Capital mobility and European financial and monetary integration: a structural analysis

2002 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 337-357 ◽  
Author(s):  
ADAM BAINES

This study demonstrates the link between rising levels of capital mobility and European financial and monetary integration. State policies are driven and constrained by the financial structure of the international political economy. However, political adaptation to structural conditions can itself force changes in the structure – a process of ‘structuration’. Practically, the study outlines the rise of capital mobility in the post-war period, and argues that the creation of a European Financial Area was an imperative of the associated deregulatory dynamic. The consequences of this development for state sovereignty are outlined in terms of the Capital Mobility Hypothesis. The proposition is advanced that political motivation to reassert some degree of state autonomy is the driving force behind the move to a single currency. In taking this innovative policy step, the EU countries will have challenged the financial structure by reasserting some degree of political control over the way finance flows around the global economy.

Author(s):  
Kenneth C. Shadlen

The concluding chapter reviews the main findings from the comparative case studies, synthesizes the main lessons, considers extensions of the book’s explanatory framework, and looks at emerging challenges that countries face in adjusting their development strategies to the new global economy marked by the private ownership of knowledge. Review of the key points of comparison from the case studies underscores the importance of social structure and coalitions for analyses of comparative and international political economy. Looking forward, this chapter supplements the book’s analysis of the political economy of pharmaceutical patents with discussion of additional ways that countries respond to the monumental changes that global politics of intellectual property have undergone since the 1980s. The broader focus underscores fundamental economic and political challenges that countries face in adjusting to the new world order of privately owned knowledge, and points to asymmetries in global politics that reinforce these challenges.


2021 ◽  
pp. 175508822098383
Author(s):  
Joshua D King

Realism, constructivism, and liberal institutionalism share the assumption that states are rational and self-maximizing actors. While these theories disagree as to whether states prioritize military power or economic wealth, they converge around the notion that states pursue these goods rationally and predictably. Complaints against and threats of defection from prominent international security and trade regimes, including NATO and the EU, raise doubts about states’ rationality and predictability. Perhaps these theories’ shared assumption about rational action has become an impediment to understanding state behavior and institutional cooperation. To enrich and to expand the conversation within international political theory, my article turns to Rousseau’s international political thought. Rousseau anticipates central arguments in each of the major traditions of IR theory but locates political self-interest in the sub-rational passion amour propre rather than in reason itself. Rousseau exemplifies a more nuanced way to understand the irrational roots of political motivation and the limits of international order. My paper traces the international implications of amour propre through Rousseau’s key texts on international politics and turns to his “Letter to Philopolis” as a way to re-frame Rousseau’s account of political responsibility.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 4363
Author(s):  
Christopher M. Dent

Efforts to tackle climate change are taking place on multiple fronts. This includes trade, an increasingly important defining feature of the global economy. In recent years, free trade agreements (FTAs) have become the primary mechanism of trade policy and diplomacy. This study examines the development of climate action measures in FTAs and discusses what difference they can make to tackling climate change. Its primary source research is based on an in-depth examination of FTAs in force up to 2020. This paper is structured around a number of research questions forming around three main inter-related areas of enquiry. Firstly, to what extent are these provisions in FTAs essentially derivative of energy’s connections with climate change, and thus part of a wider trade–climate–energy nexus? Secondly, what kinds of climate action are FTAs specifically promoting, and how effective a potential positive impact may we expect these to have? Thirdly, are certain climate action norms being promoted by trade partners in FTAs and if so, then who are the norm leaders, what is motivating them, and to what extent are they extending their influence over other trade partners? In addressing these questions, this study offers new insights and analysis regarding a potentially important emerging trend in the trade–climate–energy nexus. Its international political economy approach and latest empirical research also provide a further distinctive contribution to knowledge in this inter-disciplinary area, developing new comprehensions of the relationship between trade, climate action and energy.


Author(s):  
VITALINA BUTKALIUK

The article examines the current problems of the global sphere of work and employment. The author historically assesses the causes and consequences of the structural transformations of the economy and social and labor relations as a result of the transition of the capitalist economy from fordism and keynesianism to post-fordism and neoliberalism at the end of the 20th century. Based on the analysis of a significant array of statistical and sociological information the author concludes that in the conditions of neoliberal economic globalization, labor has undergone significant changes in comparison with the period of the "glorious post-war thirty years" of capitalism. The implementation of radical economic reforms has led to an increase in employment vulnerability and a decrease in the quality of working life for many categories of workers in the modern world. The decline in the share of labor in GDP, the lag in wage growth rates from labor productivity, and the widespread incidence of informal and vulnerable employment, characteristic of this period, have become the main reasons for the growth of socioeconomic inequality and widespread poverty and poverty in the working environment in recent decades. Having considered the impact of the current process of automation, robotization and digitalization of the global economy, the author concludes that without changing the socio-economic and political configuration of the structure of the modern world, the potentially high utility of the latest achievements of science and technology will be significantly limited and subordinated mainly to the economic interests of capital owners, and will not work for the benefit of all humanity and social progress. The article pays special attention to studying the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of their impact on the position of employees in the modern world.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Berntsen ◽  
Simen Sæther ◽  
Jens Røyrvik ◽  
Mehmet Efe Biresselioglu ◽  
Muhittin Hakan Demir

There is broad agreement in literature and policy that the transport sector needs to maximise electric mobility, in order to lower both energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. This ongoing transformation continues to require a high degree of technological innovation. Consequently, policymakers are striving to reward innovation in procurement tender contracts, in order to achieve sustainable innovation. At the same time, such contracts are often designed with a principle of technology neutrality in mind, to prevent any distortion of the market logic. This article suggests that it is misguided to try to perfect the logic of the tender system and that articulating contract that rewards innovation is no guarantee of a sustainable solution. Rather than being technological, the problem should be seen as moral: the mounting environmental challenge. Policymakers thus have clear ideas about the action needed based on what they, through moral conviction, consider to be appropriate action. This case study—conducted as a part of the EU H2020-funded ECHOES Project under Work Package 6—on the electrification of the Flakk–Rørvik ferry connexion reveals how policymakers were able to achieve the intended results: in this case, an e-ferry rather than a biodiesel ferry, in spite of, rather than because of, the tender system logic. They achieved this by involving stakeholders in the process with a continuous and uninterrupted dialogue. The project stakeholders were able to intervene in the tender system logic in favour of human considerations. We argue that this project was a success because human judgement, not system logic, was the driving force. By extension, we argue that systems will only allow policymakers to pursue moral issues to the degree that they allow human intervention.


2020 ◽  
pp. 117-133
Author(s):  
L.Hr. Melnyk ◽  
O.N. Derykolenko ◽  
Yu.O. Mazin ◽  
O.I. Matsenko ◽  
V.S. Piven

Energy security and independence is one of the key points in sustainable development. In modern conditions of rapid growth and development of technologies, more and more attention is paid to finding practical solutions for environmentally friendly and inexpensive energy production. For a long time, scientists from various fields of scientific activity around the world have been engaged in the development and use of alternative energy sources. The share of renewable energy sources in the generation of electricity around the world is growing steadily, which indicates an increase in the use of energy obtained from alternative sources, such as, for example, wind and sun. These trends testify to the desire of consumers to abandon the use of fossil energy sources and nuclear power plants as much as possible in order to ensure further sister development. Under the current conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic, the demand for electricity worldwide has decreased, however, as the study shows, this pandemic has not affected the development of renewable energy. The article analyzes modern trends in the development of renewable energy, taking into account the experience of the EU countries and leading countries of the world in this area. As a result, it was concluded that in modern conditions, to achieve sustainable development, transformation processes are needed in such an important area as energy. Various processes in the global economy, which contributed to the intensive development of alternative energy sources, served as a powerful impetus for such changes. Many countries have made significant progress in the development of renewable energy.


In 1947, the United States of America launched the European Recovery Programme to support the post-war reconstruction of Europe. The Marshall Plan, as it became known after U.S. Secretary of State George C. Marshall, was one of the major success stories of US foreign policy in the twentieth century. The notion of an EU Recovery Programme for Ukraine provoked interest – and division in Ukraine. The enlargement of the EU in 2004 and 2007 demonstrated the EU’s capacity to mount grand economic and political projects. However, since then, the EU has faced difficulties exerting influence and constructing a coherent narrative of its role in the European neighbourhood and the wider world. Would a more transformative aid and development programme for its Ukrainian neighbour offer an opportunity for the EU as well as Ukraine? In this article we use a series of elite interviews conducted across Ukraine in 2016-17 to explore how such a notion is understood. We find that Ukrainian elites have mixed feelings about existing EU aid programmes; many respondents resented the conditions the EU imposes, but nor do they want or expect aid to be given unconditionally. Whilst many aspire for Ukraine to reach EU standards of law and prosperity, Ukrainian elites favour self-help in their efforts to forge a stable sovereign state. Both the EU and Russia are understood as metonymies – as standing for two sets of values and geopolitical futures – and neither quite fit what Ukrainians seek. We conclude that whilst a Marshall Plan-style action could have benefits, it is not desired as a basis for a shared narrative and basis of cooperation and development.


Author(s):  
Sasmita Mohanty

Restructuring and globalization are very important for every technology sector. It provides key competitive advantages to the companies over their rivals. Telecommunications sector is an important strategic segment of the modern economy. Telecommunications is also an advanced technology sector and its restructuring is essential to optimize its revenues. Now it has been evolved to information and communication technologies (ICT), which is the main driving force of growth worldwide. In fact, ICT has paved the way for modern globalization. Overall, ICT and ICT-enabled sectors are among the main contributors of global economy. This sector has passed through several restructuring and evolves continuously. Its globalization is obvious as it is the main technology which promotes globalization. In this chapter, the authors provide the restructuring of telecommunications sectors since the time of its inception in the early 19th century. They also analyzed the strategic changes that promote the restructuring and globalization of this sector.


Author(s):  
Christopher J. Parker ◽  
Stephen A. Doyle

Electronic Commerce (e-commerce) has transformed the retail environment and has become an ever increasingly important channel of the global economy. Within this, fashion retail has been a driving force, with increasing brand growth and profit deriving through Mobile Commerce (m-commerce). While the high-street fashion retailers have been key drivers and innovators in creating engaging and persuasive m-commerce app offerings, the high end and luxury fields have to date been slow to adopt and innovate at a comparable rate. This chapter explores the history and meaning of luxury and branding, in relation to the current state of m-commerce in fashion. Specific reference is given to the current state of m-commerce design in the retail domain between luxury and high-street market levels. Key questions and leading developments in the realm of interaction and User Experience (UX) design are presented along with directions on how to design for luxury m-commerce interactions.


2021 ◽  
pp. 223-249
Author(s):  
Stephanie Lawson

This chapter offers an overview of the field of Global Political Economy (GPE)—also known as International Political Economy (IPE). It builds on themes introduced in previous chapters, including connections with theories of global politics. These are discussed from a historical perspective to enable a better appreciation of how ideas, practices, and institutions develop and interact over time. These theories arose substantially within a European context, although the extent to which these may be applied uncritically to issues of political economy in all parts of the globe must be questioned. Significant issues for GPE include trade, labour, the interaction of states and markets, the nexus between wealth and power, and the problems of development and underdevelopment in the global economy, taking particular account of the North–South gap. The chapter then discusses the twin phenomena of globalization and regionalization and the way in which these are shaping the global economy and challenging the traditional role of the state. An underlying theme of the chapter is the link between economic and political power.


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