Liberalization

Author(s):  
Timm Betz ◽  
Amy Pond

Liberalization is the removal of barriers to the cross-border movement of capital, goods, and people. Understanding liberalization is central to understanding how governments respond to and shape the global economy. This article reviews the literature on liberalization from a public-goods perspective, where liberalization is seen as benefiting the population as a whole, and from a private-goods perspective, where liberalization benefits a select few. These perspectives are united by questions over who supports liberalization, when liberalization occurs, and how governments liberalize markets. The article further explores the methods and approaches used by American International Political Economy (IPE), represented by articles published in International Organization, and British IPE, represented by articles published in the Review of International Political 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. 026732312110121
Author(s):  
Montse Bonet ◽  
David Fernández-Quijada

This article aims to study how private European radio is becoming commercially international through the expansion of radio brands beyond their national market. It is the first ever analysis of the expansion strategies of radio groups across Europe, including their footprint in each market in which they operate, from the political economy of cultural industries. The article maps the main radio groups in Europe, analyses cross-national champions in depth and establishes three main types. This study shows that, thanks to the possibilities of a deregulated market, strengthening the role of the brand and the format, and the agreements with other groups, broadcasting radio has overcome the obstacles that, historically, hindered its cross-border expansion.


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.


1992 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Helleiner

One of the central objectives of the field of international political economy (IPE) in the last 20 years has been to introduce insights from the field of international relations into the study of global economic affairs. Although this effort has been largely successful in the study of international trade, much less attention has been focused on the financial sector of the global economy. Seemingly highly technical and arcane, the study of international finance has been left largely to specialists in international economics, financial journalists, and international financial practitioners.


1979 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-175 ◽  
Author(s):  
Davis B. Bobrow ◽  
Robert T. Kudrle

Continued dependence on expensive imported liquid fuels puts stress on the relations among and the domestic performance of the members of OECD. Coordinated energy R&D could in principle lessen those stresses and also benefit other liquid fuel consumers. A political economy approach can help explain the tepid pursuit of this possibility in two ways. First, it can clarify the reasons for the weak collective action energy R&D record of the members of the OECD both before and after the oil events of 1973. Second, it can demonstrate and identify the nature of the undersupply of the public good of energy knowledge. The history of this area illustrates several general obstacles to the provision of public goods in realistically complex political situations. These include the uncertain and distant nature of commitments to actually deliver collective goods in the absense of self-enforcing agreements, unwillingness to jeopardize possible future private advantages, and the tendencies to link provision of particular public goods to cooperation by other parties with the provider on a host of other matters. In effect, the attempts of particular statesmen to tie energy R&D cooperation to other issues reinforce tendencies to view the choices not as ones about the level of provision of public goods, but rather as ones about national shares of private goods—economic, military, and political.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9s10 ◽  
pp. 69-98
Author(s):  
Hongyi Lai

For over a decade China has been the predominant carbon emitter in the global economy. It is thus imperative for us to understand the factors behind its climate change policy in the past decades. In the article, the author surveys the evolution of China�s climate change policy during 1990�2021 and applies theories from international relations and international political economy to explain it. It is found that (neo-)realism/nationalism and liberalism, two main theories in the field, offer only a partial explanation of China�s climate policy. The most effective theory is domestic sources. In particular, leadership power consolidation and a concern with economic growth seem to dictate China�s climate policy. The findings point to the analytical utility of domestic political economy in accounting for the climate stances of nation-states. Policy suggestions for external parties to interact with China on climate change are proposed. There the importance of involving China in global action against climate change, as well as the utility of the economy and trade leverage, soft power standing, and the prevention of extreme weather are discussed.


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