Structuralism

2019 ◽  
pp. 73-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Brückner
Keyword(s):  
Power Relations ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Newly Industrialized Countries ◽  
Power Resources ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The Social ◽  
Capitalist World Economy ◽  
Capitalist World ◽  
International Power

Structuralist transformation approaches were first developed by neo-Marxist critics dissatisfied with classic modernization theory. Rather than assuming a universal path to democracy that all countries eventually follow, structuralist explanations view democratization as merely one possible outcome of more fundamental changes in a society’s class and power relations. After discussing Barrington Moore’s early attempt to identify the social origins of dictatorship and democracy, this chapter turns to the role of the state and international power relations. World-system and dependency theory link the emergence of bureaucratic-authoritarian regimes in newly industrialized countries to their late integration into the capitalist world economy. Dependent development changes the nature of class relations and the outlook of the bourgeoisie thereby hampering democracy. Yet the chapter continues to show that the final push for democratic inclusion has typically been by the working class. Finally, a synthesis of different structuralist arguments and Vanhanen’s Index of Power Resources are presented.

Capital Accumulation and Chemicals Production in Western Europe in the Postwar Period

1983 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-122 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Capital Accumulation ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Central Element ◽  
Competitive Strategies ◽  
Exchange Value ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Industrial Complexes ◽  
Capitalist World Economy ◽  
Capitalist World

In the years following 1945, especially those preceding the 1970s, the expansion of chemicals production became a central element in the more general growth of the capitalist world economy. Much of this growth took place in Western Europe, and was increasingly associated with the development of a small number of major maritime industrial complexes. Although the growth of the chemicals sector slowed down after 1973, the tendency of a locational concentration of new investment was maintained, indeed enhanced. The main explanatory thesis around which the paper is structured is that the changes in chemicals production (structural and technical, as well as locational) are most appropriately understood in relation to the dynamics of the process of capital accumulation. This in turn requires an analysis on two levels. The first of these is that of ‘capital in general’, involving an analysis of accumulation in terms of exchange value, of the imperatives that drive this process and the restructuring of capital that these of necessity bring about. The second involves examining the competitive strategies of ‘many capitals’ through which this restructuring is brought about and, related to these, the role of the state. The paper concludes by suggesting some possible future developments within chemicals production.

The Context of the Tourism Market in Kazakhstan

2020 ◽  
pp. 127-150
Author(s):  
Onur Dirlik ◽  
Janset Özen-Aytemur ◽  
Murat Atalay
Keyword(s):  
Literature Review ◽  
Central Asia ◽  
Institutional Context ◽  
Soviet Period ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Tourism Sector ◽  
Contextual Elements ◽  
Capitalist World Economy ◽  
Capitalist World

This chapter is designed to reveal the development of the tourism sector in Kazakhstan as an example of the process of integrating Central Asia countries into the capitalist world economy at various levels in the post-Soviet period. The study aims to understand the effects of some contextual elements that affect the development process of the tourism sector in Kazakhstan. For this purpose, interviews were conducted with the managers of foreign tour operators operating in Kazakhstan. It is expected some context-based elements may be observed by the managers and to obtain some clues about the distinctive path of developing capitalist economy of the country. Following a brief literature review about the role of the state and tourism sector in Kazakhstan, the rest of the chapter includes the authors' findings on the characteristics of the institutional context of the tourism market in Kazakhstan.

Nation Branding

2020 ◽  
pp. 57-73
Author(s):  
Héctor Fernández L’Hoeste
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Nation Branding ◽  
Business Managers ◽  
Imagined Community ◽  
Social Sciences And Humanities ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The Social ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Political Technology

This chapter proposes the practice of nation branding as a political technology, as an example of neoliberalism in which the definition of national identity, previously assessed primarily by the social sciences and humanities, becomes the domain of business managers and advertising executives, thanks to technologies associated with social media. It explains how the redefinition of social goods, the role of the state, and the role of experts entail the replacement of a more socially driven understanding of identity with an act of commercial prestidigitation by way of nation branding; the pertinent state entities are replaced by advertising and image consultancy firms; and, lastly, scholars of various disciplines are replaced by advertising and PR executives. In short, following neoliberalism, identity is reinterpreted as brand. Identity no longer results from the never-ending and instantaneous negotiation between a multiplicity of parties, representative of myriad aspects relevant to the configuration of individuals and communities, but is rendered instead as the quantifiable, concrete result of a variety of transactions. Through this reformulation, a new relationship is suggested between the idea of nation as imagined community and the reality of the state as a material expression of the concept of nation.

scholarly journals Inflammatory Bowel Disease–Associated Changes in the Gut: Focus on Kazan Patients

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Lo Sasso ◽  
Lusine Khachatryan ◽  
Athanasios Kondylis ◽  
James N D Battey ◽  
Nicolas Sierro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Inflammatory Bowel Disease ◽  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Bowel Disease ◽  
Redox Status ◽  
Fecal Microbiota ◽  
Whole Genome ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Newly Industrialized Countries ◽  
Inflammatory Bowel

Abstract Background Several studies have highlighted the role of host–microbiome interactions in the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), resulting in an increasing amount of data mainly focusing on Western patients. Because of the increasing prevalence of IBD in newly industrialized countries such as those in Asia, the Middle East, and South America, there is mounting interest in elucidating the gut microbiota of these populations. We present a comprehensive analysis of several IBD-related biomarkers and gut microbiota profiles and functions of a unique population of patients with IBD and healthy patients from Kazan (Republic of Tatarstan, Russia). Methods Blood and fecal IBD biomarkers, serum cytokines, and fecal short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) content were profiled. Finally, fecal microbiota composition was analyzed by 16S and whole-genome shotgun sequencing. Results Fecal microbiota whole-genome sequencing confirmed the presence of classic IBD dysbiotic features at the phylum level, with increased abundance of Proteobacteria, Actinobacteria, and Fusobacteria and decreased abundance of Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Verrucomicrobia. At the genus level, the abundance of both fermentative (SCFA-producing and hydrogen (H2)-releasing) and hydrogenotrophic (H2-consuming) microbes was affected in patients with IBD. This imbalance was confirmed by the decreased abundance of SCFA species in the feces of patients with IBD and the change in anaerobic index, which mirrors the redox status of the intestine. Conclusions Our analyses highlighted how IBD-related dysbiotic microbiota—which are generally mainly linked to SCFA imbalance—may affect other important metabolic pathways, such as H2 metabolism, that are critical for host physiology and disease development.

scholarly journals Introduction: Moving Targets Risk, Security, and the Social in Twentieth-Century Europe

2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julia Moses ◽  
Eve Rosenhaft
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Special Section ◽  
Political Regime ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The Social ◽  
Anthony Giddens ◽  
Agent Of Change

According to the sociologists Ulrich Beck and Anthony Giddens, modern societies have become increasingly preoccupied with the future and safety and have mobilized themselves in order to manage systematically what they have perceived as “risks” (Beck 1992; Giddens 1991). This special section investigates how conceptions of risk evolved in Europe over the course of the twentieth century by focusing on the creation and evolution of social policy. The language of risk has, in the past twenty years, become a matter of course in conversations about social policy (Kemshall 2002). We seek to trace how “risk” has served as aheuristic toolfor understanding and treating “social problems.” A key aim of this collection is to explore the character of social policy (in the broadest sense) as an instrument (or technology) that both constructs its own objects as the consequences of “risks” and generates new “risks” in the process (Lupton 2004: 33). In this way, social policy typifies the paradox of security: by attempting literally to making one “carefree,” orsē(without)curitās(care), acts of (social) security spur new insecurities about what remains unprotected (Hamilton 2013: 3–5, 25–26). Against this semantic and philological context, we suggest that social policy poses an inherent dilemma: in aiming to stabilize or improve the existing social order, it also acts as an agent of change. This characteristic of social policy is what makes particularly valuable studies that allow for comparisons across time, place, and types of political regime. By examining a range of cases from across Europe over the course of the twentieth century, this collection seeks to pose new questions about the role of the state; ideas about risk and security; and conceptions of the “social” in its various forms.

Maps, Power, and the Pacification of La Araucanía-Chile, 1850–1900

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Azócar Fernández ◽  
Zenobio Saldivia Maldonado
Keyword(s):  
19Th Century ◽  
Power Relations ◽  
Scientific Discourse ◽  
Critical Cartography ◽  
History Of Cartography ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The 19Th Century

In the history of cartography and in critical cartography, there is a link between the role of maps and power relations, especially during the conquest and domination of territories by national states. Such cartographic products have frequently been used—for both their scientific and persuasive content—in different places, such as in Chile in the Araucanía region during the so-called pacification process, led by the Chilean state during the second half of the 19th century. From a cartographic perspective, the “epistemological and unintentional silences on the maps” can be observed for maps produced during this process. It implied that the “scientific discourse” and the “social and political discourse” of the cartographic images generated during this process of conquest and domination were relevant for the expansionist objectives of the Republic of Chile.

Structural Labor Precariousness in Peru

2020 ◽  
pp. 089692052093842
Author(s):  
Jan Lust
Keyword(s):  
Structural Condition ◽  
International Division ◽  
Labor Conditions ◽  
Economic Progress ◽  
The Social ◽  
Neoliberal Development ◽  
Capitalist World ◽  
Precarious Labor ◽  
Business Structure

The role of Peru in the international division of labor is the structural condition for the persistence of labor precariousness in the country. At a more concrete level, labor precariousness is an expression of the economic and business structure of the country. An economic structure heavily dependent on the non-tradable sectors and a business structure dominated by micro business undertakings do not permit the eradication of precarious labor conditions as economic growth hinges on economic progress abroad and precariousness is the source of profit of micro companies. Labor precariousness is not an automatic consequence of Peru’s role in the globalized capitalist world, but rather the social and economic consequence of the neoliberal policies implemented in the 1990s and, in particular, the current neoliberal development model in place.

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