The Political Economy of the Raj: The Decline of Colonialism

1982 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-137 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. R. Tomlinson

Taking a fresh look at the institutions of economic management in colonial India explains much about the history of the last decades of the raj. The concept of political economy—the interaction of economic forces and political choices—provides a useful approach to the study of government economic policy and practice that can give a new perspective on the history of the late British Empire as a whole.

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-171 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sophie Pezzutto ◽  
Lynn Comella

Abstract This article introduces the field of trans pornography studies and makes a case for why studying it matters. We locate trans pornography within the broader field of porn studies, while also pointing to its importance to transgender studies. We map the history of trans pornography and examine the wider social, political, and economic forces contributing to the transformation of trans porn into a genre of mainstream straight porn. We discuss the economic organization of the trans porn industry and current industry trends, including geographical shifts in production and the rise of alternative production platforms. We address areas of future research and the need for more scholarship on the political economy of the trans porn industry, audiences and consumers, transmasculine representation in pornography, and research that focuses on trans porn production outside the United States.


2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 743-782 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarath Pillai

Speaking at the Travancore legislative assembly on February 2, 1938, Sir C.P. Ramaswamy Aiyar said: “The federation contemplated in the Government of India Act (1935) was founded on the recognition of the fundamental idea that the Ruler alone represents his state and that the Ruler is the government of the state.” Travancore was one of the oldest princely states in India, which antedated the British occupation and claimed a dynastic rule uninterrupted by any foreign or domestic powers. Its history of constitutional reforms and economic advancement enabled it to occupy a pivotal position in colonial India. As the Dewan (prime minister) of Travancore, Sir C.P. played a crucial role in the constitutional debates on the political form of postcolonial India, especially federation, in the last two decades of the British Empire in India. He argued that Indian states were inherently sovereign, and that the only locus of sovereignty in the states was their rulers. In doing so, he imagined a future Indian federation predicated on the idea of divisible sovereignty, which was given constitutional effect by the Government of India (GOI) Act (1935). Sir C.P.'s expositions on the sovereignty of the states and Travancore's constitutionalism offer analytical lenses to recuperate a history of imperial constitutionalism and the grand political project it enabled: Indian federation.


2019 ◽  
pp. 135-145
Author(s):  
Viktor A. Popov

Deep comprehension of the advanced economic theory, the talent of lecturer enforced by the outstanding working ability forwarded Vladimir Geleznoff scarcely at the end of his thirties to prepare the publication of “The essays of the political economy” (1898). The subsequent publishing success (8 editions in Russia, the 1918­-year edition in Germany) sufficiently demonstrates that Geleznoff well succeded in meeting the intellectual inquiry of the cross­road epoch of the Russian history and by that taking the worthful place in the history of economic thought in Russia. Being an acknowledged historian of science V. Geleznoff was the first and up to now one of the few to demonstrate the worldwide community of economists the theoretically saturated view of Russian economic thought in its most fruitful period (end of XIX — first quarter of XX century).


2020 ◽  
pp. 74-86
Author(s):  
Alexandra Arkhangelskaya

The history of the formation of South Africa as a single state is closely intertwined with events of international scale, which have accordingly influenced the definition and development of the main characteristics of the foreign policy of the emerging state. The Anglo-Boer wars and a number of other political and economic events led to the creation of the Union of South Africa under the protectorate of the British Empire in 1910. The political and economic evolution of the Union of South Africa has some specific features arising from specific historical conditions. The colonization of South Africa took place primarily due to the relocation of Dutch and English people who were mainly engaged in business activities (trade, mining, agriculture, etc.). Connected by many economic and financial threads with the elite of the countries from which the settlers left, the local elite began to develop production in the region at an accelerated pace. South Africa’s favorable climate and natural resources have made it a hub for foreign and local capital throughout the African continent. The geostrategic position is of particular importance for foreign policy in South Africa, which in many ways predetermined a great interest and was one of the fundamental factors of international involvement in the development of the region. The role of Jan Smuts, who served as Prime Minister of the Union of South Africa from 1919 to 1924 and from 1939 to 1948, was particularly prominent in the implementation of the foreign and domestic policy of the Union of South Africa in the focus period of this study. The main purpose of this article is to study the process of forming the mechanisms of the foreign policy of the Union of South Africa and the development of its diplomatic network in the period from 1910 to 1948.


Electricity is critical to enabling India’s economic growth and providing a better future for its citizens. In spite of several decades of reform, the Indian electricity sector is unable to provide high-quality and affordable electricity for all, and grapples with the challenge of poor financial and operational performance. To understand why, Mapping Power provides the most comprehensive analysis of the political economy of electricity in India’s states. With chapters on fifteen states by scholars of state politics and electricity, this volume maps the political and economic forces that constrain and shape decisions in electricity distribute on. Contrary to conventional wisdom, it concludes that attempts to depoliticize the sector are misplaced and could worsen outcomes. Instead, it suggests that a historically grounded political economy analysis helps understand the past and devise reforms to simultaneously improve sectoral outcomes and generate political rewards. These arguments have implications for the challenges facing India’s electricity future, including providing electricity to all, implementing government reform schemes, and successfully managing the rise of renewable energy.


Organization ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 135050842110612
Author(s):  
Daniel S Lacerda

The spatial imaginations of organisations can be particularly insightful for examining power relations. However, only recently they have gone beyond the limits of the workplace, demonstrating the role of the territory for organised action, particularly in mobilising solidarity for resistance. In this article, I investigate power relations revealed by the political economy of the territory to explain contradictory actions undertaken by organisations. Specifically, I adopt the theoretical framework of the noted Brazilian geographer Milton Santos, who recognises spatial multiplicity and fragmentation while maintaining an appreciation of the structural conditions of the political economy. This perspective is particularly useful for the analysis of civil society organisations (CSOs) in a Brazilian favela (slum), given the context of high inequality perpetuated by the selective flows of urban development. First, I show that the history of favelas and their role in the territorial division of labour explain the profiles of existing organisations. Then, I examine how the political engagement of CSOs with distinct solidarities results in a dialectical tension that leads to both resistance based on local shared interests and the active reproduction of central spaces even if the ends are not shared. The article contributes to the literature of space and organisations by explaining how territorial dynamics mediate power relations within and across organisations, not only as resistance but also as the active reproduction of economic and political regimes.


Author(s):  
Kanybek A. Kudayarov ◽  

Kyrgyzstan, like other states of the post-Soviet space, has passed a challenging path in its development since gaining independence. Three de- cades of the republic’s existence in the new geopolitical conditions revealed the peculiarities of its political, socio-economic and cultural evolution, that distinguish the Kyrgyz Republic from the Central Asian neighbours and other republics of Commonwealth of Independent States. Supporting the concept of the history of the Kyrgyz people while preserving certain traditions of the Turkic nomadic civilization has become a fundamental part of the emerging national identity. Another important feature of building the political system in the Kyrgyz Republic is the attempt to create a Western-style democratic state based on its own experience of implementing “nomadic democracy”. The presence of constant zigzag jumps in the evolution of the political system of the republic (i.e., repeated transitions from the presidential form of government to the presidential-parliamentary form and back) can be traced throughout the existence of post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan. At the same time, it should be noted that the described processes are due to a special geographical location, which ini- tially affects the formation of the corresponding type of economic management. That in turn, affects the political development of the country.


Author(s):  
Lucia Zedner

This Afterword reflects on the scope, ambitions and achievements of this substantial volume of collected essays. It reflects on the interdisciplinary, cross-jurisdictional and temporal range of the contributing chapters. It seeks to situate them in the longer history of studies of the political economy of crime and punishment, and applauds their collective revitalisation of the field. It explores the ways in which the impressive, international group of contributors explore the complex interactions between inequality, crime and punishment. In particular, it addresses the conceptual and methodological choices made in determining how to measure comparative poverty and prosperity and how to gauge relative punitiveness. The Afterword concludes by exploring promising further areas of enquiry suggested by this remarkable collection.


2019 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 494-499
Author(s):  
Destin Jenkins

This essay revisits Making the Second Ghetto to consider what Arnold Hirsch argued about the relationship between race, money, and the ghetto. It explores how Hirsch’s analysis of this relationship was at once consistent with those penned by other urban historians and distinct from those interested in the political economy of the ghetto. Although moneymaking was hardly the main focus, Hirsch’s engagement with “Vampire” rental agencies and panic peddlers laid the groundwork for an analysis that treats the post–World War II metropolis as a crucial node in the history of racial capitalism. Finally, this essay offers a way to connect local forms of violence to the kinds of constraints imposed by financiers far removed from the city itself.


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