Economic Political Power Research Articles

Institutional Topography: A Review of Subnational Institutions

Research on subnational institutions is largely motivated by the observation that formal and informal institutions within countries are unevenly configured over geographical space. Although diverse, this relatively nascent body of work has yet to explicate firm activity across subnational locales that exhibit institutional dissimilarity and isomorphism with both proximate and distant centers of political-economic power. To characterize firm activity over such spatially continuous institutional landscapes within countries, we synthesize insights from the subnational institutions literature by introducing a topography framework with its characteristic dimensions comprised of (1) polycentricity, (2) elevation, and (3) slope. We discuss theoretical contributions from using this framework to review 92 articles in the period 1999 to 2024 from 24 journals before concluding with directions for future research. This work integrates knowledge on subnational institutions across management sub-fields, including, but not limited to, international business, strategic management, and entrepreneurship.

Neoliberalism, colonialism, and systemic barriers to citizen participation in environmental assessment processes in Latin America: The case of Puerto Rico

The need for greater citizen participation in EIA is well established, as are the numerous barriers to such participation. Yet there are still important gaps in understanding what political-economic power relations undermine participation. In particular, there are few studies linking (neo)colonialism, neoliberalism and austerity to EIA governance and citizen participation. Moreover, there are comparatively fewer studies of EIA from Latin America, and even less from the Caribbean. In this paper, we contribute to filling these two gaps by studying the connections between structural forms of power of colonial-neoliberal governance, and the experiences of EIA participation in the Caribbean island-nation of Puerto Rico. Despite having been a pioneer in EIA implementation, there are no English-language studies focused on Puerto Rico's EIA process. We find strong limitations to citizen participation in EIA, including lack of access to information, pro-forma participation for previously-made decisions, favoring of private economic interests over sustainability and justice, and a legal framework restricting participation and environmental protection. We argue that these limitations are produced through the colonial neoliberal transformations of environmental governance in Puerto Rico, in particular: policies of extreme deregulation and austerity, a permanent state of emergency and exception, and a highly corrupt corporatocracy.

The (geo)politics of controlling shareholders

Abstract In this Article, I extend the analysis of controlling shareholders typically reflected in corporate governance scholarship—which is fundamentally framed in terms of shareholder wealth creation and diversion at the behest of the controller—to the increasing (geo)political significance of firms with controlling shareholders. This effort requires shifting the unit of analysis to the fusion of political-economic power inherent in corporate control and examining the implications of this fusion beyond the boundaries of the firm itself. I illustrate the approach by analyzing examples from a variety of new and old corporate capitalist systems operating globally today, and by surveying numerous policy domains in which firms with controlling shareholders are key protagonists: national security and economic sanctions, stock exchange competition, corporate influence on domestic political systems, and ESG. Expanding the lens through which controlling shareholders are viewed sheds light on their considerable influence in largely unexplored realms of wideranging geostrategic and political importance.

What do private providers of home care want? An analytical framework

ABSTRACT Private for-profit home care providers are key participants in European long-term care regimes. Yet, their policy preferences toward market making and market development remain under-researched. We present an analytical framework that identifies and explains those preferences. It outlines three key types of policies that shape home care markets: regulatory, financial and labour policies. We illustrate private providers’ views on those policies by reference to Ireland’s home care regime. Irish home care is a compelling case for this study. A major package of regulatory reforms is currently being introduced and private providers have outlined clear preferences about it. Our paper is based on interviews with 14 leading individuals involved in the home care sector. We find and explain how private providers wish to increase regulation over their activities; to split purchaser and provider roles; to reduce private forms of financing; and to expand the pool of labour available to them. We discuss how those preferences shed light on the political economic power dynamics that shape the Irish care regime. Our analytical framework may be applicable to other welfare markets at different stages of development and in other institutional contexts.

The Relations of Economic-Political Power to the Development of Digital Economy in Asia

The relationship between the two is intricate, and this includes how it affects the development of the digital economy. The expansion of the digital economy is performing well throughout Asia. However, very few people have examined it from the viewpoint of political economy. This study focuses on examining the political-economic interactions that take place as Asia's digital economy grows. With library research, the research method takes a descriptive qualitative approach. Political economy analysis was used to conduct the analysis, and it was found that while other Asian nations lack political strength, some of them can to create ecosystems and maintain control of their national digital economies. Therefore, depending on the current political and economic forces, there are differences in several of nations.

Finance capital and the perils of political disintegration: The crisis of Weimar democracy revisited

ConstellationsEarly View ORIGINAL ARTICLE Finance capital and the perils of political disintegration: The crisis of Weimar democracy revisited Kyong-Min Son, Corresponding Author Kyong-Min Son kmson@udel.edu University of Delaware Correspondence Kyong-Min Son, University of Delaware, 347 Smith Hall, 18 Amstel Avenue, Newark, DE 19716. Email: kmson@udel.eduSearch for more papers by this author Kyong-Min Son, Corresponding Author Kyong-Min Son kmson@udel.edu University of Delaware Correspondence Kyong-Min Son, University of Delaware, 347 Smith Hall, 18 Amstel Avenue, Newark, DE 19716. Email: kmson@udel.eduSearch for more papers by this author First published: 24 April 2023 https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8675.12672Read the full textAboutRelatedInformationPDFPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessClose modalShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Early ViewOnline Version of Record before inclusion in an issue RelatedInformation RecommendedTHE POLITICAL ECONOMIC POWER OF FINANCE CAPITAL AND URBAN FISCAL CRISIS: Cleveland's Default, 1978Davita Silfen Glasberg, Journal of Urban AffairsDemocracy and Political PhilosophyRyan K. Balot, The Greek Polis and the Invention of Democracy: A Politico‐cultural Transformation and Its Interpretations, [1]Informational Politics and the Crisis of DemocracyThe Power of Identity, [1]An Obituary for the Third Way: The Financial Crisis and Social Democracy in EuropeMAGNUS RYNER, The Political QuarterlyPolitical Philosophy: Liberalism and DemocracyMill, [1]

Globalization of Livelihood: Weakening of Caste-based Labor Regime of the Musahars

Three central concerns motivated the authors to write this paper: first, to investigate how and why traditional livelihood strategies have been changing among the Musahars; second, to examine the local impacts of the globalization of labor and livelihood; and third, to look at the socio-cultural landscapes ofcaste-based occupations, and discrimination of the Musahar in central Tarai. The distribution of political-economic power in caste-based society is inherently unequal because caste base livelihood occupations generate unequal access to resources. More specifically, social, cultural, economic, and political relations in everyday life in multi-caste society have been changing. The rapid weakening and demise of pre-capitalist organizations of labor, commodity production, and reinvestment have led to a rapid diversification of modes of generation of livelihood at the household level. The large-scale migration from Tarai to India, from rural to urban areas and the international labor market maximizes livelihood opportunities of marginalized Musahars. They are broadly free to adopt multiple livelihood strategies but the constraints are again skill, economy, empowerment, and human capital. The second argument of the paper is globalization process, in the case of the Musahars, not only offers multiple options of livelihood ina trans-national free-market situation but also changes in the nature of the labour regime, such as widening wage disparity, increasing contractualization of work, skill-based segregation of work, the commodification of labor and body. In an era of globalization, the Musahars of Siraha internalized opportunities of migration, cultural campaigning to defend local identity, and changes in traditional occupation and social relations as positive impacts.

Warburg’s Mnemosyne Atlas as another Iconoclastic Way

There are other forms of iconoclasm besides the destruction of idols. For example, an iconoclast can be considered one who, instead of eliminating a deified image, reveals the trick of a magician. The manipulator distracts attention with the gesture of one hand while the other acts. This action affects everyone when it is driven by political-economic power. Warburg’s Mnemosyne Atlas aims to eliminate magic and reveal the hidden plot that seeks to dominate society. His first panel already announces this: at the top, a map of the zodiac constellations; in the middle, Europe; and below, a genealogical tree of the Medici-Tornabuoni banking family. The Renaissance elites accumulate wealth and influence because it is seemingly dictated by the stars from birth. It is an illusion they display on the roofs of their palaces in the same way that a war is justified by a prophecy. There are some coincidences between Giordano Bruno, Aby Warburg and Vilém Flusser, in their respective ways to explain the dual role of image: both as a weapon of propaganda and as a device to disclose the truth. This article aims to reveal two different types of montages: the persuasive one, controlled by people in power through the ages, which is dismantled by the other, the photographic Warburg Atlas. A mirror broken into fragments, therefore, breaks the mirage: a new iconoclastic way.

Thus spoke Zuckerberg: Journalistic discourse, executive personae, and the personalization of tech industry power

As technology chief executive officers have become public figures, their personae operate as loci for journalistic discourse about the intersection of moral responsibilities, regulation, and political-economic power of the tech industry. They possess a power often construed as beyond the reach of politics or civil society to address. This study considers how the ubiquity of tech power has become a kind of common sense in journalistic discourse, specifically looking at news, commentary, and analysis that has circulated around Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg since 2016, arguing that even as critiques of Zuckerberg’s moral fitness and leadership capacity proliferate, they construct the epistemic bounds within which tech industry power over American public life is understood as legitimate, even as journalists and commentators question certain executives’ ability to wield the tech industry’s infrastructural and cultural power.

Contested transition? Exploring the politics and process of regional energy planning in Indonesia

Transitioning to low carbon energy involves policies, institutions, and actors across different scales of governance. Indonesia's aspiration for a transition to low carbon energy is occurring in the dynamics of the re-scaling of environmental governance through decentralization processes. This article examines the interplays of actors at the national and provincial levels in negotiating energy futures as the energy planning processes unfold on the ground and identifies context specific factors that shape the outcomes. Further, it investigates how the regulatory framework and institutional arrangements for energy transition planning could not only generate obstacles for renewable energy transition but also open opportunities for actions. It is based on interviews with stakeholders at national and subnational levels, combined with the analysis of policy documents, studies, and relevant reports. The findings reveal emerging spaces for local actions amid constraining regulatory and institutional fields through the process of regional energy plan development. However, the ability of sub-national actors to seize these spaces is influenced by several factors, most notably political leadership, civil society engagement, political economic structure and power relations. These in-depth insights from Indonesia have wider implications for understanding the multi-scalar dynamics of energy transitions and provide useful policy recommendations for engaging subnational actors in the transition process.

Localization and mainstream emergence of hip-hop music in China: a critical transculturalism perspective

Hip-hop culture has evolved into a global phenomenon, attracting extensive academic research on its adaptation and localization in different societies. However, most studies have either neglected the influence of political economic power on hybridization or have overestimated the rationality of the artists in hip-hop culture. This study adopted critical transculturalism theory to shed light on the agency and power relations involved in the localization and mainstream emergence of Chinese hip-hop music from both longitudinal and comparative perspectives. The findings, which are based on qualitative content analysis and critical discourse analysis of news articles published in the three golden years (2008, 2010, and 2017) of the development of Chinese hip-hop music, suggest that whereas cultural and political factors were influential on both the localization and mainstream emergence processes, economic factors played a greater role in mainstream emergence. The enhancement of literacy in professional knowledge aroused public interest, and the use of symbolic hybridity created a role model for underground rappers and attracted social attention. Both these factors helped Chinese hip-hop music enter the mainstream industry. The idea of symbolic hybridity proposed in this study, which provides a mesolevel perspective, is worth further research.

The Political Economy of the Weinstein Scandal

ABSTRACT The scandal surrounding Hollywood mogul and convicted rapist Harvey Weinstein has put gender-based violence (GBV) in the global media spotlight, opening up a wider public conversation about issues of sexual consent, power, and gender in the United States and beyond. In this article, we turn attention to the specific process in which systematic wrongdoing is made public and accountable. How was Weinstein’s abuse made into a matter of public record after being kept private for so long? And how did this snowball into something bigger? We argue that we cannot satisfactorily address these questions without a feminist global political economy (GPE) lens. Specifically, we develop a feminist GPE framework for analysing how GBV is made public or not in the form of scandal. This brings attention to how GBV, including sexual violence in the workplace, is structural, uneven, and constitutive of the global economy; and how scandals are produced through (political economic) power struggles to make public and define wrongdoing. We then apply this framework to analyse the Weinstein scandal and some of its implications. The article’s contribution is twofold: a framework for analysing scandals—including GBV in the workplace—and a feminist GPE account of the Weinstein scandal.

Do politically connected, economically powerful firms comply with labor laws in China?

PurposeThis study investigates, from a resource dependence perspective, the effects of domestic private firms' political connections and economic power on their labor law compliance in China.Design/methodology/approachThis study used data from a large-scale nationwide survey on Chinese domestic private firms, the Chinese Private Enterprise Survey collected from 2004 to 2012, to examine factors of interest that affect firms' compliance to labor laws. Hypotheses were tested using OLS regression models with robust standard errors.FindingsThe results indicate that domestic private firms' institutional political connections specified by the presence of a union or a Chinese Communist Party committee is positively related to firms' labor law compliance, and firm owners' formal political connections indicated by their membership in the People's Congress or the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference have a somewhat negative effect. The post-hoc analysis shows that firm owners' political representation at the county and city levels is negatively related with labor law compliance, while the political representation at the national level is positively related to labor law compliance. Moreover, the economic power of a domestic private firm is related positively to its labor law compliance. Finally, although the authors did not find evidence that the 2008 Labor Contract Law increased labor contract coverage, it did increase pension coverage after 2008.Research limitations/implicationsThe present study reveals a more refined relationship between domestic private firm owners’ political connections and the degree of labor law compliance. It also demonstrates that the economic power of domestic private firms has a positive effect on their labor law compliance. This implies the importance of the contribution of domestic private firms to economic and social development in China, warranting continued support of the development of the private sector in China.Originality/valueThis study adds to the sparse literature on the determinants of domestic private firms' labor law compliance in China. It also sheds light on whether political connections and the rising economic power of Chinese domestic private firms influence their compliance with labor laws.

Key challenges to the corporate biosphere stewardship research program: inequity, reification, and stakeholder commensurability

Non-Technical Summary Research on “corporate biosphere stewardship” and the related concept of “keystone actor” has proliferated in recent years. We scrutinize the program focusing on issues and assumptions associated with inequality, naturalizing social processes, or reification, and characterizing corporations as equivalent stakeholders in sustainable development with other actors and organizations. As a result, we argue the program does not promote the stated claim of transformative change for sustainability. We suggest that the research program should develop a deeper analysis of social dynamics, forces, and structures, based in social theory, particularly sociological work, which can help reveal common taken for granted assumptions. Technical Summary We highlight important assumptions associated with the research program in sustainability science developed around “corporate biosphere stewardship” and the promise of “science-business initiatives.” In doing so, we interrogate a central concept in this research, “keystone actors.” We analyze the program based on associated research outputs and communications, focusing on three key challenges 1) inequities related to the concentration of political-economic power 2) concerns with naturalizing social processes, or reification, and 3) the limitations of characterizing corporations as commensurable stakeholders in sustainable development. This research program has revealed some important conditions and dynamics in relation to consolidation and concentration in global industries. However, it has been limited by insufficient integration of knowledge from social science, particularly sociology. Thus, the approach tends to undertheorize social dynamics, processes, and structures. Despite being framed as an effort at “improving the prospects for transformative change,” the implications, outcomes, and recommendations that emerge from this research program may inadvertently promote increased control and power of elite actors by presenting an ostensible inevitability of corporate dominance for bringing about social welfare and sustainability. We suggest greater attention to social structural dynamics, and particularly social struggles and social movements, when considering the potential for transformational change for sustainability.

Business improvement areas and the socio-cultural power of lobbying: Imposing market interests to affordable housing development

While studies have shown that Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) manage and control their physical urban spaces to generate local economic growth, little work has examined how these organizations lobby for their market interests during key decision-making processes. Drawing from the pragmatic sociology of critique, this paper develops a theoretical framework to explain how political-economic power is socio-culturally encoded during local government decision-making processes. Socio-cultural power is defined through two interrelated processes: (1) interactional settings where social actors practice their critical capacity by drawing upon socio-historically created moral orders and (2) the extent to which institutional experts limit laypersons' critical capacity and successfully construct local realities to advance their agendas. This framework is applied to London, Ontario's Old East Village to show how the local BIA influenced two separate affordable housing development plans. Based on interviews, participant observation, and document analysis, the findings show that the Old East Village BIA strategically framed and co-opted community critiques of these developments in a way that justified their own market interests (more feet on the street) over the community's civic interests (the provision of affordable housing). This paper extends the BIA literature by demonstrating BIA influence over affordable housing development, local matters that are outside the purview of their commercial jurisdiction.

Remix’s retreat? Content moderation, copyright law and mashup music

Many online media platforms currently utilise algorithmically driven content moderation to prevent copyright infringement. This article explores content moderation’s effect on mashup music – a form of remix which relies primarily on the unauthorised combining of pre-existing, recognisable recordings. Drawing on interviews ( n = 30) and an online survey ( n = 92) with mashup producers, we show that content moderation affects producers’ creative decisions and distribution strategies, and has a strong negative effect on their overall motivation to create mashups. The objections that producers hold to this state of affairs often strongly resonate with current copyright exceptions. However, we argue that these exceptions, which form a legal ‘grey zone’, are currently unsatisfactorily accommodated for by platforms. Platforms’ political-economic power allows them, in effect, to ‘occupy’ and control this zone. Consequently, the practical efficacy of copyright law’s exceptions in this setting is significantly reduced.

Gender, Microfinance, and Microcredit in West Africa: Empowerment for Whom?

ABSTRACT Globalization, it is claimed, ‘lifts all boats, and levels the playing field for economic actors and processes, while reducing the gap between the haves and have-nots. In turn, the benefits of globalization are assumed to extend the economic empowerment of women, especially those in developing countries. Yet, the dynamics of agency and autonomy amid spatialities of power and shifting modes of governance in a globalized world have produced unintended consequences which are addressed in this study. This article examines the intersection between women’s empowerment, microfinance, and microcredit arrangements under globalization for Ghanaian and Nigerian women. This article argues that West African women’s capacity to move beyond microfinance and microcredit institutions depends on how well they can marshal political power and economic power to become sovereign producers under globalization.

The Search for Smart Governance in Agriculture and Natural Resources

We draw on previous positive political-economic models, which explain the seeming disjointedness of observed agricultural and resource policies to develop prescriptive implications that can be actively pursued by a smart government. Smart governments would design and implement a portfolio of both public-good policies (PERTs) and distortionary, redistributive policies (PESTs). Of particular importance in this process is the structuring of smart PESTs that dynamically complement the introduction and adoption of PERT policies. We emphasize the role of smart policy mixes on asset mobility and diversification, both of which lead to more evenly distributed political-economic power and reduced incentives for future rent-seeking. We examine three illustrative examples where a political-economic, portfolio approach could aid in resolving ‘wicked’ social problems and point toward a portfolio of complementary policy prescriptions for sustainable economic growth. Smart governments design and implement portfolios of complementary public goods and redistributive policies simultaneously. We conclude with the characteristics of a smart government and the core principles of sound policy analyses.

Symbolic capital and the problem of navigating English language teacher practice: the case of Indonesian pesantren

English is the most widely taught and learned language in the world. Within the broader literatures on the worldwide spread and dominance of English as a key skill for 21st century education, the use of English(es) and English Language Teaching (ELT) in the context of schooling in Asian countries represent an important research direction. Our paper contributes to these debates by exploring the problem of English language teachers’ beliefs about their pedagogical practices in Indonesian pesantren schools. The system of religious pesantren schools provides a unique research context to examine teacher practice in classrooms where English is not assigned the assumed de facto status of a ‘global lingua franca’. In engaging a Bourdieusian lens, this paper explores teachers’ perceptions of the (lack of) symbolic and linguistic capital of English language learning in pesantren, the emergent tensions, and how these frame teacher beliefs and practice. In so doing, this paper aims to contribute to the broader debates in the field that seek to critically analyse and reframe the hegemonic status of English as a global educational commodity of political-economic power.

The Yemeni Conflicts: A Mismatch Theory Interpretation

AbstractThis article examines the causes of the current centrist and secessionist civil conflicts in Yemen. We argue that it is possible to explain the outbreak of the struggle of the Houthis against the central government as well as the acceleration of southern secessionist demands in light of the mismatch theory developed by Herrera, Morelli, and Nunnari (2019). In line with this model, we show that the two conflicts erupted once the relatively low political-economic power of the Houthis and of the southern secessionists was no longer matched by a parallel imbalance in their relative military strength vis-à-vis the central government. To examine the implications of the theory in Yemen, we use qualitative evidence on the two ongoing conflicts. The Yemeni case suggests that conflicts exhibiting a non-parallel asymmetry in relative military strength and political-economic power between the warring actors can be interpreted in light of the mismatch theory, regardless of their direction or the objectives their players pursue.