Flexible Corporate Nationality: Transforming Cathay Pacific for the Shifting Geopolitics of Hong Kong in the Closing Decades of British Colonial Rule

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-33
Author(s):  
JOHN D. WONG

Cathay Pacific’s shifting shareholder base underscores the dynamic interactions between the state and the market in an ever-changing geopolitical landscape. Focusing on its later transformation from a British airline, this article explores how Cathay Pacific refashioned its shareholding to respond to the shifting political climate of Hong Kong. In the protracted process through which Britain yielded jurisdictional power of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China, Cathay Pacific responded preemptively, first by enhancing its local profile, and then by appealing to economic nationalism of the sovereign state poised to take charge. The privately owned airline fashioned its corporate nationality in a bid to negotiate with political forces that affected its business development. The case of Cathay Pacific demonstrates how, in the absence of warfare, companies still need to mitigate political risks in a fluid geopolitical setting. By modifying its shareholding, Cathay Pacific crafted its corporate nationality, which proved instrumental in allaying political risks and managing business relationship with the state. The airline’s strategy attests to its dexterity as well as the pliability of the notion of “corporate nationality,” winning management the “license to operate”—legitimacy and state sponsorship—during a period of swift geopolitical shifts.

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 44-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roicer Alberto Flórez Bolívar

El autor ofrece su comprensión sobre cómo la falta de recursos económicos y las disputas entre liberales radicales y conservadores crearon un clima de ines-tabilidad política en la que participaron las élites locales del Estado Soberano de Bolívar entre 1857-1886. Esta situación conduce a que la seguridad de los ciu-dadanos muchas veces no recayera sobre el Estado sino en personas o familias de gamonales y caciques con cuya autoridad se asumía funciones de Estado en zonas donde éste hacía poca o ninguna presencia. El autor, a partir de fuentes periodísticas y documentos oficiales, relata hechos y situaciones que referencian el inestable clima gubernamental y político, el cual conlleva a la aprobación de un proyecto sobre policía general y la conformación de cuerpos de alguaciles serenos con la participación de habitantes, empleados públicos y comerciantes de las localidades. El libre comercio de armas establecido desde 1863 contribuyó a que las élites locales participaran de modo activo en su co-mercialización y ofrecimiento en épocas de levantamientos armados a favor o en contra del Estado hasta 1886.Palabras clave: Estado Soberano de Bolívar, orden público, seguridad, ciudadanos, protección privada, gamonales.Public order and security: citizens' privacy protection in the Sovereign State of Bolívar, 1857-1886 Abstract The author offers his understanding of how the lack of economic resources and the quarrelling between extreme liberals and conservatives originated an instability political climate where between 1857-1886 the local elites from the Sovereign State of Bolívar were involved. This situation makes that citizens’ security is not in charge of the State but in individuals or families with bosses and chiefs whose authority was assumed as State functions in areas where the State had little or no presence. From journalism sources and official documents, the author reports events and situations that show the unstable government and political climate, that leads the approval of a bill about police and formation of night watchmen bodies with residents, civil servants and local dealers participation. The free trade of arms established in 1863 led to local elites to actively participate in its trade and offering in times of armed insurgencies in favor or against the State until 1886.Keywords: Sovereign State of Bolívar, public order, security, public, private protection, bosses.


Author(s):  
Mariya Zinovievivna Masik

The article is devoted to the clarification of the peculiarities of risk management during the implementation of PPP projects. The author identifies a set of risks for a private partner, business risks of PPP projects and the main risks associated with the protests of the public, as well as public and international organizations. The typical risks of PPP projects are presented, including force majeure, political risks, profitability risks, operational, construction, financial risks, and the risk of default. The world experience of sharing risks between the partners is presented. Also named are the main methods for assessing the risks of PPP projects. It has been determined that the conditions on which the parties should reach agreement in order for the contract to be concluded are essential. Risk management can be implemented within the framework of the essential conditions for the allocation of risks. However, the provisions of the law provide for the allocation of only those risks identified by the results of an analysis of the effectiveness of the PPP project. Legislation does not directly determine how risks can be allocated to the risks identified during the pre-contract negotiations (or even at a later stage), but not taken into account in the analysis of efficiency. For example, suggestions on the terms of the partnership agreement as part of the bidding proposal may include suggestions on risk management mechanisms. There are no definite and can not be fully defined possible ways of managing risks in view of their specificity for a particular project. For this purpose, it is advisable to provide for a period of familiarization with the draft tender documentation and the possibility of making changes to it based on the findings received from potential contestants. It is also advisable to foresee cases in which it is possible to review certain terms of the contract without a competition. It is substantiated that the law does not restrict the possibility of foreseeing specific terms of an agreement on the implementation of the PPP project or to conclude additional (auxiliary) contractual instruments (for example, an investment agreement). At the same time, when laying down conditions not provided for by law, it is necessary to take into account the scope of competence of the state partner. Also, in order to ensure the principle of equality of conditions, the state partner should provide such additional conditions in the tender documentation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (7) ◽  
pp. 2417-2425
Author(s):  
Peter Peikov ◽  
Borana Hadjieva

The present paper reveals the significance of the National Archival Fund for preservation of the historical and cultural memory of the Bulgarian nation and the formation of historical consciousness. The National Archives Fund is defined as the largest collection of documents with historical, scientific, social, economic, cultural significance as an essential part of the cultural and historical heritage of Bulgaria.It treasures documents about the history of thousands of institutions and prominent figures of the state, economy, culture and art, of ordinary citizens whose activity is historically important in one respect or another.The emphasis of the study is on the main factors determining the daily enrichment of the National Archival Fund with new documents. Among these key factors are development of documentaristics and archivistics, trends in social development, ideological and political climate, financial stability and attitude of the society as a whole, of the istitutional leaders and administrative heads, creating documents, in particular, of the non-governmental organizations and even of the individual citizen to the problems in the field of archivistics.In the focus of the paper as well is the leading role of the state archives for the formation of the National Archival Fund of Bulgaria and the opportunities for cooperation with museums, libraries, community centers and other institutions of memory working with the same purpose and vision.


Author(s):  
Rowan Nicholson

If the term were given its literal meaning, international law would be law between ‘nations’. It is often described instead as being primarily between states. But this conceals the diversity of the nations or state-like entities that have personality in international law or that have had it historically. This book reconceptualizes statehood by positioning it within that wider family of state-like entities. An important conclusion of the book is that states themselves have diverse legal underpinnings. Practice in cases such as Somalia and broader principles indicate that international law provides not one but two alternative methods of qualifying as a state: subject to exceptions connected with territorial integrity and peremptory norms, an entity can be a state either on the ground that it meets criteria of effectiveness or on the ground that it is recognized by all other states. Another conclusion is that states, in the strict legal sense in which the word is used today, have never been the only state-like entities with personality in international law. Others from the past and present include imperial China in the period when it was unreceptive to Western norms; pre-colonial African chiefdoms; ‘states-in-context’, an example of which may be Palestine, which have the attributes of statehood relative to states that recognize them; and entities such as Hong Kong.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
John P. Burns

Abstract Based on archival material and interviews, the paper argues that the autonomy of Hong Kong's institutions of higher education has varied since 1911, with the colonial state initially exercising tight control and relaxing it especially as the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong approached. China has sought to reassert control especially since 2014 in what continues to be contested space.


2021 ◽  
pp. 102452942110032
Author(s):  
David Karas

Whereas the active role of the state in steering financialization is consensual in advanced economies, the financialization of emerging market economies is usually examined through the prism of dependency: this downplays the domestic political functions of financialization and the agency of the state. With the consolidation of state capitalist regimes in the semi-periphery after the Global Financial Crisis, different interpretations emerged – some linking state capitalism with de-financialization, others with coercive projects deepening it. Preferring a more granular and multi-dimensional approach, I analyse how different facets of financialization might represent political risks or opportunities for state capitalist projects: Based on the Hungarian example, I first explain how the constitution of a ‘financial vertical’ after 2010 inaugurated a new mode of statecraft. Second, I show how the financial vertical enabled rentier bargains between state and society after 2015 by deepening the financialization of social policy and housing in response to a looming crisis of competitiveness.


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