rarely are founded on empirical research or guided by theory. Even fewer studies are informed by a comparative perspective. The two books under review—The Psychology of Nuclear Proliferation: Identity, Emotions, and Foreign Policy, by Jacques Hymans, and Nuclear Logics: Alternative Paths in East Asia and the Middle East, by Etel Solingen, are welcome exceptions to this general state of affairs, and represent the cutting edge of nonproliferation research. Both works challenge conventional conceptions of the sources of nuclear weapons decisions and offer new insights into why past predictions of rapid proliferation failed to materialize and why current prognoses about rampant proliferation are similarly flawed. While sharing a number of common features, including a focus on subsystemic determinants of national behavior, the books differ in their methodology, level of analysis, receptivity to multicausal explanations, and assumptions about decisionmaker rationality and the revolutionary nature of the decision. Where one author emphasizes the importance of the individual leader's national identity conception in determining a state's nuclear path, the other explains nuclear decisions primarily with regard to the political-economic orientation of the ruling coalition. Notwithstanding a tendency to overinterpret evidence, the books represent the best of contemporary social science research and provide compelling interpretations of nuclear proliferation dynamics of great relevance to scholars and policymakers alike.