Africa faces the challenge of ‘choiceless democracy’

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Organised Crime ◽  
Economic Recovery ◽  
Irregular Migration ◽  
Weak State ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
Peace And Development

Significance Behind both phenomena lies popular frustration with the perceived inability of democracy to deliver peace and development, and an absence of manifest differences in socio-economic fortunes despite changes in governments, in what has become known as ‘choiceless democracy’. Impacts Political instability will undermine national and foreign direct investment, and therefore economic recovery. Instability and economic difficulties may fuel irregular migration to Europe and the Middle East. Weak state capacity creates possibilities for the emergence of insurgencies, terrorist groups and organised crime.

scholarly journals Does foreign direct investment influence manufacturing sector growth in Middle East and North African region?

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chukwuebuka Bernard Azolibe
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
North African ◽  
Outward Fdi ◽  
African Region ◽  
Mena Region ◽  
Effective Utilization ◽  
Content Type

PurposeThis study empirically assessed the influence of foreign direct investment on the manufacturing sector growth in the Middle East and North African region using panel data of 18 countries covering the period of 1975–2017.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed Levin et al. (2002) test (LLC) and Im et al. (2003) panel unit root test. Furthermore, Kao’s cointegration test was applied to examine the long-run relationship between the variables. Both the Dynamic OLS and Fully modified OLS were used in estimating the short-run relationship.FindingsThe results of the DOLS and FMOLS indicate that both inward and outward FDI influence the manufacturing sector growth positively. This shows that much of the manufacturing sector growth in the MENA region is driven by both inward and outward FDI. Our findings made a strong new proposition that aside from the negative influence proposed by Stevens and Lipsey (1992), outward FDI could also have a positive influence on the manufacturing sector of a country through effective utilization of domestic raw materials that are produced locally for production of goods in a foreign country.Practical implicationsMENA countries should concentrate more on making policies that will encourage the effective utilization of domestic resources for outward foreign direct investment in other countries of the world as it has the capacity to boost the manufacturing sector growth. Also, policies that will attract more inflows of FDI in the region should be encouraged. Both inward and outward FDI should be considered as an integral part of MENA economic policy in order to spur the manufacturing sector growth.Originality/valuePrevious empirical studies on the relationship between FDI and manufacturing sector growth have focused much on the influence of inward FDI. Thus, very little attention has been paid to the contribution that the outward FDI makes to the growth of the manufacturing sector of the host country. Our empirical study focused on the influence of both inward and outward FDI on the manufacturing sector growth with specific emphasis on the MENA region that remains the center of attraction of inward FDI and a source of inward FDI to most nonoil producing developing and developed countries given the oil-rich nature of the region.

Political manoeuvring will be key for Ecuador’s Lasso

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Vaccination Programme ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Economic Recovery ◽  
Content Type ◽  
National Assembly ◽  
Economic Liberalism ◽  
The Social ◽  
International Investors

Significance The conservative alliance that supported his election collapsed in mid-May, after his Creating Opportunities (CREO) failed to back the Social Christian Party (PSC) candidate for the National Assembly presidency, instead supporting Guadalupe Llori of the indigenous Pachakutik (PK). The decision illustrates the challenges that await Lasso as he attempts to navigate a legislature in which CREO has few seats. Impacts International investors will be buoyed by Lasso’s economic liberalism. Responsibility for economic recovery will fall largely on the private sector, making Ecuador more reliant on foreign direct investment. Lasso will hope to win popular support and build legitimacy by accelerating the COVID-19 vaccination programme.

Weak State, Strong Networks: The Institutional Dynamics of Foreign Direct Investment in China. By Hongying Wang. [Hong Kong: Oxford University Press, 2001. xiii+211 pp. HK$150.00. ISBN 019-590631-4.]

2002 ◽  
Vol 172 ◽  
pp. 1065-1103
Author(s):  
Qi Luo
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
New Institutional Economics ◽  
Regime Theory ◽  
Weak State ◽  
Institutional Dynamics ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
Investment In China

This is a competent work that challenges the claim of new institutional economics and international regime theory that effective state institutions in the host country are vital to the inflow, and indeed growth, of foreign direct investment (FDI). It argues that the large amount of FDI China has attracted so far has been facilitated more by the informal societal institutions represented by strong personal networks operating in the country than by the formal state institutions manifested by the weak legal system. The author validates her arguments with a large number of anecdotes based on over 100 interviews she conducted in China.

Combatting organised crime and terrorism in Central Asia

2018 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma van Santen
Keyword(s):  
Central Asia ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Organised Crime ◽  
The State ◽  
State Crime ◽  
International Policy ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Central Asian ◽  
Terrorist Groups

Purpose This paper aims to examine the shift away from the traditional distinction between organised crime and terrorist groups towards their conceptual convergence under the crime-terror nexus narrative in the context of international security and development policy in post-Soviet Central Asia. It assesses the empirical basis for the crime-terror and state-crime nexus in three Central Asian countries – Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan – and argues that the exclusion of the state from the analytical framework undermines the relevance of the crime-terror paradigm for policy-making. Design/methodology/approach This paper draws on a literature review of academic research, recent case studies highlighting new empirical evidence in Central Asia and international policy publications. Findings There is a weak empirical connection between organised crime and Islamic extremists, such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan and Hizbut Tahrir, in Central Asia. The state-crime paradigm, including concepts of criminal capture, criminal sovereignty and criminal penetration, hold more explanatory power for international policy in Central Asia. The crime-terror paradigm has resulted in a narrow and ineffective security-oriented law enforcement approach to counter-narcotics and counter-terrorism but does not address the underlying weak state governance structures and political grievances that motivate organised crime and terrorist groups respectively. Originality/value International policy and scholarship is currently focussed on the areas of convergence between organised crime and terrorist groups. This paper highlights the continued relevance of the traditional conceptual separation of terrorist and organised crime groups based on their different motives, methods and relationship with the state, for security and democratic governance initiatives in the under-researched Central Asian region.

scholarly journals Technology-sourcing investment abroad as an enhancer of Chinese MNEs’ innovative capabilities

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Gugler ◽  
Laura Vanoli
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Citation Analysis ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Knowledge Diffusion ◽  
Technological Capabilities ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Chinese Mnes ◽  
Firm Knowledge ◽  
Innovative Capabilities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to focus on Chinese firms’ innovation processes that are induced by foreign direct investment abroad. The study uses a patent and citation analysis to examine the extent to which investments abroad contribute to enhancing these firms’ innovative capabilities. More specifically, this study focusses on the role of foreign location competitiveness as an asset to provide technological capabilities to Chinese affiliates. Design/methodology/approach – Patents are good indicators of firms’ innovative capabilities. Moreover, patents allow to track the inter-firm knowledge transfer through the citations of patents on which they are based. The authors use an OECD patent database called “OECD REGPAT July 2013” that compiles patents registered with the European Patent Office (EPO) over the period from 1986 to 2013. The authors focus the analysis on patents registered by Chinese multinational enterprises’ (MNEs) based in Europe because the authors assume inter alia that innovations patented by Chinese affiliates in Europe are registered with the EPO. The sample comprises 3,010 patents involving 5,749 citations that the authors have individually examined. Findings – The findings suggest that Chinese MNEs ability to generate innovation based on their own knowledge is low, with a self-citation rate of approximately 4 percent. Patents by Chinese MNEs are largely based on foreign patents, especially from developed economies (at least 90 percent). The citation analysis also suggests that 39.2 percent of citations represent domestic firms in the local recipient country. This subgroup of citations is categorized as follows: 1.04 percent are M&A linkages, 13.8 percent are cluster linkages, and 24.36 percent are localization linkages. The remaining 60.8 percent of the total sample demonstrates that firms do not necessarily need to be collocated in foreign locations with domestic firms to exchange assets. Research limitations/implications – Patent and citation analysis considers only a part of the inter-firm knowledge diffusion. Some innovations are not patented and tacit knowledge diffusion is not observable. Moreover, the analysis focusses only on Chinese outward foreign direct investment to Europe, but a large part of knowledge is accumulated in China thanks to inward foreign direct investment. Originality/value – Many scholars have scrutinized emerging markets multinational enterprises’ strategic asset-seeking investments abroad that are designed to upgrade the companies’ technological capabilities (Cui and Jiang, 2009; Zhang and Filippov, 2009; Huang and Wang, 2013; Amighini et al., 2014; De Beule et al., 2014; Nicolas, 2014). However, few studies analyze the results of these strategies in terms of innovation output.

Neither side is ready to step back in Georgian crisis

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
The United States ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Eu Membership ◽  
National Movement ◽  
Election Victory ◽  
Political Turmoil

Significance The authorities went ahead with the arrest of Nika Melia, leader of the opposition United National Movement (UNM), on February 23 even after the prime minister resigned in protest. Georgian Dream's actions have caused concern in Western capitals that approved its election victory when the opposition cried foul. Impacts The crisis is a setback for the government's stated plan to apply for EU membership in 2024. There is growing talk in the United States about individual sanctions targeting Ivanishvili and his associates. Political turmoil will harm hopes of foreign direct investment and the imminent Anaklia port tender.

India’s vaccine diplomacy brings money and influence

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
The United States ◽  
Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Pharmaceutical Ingredients ◽  
The World

Significance Last week, its partners in the ‘Quad’ grouping -- the United States, Japan and Australia -- agreed to help increase its vaccine manufacturing and exporting capacity. Each of the Quad members is wary of China, which like India is gifting and selling coronavirus jabs around the world. Impacts India’s manufacturing sector will attract more foreign direct investment. Greater cooperation over supply chains will help strengthen India-Australia ties. Indian pharma will in the long term aim to ease dependence on imports of active pharmaceutical ingredients from China.

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