Global Rules Research Articles

Emergent regime complexity and epistemic barriers in ‘bigtech’ finance

ABSTRACT The rise of ‘bigtech’ finance – the provision of payment services and financial intermediation by large digital platforms – poses significant cross-border regulatory challenges with implications for financial stability. Yet despite steps to strengthen regulation at the domestic level, international cooperation in this area remains very limited. Although geopolitical rivalry over digital technology has hindered progress towards agreement on global rules, we know far less about the technical barriers to standard-setting in this new and complex field. To address this, the paper combines scholarship on international regime complexity and transnational knowledge to understand the epistemic challenges of international standard-setting in an ‘emergent’ regime complex. We argue that regulatory cooperation around bigtech is constrained by two main epistemic barriers: cognitive limits to understanding; and the existence of siloed knowledge. Furthermore, we show how international bodies strive to overcome these barriers by generating new transnational knowledge through processes of inscription and orchestration. The paper makes a wider contribution to the ‘epistemic turn’ in IPE by unpacking the contested meanings and practices of standard-setting in new regulatory fields.

Global Selection Rules and Giant Enhanced Harmonic Generations in LiNbO3 Nonlinear Meta‐Optics

AbstractNonlinear optical metasurfaces provide nanoscale‐level control of harmonic waves, making them highly promising platforms for both fundamental research and applications in nonlinear optics. However, the traditional selection rules theory, which has long served as a guiding principle for nonlinear meta‐optics, is local and neglects the significance of meta‐atomic lattice symmetry. In addition, achieving high‐efficiency harmonic generation along with nonlinear optical Pancharatnam‐Berry (PB) phase control remains challenging. To this end, a novel global selection rule jointly determined by the symmetries of both meta‐atom and lattice is proposed. Nonlinear metasurfaces designed based on this theory enable frequency conversions forbidden by previous local selection rules. A more comprehensive relationship between the nonlinear PB phase and the meta‐atomic rotation angle is revealed. Moreover, an efficient nonlinear PB metasurface platform for second harmonic generations is first demonstrated using LiNbO3 thin films with aligned crystal orientations in a hybrid design. The normalized conversion efficiency reaches approximately two orders of magnitude higher than that of existing nonlinear PB metasurfaces working in the near‐infrared band. These findings not only shed light on the underlying mechanisms of nonlinear light‐matter interactions, but also open up exciting possibilities in terahertz, entangled photon pairs, and high harmonic generations.

Hunger in global war economies: understanding the decline and return of famines.

The resurgence of famines is a topic of concern. This paper explains the recent trajectory using the framework of contending 'global war economies'. It characterises the unipolar neoliberal world order era (1986-2015) as the 'Pax Americana' war economy, focusing on the United States dollar's roles. These were the decades of the liberal imperium, the corporate food regime, and counterinsurgent coalitions, which generated structural vulnerability to food crises and reduced the actual incidence and lethality of famine. The paper characterises the subsequent period (2016 onwards) as the challenge of the BRICS club, focusing on its efforts to rewrite the global political economy's rules, proactively hedging among diversifying currency regimes. This entails a scramble to secure strategic commodities and infrastructure in subaltern countries, which is intensifying conflict and food insecurity, and revising international norms in favour of reasserting sovereign rights. The global political-economic contestation and, especially, the associated normative regression are permissive of political and military triggers of famine.

Power Contestations in the Use of Agri-food Data: Towards a Sustainability Governance Approach

Law is intrinsically embedded in politics. Prevailing dynamics and norms can significantly impact new legal rules; hence, there is a need to interrogate the spectrum of engagements of any given subject or phenomenon with the law. In the context of global governance of food and agricultural data, this article examines how power manifests in the generation and use of agri-food data, how power could construct global rules on the use of agri-food data and how the global community should respond to this realisation. It highlights the politics of technology and data and examines how these drive inequalities and inequities among certain actors and groups, taking the ensuing intersectional dynamics into account. These insights make important contributions to the debate on the global governance of food and agricultural data by shedding light on the analytical framework that can be used to recognise the unequal political economy within which the global governance of agri-food data is negotiated. It offers justifications on why and how such an opportunity should be used to correct these imbalances and redistribute the benefits of agri-food data to all stakeholders.

Quantum Cellular Automata for Quantum Error Correction and Density Classification.

Quantum cellular automata are alternative quantum-computing paradigms to quantum Turing machines and quantum circuits. Their working mechanisms are inherently automated, therefore measurement free, and they act in a translation invariant manner on all cells or qudits of a register, generating a global rule that updates cell states locally, i.e., based solely on the states of their neighbors. Although desirable features in many applications, it is generally not clear to which extent these fully automated discrete-time local updates can generate and sustain long-range order in the (noisy) systems they act upon. In particular, whether and how quantum cellular automata can perform quantum error correction remain open questions. We close this conceptual gap by proposing quantum cellular automata with quantum-error-correction capabilities. We design and investigate two (quasi)one dimensional quantum cellular automata based on known classical cellular-automata rules with density-classification capabilities, namely the local majority voting and the two-line voting. We investigate the performances of those quantum cellular automata as quantum-memory components by simulating the number of update steps required for the logical information they act upon to be afflicted by a logical bit flip. The proposed designs pave a way to further explore the potential of new types of quantum cellular automata with built-in quantum-error-correction capabilities.

Inter-Nation Equity And The Regulation of Tax Competition via the Global Minimum Tax Rule: A Case for Improvement

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an institution that influences policymaking in international tax law, and it is changing the international tax architecture to deal with tax competition by encouraging countries to adopt a global minimum tax rule. This emerging rule – called Pillar Two in international tax circles – is inadequate for dealing with poverty and inequality in an asymmetrical global context. The rule is premised on the notion and argument that tax competition is a problem for international tax law. Notwithstanding, there is existing research and evidence to show that tax competition can also be a solution to the enormous challenge of poverty and inequality as it can have a redistributive effect. This is a valuable factor amid the inefficiently asymmetrical global society with extreme poverty in many countries and enormous wealth in a few others.This article submits that the Pillar Two minimum tax rule – the Global Anti-Base Erosion (GloBE) Rules encompassing the income inclusion rule (IIR), undertaxed payment/profit rule (UTPR), and qualified domestic minimum top-up tax (QDMTT) – should incorporate inter-nation equity to prevent exacerbating global inequality and poverty. Pillar Two intensifies these for at least two reasons: (1) it restricts the positive redistributive effects of tax competition on an inefficiently asymmetrical global society, and (2) it encourages tax competition more suited for high-income countries (HICs) and less suited for those that are low-income countries (LICs). There is latitude to incorporate a differentiated principle deriving from inter-nation equity into this new Pillar Two rule designed to regulate tax competition globally. This proposal requires that the emerging rule be disenabled in certain circumstances to enable LICs to choose whether to apply the rule without being worse off. The article’s proposal seeks to allow LICs room for effective tax competition needed to attain sustainable development goals.

Leveraging friendshoring in response to sanctions: Essential insights for global managers

In the world that has become increasingly hostile and politicized, the use of sanctions has emerged as an often-used tool for enforcing global rules. Nevertheless, organizations engaged in international trade have found ways to circumvent imposed sanctions and deliver goods and services to the sanctioned markets through a variety of means including offshoring, nearshoring, and, most importantly, friendshoring. There has been a notable increase in these shoring phenomena, especially in the context of global disruptions, including the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States and China trade conflicts, and sanctions related to the Russia-Ukraine war. This study offers a rich account of how organizations overcome economic sanctions that lead to restrictions in trade among trading partners. After unique in-depth interviews with representatives from 44 organizations involved in trade in nine imposing, intermediary, and targeted countries, we synthesized six main friendshoring models often used in instances where sanctions are imposed. We end by offering prescriptive guidance for managers whose companies face difficult shoring decisions because of sanctions.

Особенности торговой политики Китая: текущее состояние и направления развития

This article analyzes the current state, main instruments, and directions of development of China's trade policy in the context of the confrontation between the two global economic leaders, China and the USA. Understanding the meaning that China embeds in the concept of "trade policy" will enable Russia to perceive the logic of China's decisions and effectively build cooperation with China in the economic sphere and the related ones. The aim of this study is to identify the peculiarities of China's trade policy. To achieve this, the article examines the main indicators and instruments of China's trade policy, considers the current viewpoints of Chinese economists on trade policy, and analyzes activities concerning its implementation. Particular attention is given to the methods China uses to increase its influence in the global economy. The findings demonstrate that through its trade policy, China aims not only to enhance its economic power but also to shape new global rules and standards, reflecting its aspiration for leadership in international economic relations. China’s tariff system and the enforcement of non-tariff measures effectively protect its domestic market from foreign competition and encourage investments in the development of competitive high-technology production on the global market. The article shows that in China, the concept of "trade policy" encompasses a broader set of tools and measures than the commonly accepted tariff and non-tariff measures. Within its trade policy framework, China addresses a range of tasks, from the internationalization of the national currency to uniting developing countries and gaining priority in setting technical standards for goods and services. It is shown that China has been working in this direction for several decades, specifically since the early 2000s.

International cooperation for the decarbonization of energy-intensive industries: unlocking the full potential

ABSTRACT This article investigates the state of global governance for the deep decarbonization of energy-intensive industries (EIIs) and identifies key options for mobilizing the so far underexploited potential of this global governance. Focusing on four main EIIs (i.e. iron and steel, cement and concrete, chemicals, and aluminium) the analysis is advanced in three steps. First, we establish the theoretical potential of international institutions to address the main barriers to EII decarbonization focusing on six main governance functions. Second, the article provides an up-to-date account of the global governance landscape for EII decarbonization and the contribution it has made to addressing the main barriers. This assessment also identifies major gaps and underexploited potentials of global governance. Finally, we systematically appraise key options for advancing global governance for EII decarbonization based on clear assessment criteria (membership, institutional capacity, legitimacy, feasibility). The major findings are that: (a) global governance has advanced significantly in the 2020s across all governance functions, in particular through the emergence of several initiatives focused on industrial decarbonization, including the recent Climate Club; (b) key priorities for advancing global EII decarbonization concern rules for collective action, means of implementation, landscape orchestration/coordination, and a more equal coverage of different sub-sectors and regions. We argue that the main barrier to addressing these priorities is rooted in (geo)politics rather than a lack of suitable institutions. Consequently, the global governance for EII decarbonization may best be advanced through incrementally developing existing rather than creating major new institutions.

Smart Answers to GLoBE Challenges Faced by a Small Country

In this note, the authors highlight the challenges that Hungary, a small country with a low corporate income tax rate, faced in implementing Pillar Two. The intention was to comply with the global minimum tax rules while keeping as much of the country’s attractiveness to foreign investors as possible at the lowest cost to the state budget. This was achieved by a range of targeted measures which may serve as a best practice for other countries in a similar situation.

Globalization after De-globalization

ABSTRACT: Globalization began in the late 1970s, shifted into "hyperglobalization" in the first decade of the twenty-first century, hit "peak globalization" around 2011, and has in the past 10 years given way to "de-globalization," characterized by nationalism and protectionism. The rules of globalization were built on a theory of competitive markets, while the world was in fact riven with growing asymmetries of power and a strong policy bias toward capital. This bias must be eliminated if the global economy is to become more democratic and sustainable as we emerge from this moment of de-globalization.

The pursuit of ‘good’ Internet policy

AbstractAs our digital society continues to advance, an increasingly diverse array of scholars, policymakers, civic interest groups, companies and regulatory bodies from around the world are seeking to have an increased say in its governance. This diversity makes the challenge of achieving ‘good’ Internet policy more complex and contested. Of course, the notion of 'good Internet policy' raises several important questions: What defines a good Internet policy? Who is it intended for? How can it be achieved and evaluated? Why is it worth pursuing? The papers in this collection explore a number of issues relevant to this pursuit. They include research into deploying digital systems to increase participation in democratic elections and other e‐governance initiatives, navigating the intersection of local norms and global rules, addressing algorithmic discrimination, confronting the role of conspiracy theories in democratic processes, defining responsibility in content moderation, balancing legal certainty with operational flexibility in platform governance and the potential for data justice in AI governance.

Improved ant colony optimization algorithm based on islands type for mobile robot path planning

According to the characteristics of ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm in mobile robot path planning, such as local optimal solution, slow convergence speed, low search efficiency, and propensity to produce numerous deadlock ants, an improved ACO algorithm based on island type (insular ACO (INACO)) is introduced. In this algorithm, firstly, several islands are established between the starting and the ending position of environment, serving as intermediate nodes for the paths searched by the ants. This greatly reduces the number of deadlock ants. Additionally, rectangular areas are initialized with non-uniform pheromone levels between adjacent islands, while other areas are set to a constant minimum pheromone value. This prevents blind searches during the initial stages of path planning. Furthermore, an adaptive volatilization coefficient is introduced into the global pheromone update rules to balance the convergence and global search ability. Finally, optimal parameter combinations of INACO are determined by simulation. INACO algorithm is simulated in various grid maps and compared with other improved ACO algorithms. Results demonstrate its superior global optimal search capability and rapid convergence speed. The average iterative times is 2.7 in a 20 × 20 grid environment and 4.7 in a 30 × 30 grid environment. Notably, INACO produces very few lost ants, with mean values of 50.1 and 95.2 in 20 × 20 and 30 × 30 grid environments, respectively.

Joint Entity and Relation Extraction With Set Prediction Networks.

Joint entity and relation extraction is an important task in natural language processing, which aims to extract all relational triples mentioned in a given sentence. In essence, the relational triples mentioned in a sentence are in the form of a set, which has no intrinsic order between elements and exhibits the permutation invariant feature. However, previous seq2seq-based models require sorting the set of relational triples into a sequence beforehand with some heuristic global rules, which destroys the natural set structure. In order to break this bottleneck, we treat joint entity and relation extraction as a direct set prediction problem, so that the extraction model is not burdened with predicting the order of multiple triples. To solve this set prediction problem, we propose networks featured by transformers with non-autoregressive parallel decoding. In contrast to autoregressive approaches that generate triples one by one in a specific order, the proposed networks are able to directly output the final set of relational triples in one shot. Furthermore, we also design a set-based loss that forces unique predictions through bipartite matching. Compared with cross-entropy loss that highly penalizes small shifts in triple order, the proposed bipartite matching loss is invariant to any permutation of predictions; thus, it can provide the proposed networks with a more accurate training signal by ignoring triple order and focusing on relation types and entities. Various experiments on two benchmark datasets demonstrate that our proposed model significantly outperforms the current state-of-the-art (SoTA) models. Training code and trained models are now publicly available at https://github.com/DianboWork/SPN4RE.

A Comprehensive Analysis of the Economic Development and Income Gap

The third wave of global economic integration is advancing at an unprecedented speed. At the same time, there is intense debate among people about the impact of globalization on the economy, society, environment, and other aspects. One of the core issues of debate is the impact of globalization on income disparities between countries. Many people believe that the rules of globalization are beneficial to rich countries by sacrificing the interests of the third world, exacerbating inequality between countries and exacerbating poverty. This article uses literature review and case analysis methods, and panel data to study the impact of globalization on income inequality between countries through a regression based inequality decomposition framework. This paper will start with theoretical analysis and then test these theories with empirical data. Our goal is to provide a comprehensive perspective to understand the interaction between these two important economic variables and to look for possible equilibrium strategies.

A Comprehensive Analysis of the Economic Development and Income Gap

The third wave of global economic integration is advancing at an unprecedented speed. At the same time, there is intense debate among people about the impact of globalization on the economy, society, environment, and other aspects. One of the core issues of debate is the impact of globalization on income disparities between countries. Many people believe that the rules of globalization are beneficial to rich countries by sacrificing the interests of the third world, exacerbating inequality between countries and exacerbating poverty. This article uses literature review and case analysis methods, and panel data to study the impact of globalization on income inequality between countries through a regression based inequality decomposition framework. This paper will start with theoretical analysis and then test these theories with empirical data. Our goal is to provide a comprehensive perspective to understand the interaction between these two important economic variables and to look for possible equilibrium strategies.

International Law Protection of Cross-Border Transfers of Personal Information Based on Cloud Computing and Big Data

Cross-border data is crucial for the digital economy s growth, but uncontrolled transfers risk national security, public interests, corporate interests, and data sovereignty. Currently, cross-border data regulation lacks unified global rules, with existing ones dominated by Europe and the U.S. China needs to improve its international legal protection for cross-border personal information transfer. This paper examines China s mechanisms for personal data privacy protection in digital trade, including frameworks for big data, cloud computing, and cloud service selection for data lifecycle privacy protection. It suggests clarifying data controllers and exporters obligations, strengthening regulatory responsibilities, improving cross-border data legislation, enhancing law operability, and advocating for stronger international cooperation and participation in global rule-making to protect personal privacy information rights.

International integration of vietnamese higher education – general assessment of progress, viewpoints and policies

International integration has been an outstanding trend of Vietnamese higher education for 20 years. The international integration of Vietnamese higher education is considered as a proactive step and has achieved many positive outcomes. By reviewing of relevant literature, this paper aims to basically assesses international integration process of Vietnamese higher education in terms of establishing viewpoints and policies. The findings show that international integration process of Vietnamese higher education has taken place later than the socio-economic fields but has rapid evolution. From the initial legal basis launched since 1998, higher education has continuously expanded its roadmap, institutionalized viewpoints and policies, and completed legal framework which lays a foundation for international integration. Despite some positive results, the Vietnamese higher education’s standards are still set low, which mainly involves the reform to build a better integration structure and start applying the global rules of higher education.

Research on power generation prediction of hydropower in river basin based on multi-head attention graph convolutional neural network

For the power generation prediction of traditional hydropower stations, most of them only use time series prediction and neglect to study the spatial topological relationship of hydropower stations in the river basin, so that it is difficult to fully explore the characteristic relationship of space power stations. In this paper, a research method for power generation prediction of hydropower in river basin hydropower stations based on multi-head attention map convolutional neural network is proposed. This method establishes a first-level node neighborhood feature map based on the spatial geographic distribution information of hydropower stations in the basin, and uses the method of graph convolution to carry out node feature mining and feature learning, so as to transform the power generation capacity evaluation problem of the hydropower station in the basin into the node prediction problem in the graph, which is different from the global normalization rule. the multi-head attention mechanism introduced further improves the information aggregation quality of the graph node, and uses the historical temperature, power generation, electricity price, unit status and other data of each hydropower station in the basin for training. The reasoning results show that the proposed method achieves higher accuracy than other schemes, and the power prediction method is conducive to the formulation of power plans of hydropower stations in the basin, and can also play a positive role in guiding the site selection of hydropower plants.

Book Review: The Global Rules of Art: The Emergence and Divisions of a Cultural World Economy

Book Review: The Global Rules of Art: The Emergence and Divisions of a Cultural World Economy