Managing Prosperity

2020 ◽  
pp. 177-205
Author(s):  
Andrew Chittick
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Roman Empire ◽  
Southeast Asian ◽  
Capital City ◽  
The Political ◽  
Trade Policies ◽  
Policy Decisions ◽  
Ruling Class ◽  
Policy Choices ◽  
Fiscal System

Chapter 7, “Managing Prosperity: The Political Economy of a Commercial Empire,” looks at the policy choices of the Jiankang regime that contributed to commercial prosperity, including the design of the capital city, the fiscal system, the remittance system, and monetary and trade policies. It shows that these policy decisions were closely tied to the interests of key groups within the ruling class, particularly the imperial house and leading military figures, who frequently had considerable private commercial interests. It also explores the link between these policies and the patronage of Buddhism. The system is compared to that of the Roman Empire and South and Southeast Asian regimes. Widely criticized as “corruption” by historians trained in the Sinitic tradition (as well as by modern ones), the pro-commercial political economy would be better understood as a normalized part of the empire’s operations.

The Saint with Indra's Sword: Khruubaa Srivichai and Buddhist Millenarianism in Northern Thailand

2014 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 681-713 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Bowie
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
The State ◽  
Capital City ◽  
The Political ◽  
Northern Thailand ◽  
Present Evidence ◽  
Modern Context ◽  
A Charge ◽  
Social Causes

AbstractDespite a growing literature revealing the presence of millenarian movements in both Theravada and Mahayana Buddhist societies, scholars have been remarkably reluctant to consider the role of messianic beliefs in Buddhist societies. Khruubaa Srivichai (1878–1938) is the most famous monk of northern Thailand and is widely revered as atonbun, or saint. Althoughtonbunhas been depoliticized in the modern context, the term also refers to a savior who is an incarnation of the coming Maitreya Buddha. In 1920 Srivichai was sent under arrest to the capital city of Bangkok to face eight charges. This essay focuses on the charge that he claimed to possess the god Indra's sword. Although this charge has been widely ignored, it was in fact a charge of treason. In this essay, I argue that the treason charge should be understood within the context of Buddhist millenarianism. I note the saint/savior tropes in Srivichai's mytho-biography, describe the prevalence of millenarianism in the region, and detail the political economy of the decade of the 1910s prior to Srivichai's detention. I present evidence to show that the decade was characterized by famine, dislocation, disease, and other disasters of both natural and social causes. Such hardships would have been consistent with apocalyptic omens in the Buddhist repertoire portending the advent of Maitreya. Understanding Srivichai in this millenarian context helps to explain both the hopes of the populace and the fears of the state during that tumultuous decade.

Sociospatial Transformations in the ‘Postsocialist’ Periphery: The Case of Maputo, Mozambique

1995 ◽  
Vol 27 (9) ◽  
pp. 1463-1491 ◽  
Author(s):  
J D Sidaway ◽  
M Power
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Third World ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Capital City ◽  
The Political ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
Portuguese Colonialism ◽  
Do So

As Mozambique was one of a number of Third World states that embraced Marxism-Leninism during the 1970s, the establishment and subsequent collapse of a socialist development project since independence in 1975 has had profound social, political, and economic consequences. Against these contexts, and through a chronological account which begins with the impacts of Portuguese colonialism and Mozambican nationalist responses, we analyse the contradictory impact of political and economic changes accompanying colonialism, independence, attempted socialist transformation, and the end of socialism in Mozambique as they are mediated through the built environment of the Mozambican capital city of Maputo. The combined political, social, and cultural facets within these transformations and continuities are evident throughout the account and we specify some of the ways in which these are intertwined with the political economy of urbanization. In the conclusion we reconsider what the changing trajectory of Maputo represents in global and comparative terms. We do so with reference to debates about the changing forms of international capitalist regulation and the reconfiguration of dependency.

The Political Economy of Strategic Trade Policies

2009 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 494-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. C. Fung ◽  
Chelsea C. Lin ◽  
Ray-Yun Chang
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Trade Policies ◽  
Strategic Trade ◽  
Strategic Trade Policies

scholarly journals The Political Economy of Industrialisation in Nigeria: Is Ethnicity a Constraint?

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 293
Author(s):  
Lionel Effiom ◽  
Okonette Ekanem ◽  
Charles Effiong
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Industrial Policy ◽  
Industrial Development ◽  
Policy Formulation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ruling Class ◽  
Low Level ◽  
Ethnic Pluralism ◽  
Vested Interests

Is Nigeria’s multi-ethnic and multicultural configuration responsible for her low level of industrialisation? Is ethnic pluralism really a significant constraint to Nigeria’s industrial development? What role has Nigeria’s political economy played in foisting industrial underdevelopment on Nigeria? What lessons can be learnt from other industrialised but multi-ethnic countries, as Nigeria strives to industrialise? These were the questions that claimed our attention in this paper. The paper discountenances and refutes the hypothesis that ethnicity is responsible for Nigeria’s lack of industrialization, but rather places the burden for Nigeria’s under-industrialization at the doorsteps of vested interests, neo-colonial dependence, and the distorted, dependency worldview of the ruling class responsible for industrial policy formulation.

Economic Surplus, the Baran Ratio, and Capital Accumulation

2019 ◽  
pp. 25-39
Author(s):  
Zhun Xu
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Capital Formation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Ruling Class ◽  
Economic Surplus ◽  
Effective Utilization ◽  
Seminal Contribution

In 1957, in the Political Economy of Growth, Paul Baran made a seminal contribution to our understanding of the connection between economic surplus—a concept he introduced into the development discussion—and growth. Given that the ruling class controls the surplus of society, how the surplus is used—whether it is invested, consumed, or simply wasted—is at its discretion. The effective utilization of surplus implies a reasonable rate of capital accumulation and economic development. In the following study of the utilization of surplus I compare the size of surplus and gross capital formation in a variety of countries starting from the mid–nineteenth century.

Southeast Inka Frontiers

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonia Alconini
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Field Research ◽  
Capital City ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
The Political ◽  
Tropical Mountains ◽  
Extensive Field ◽  
Frontier Region ◽  
Inka Empire ◽  
Lines Of Evidence

Southeast Inka Frontiers explores how the Inka empire exercised control over vast expanses of land and peoples in the Southeastern frontier, a territory located over hundreds of kilometers away from the capital city of Cuzco. This frontier region was the setting for the fascinating encounter between the Inka, the largest empire in the pre-Columbian world, and the fierce Guaraní tribes from the tropical mountains and beyond. This singular encounter also occasioned radical shifts in the political economy of many indigenous frontier populations like the Yampara. Based on extensive field research, this manuscript explores these changes by using different scales of analysis and lines of evidence. Only through a deeper, cross-regional understanding of the multifaceted socioeconomic processes that transpired in the different Inka frontier regions can we elucidate the mechanics of this remarkable empire, and the associated effects on the lives of the indigenous populations.

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