The state of the study of the market in political economy: China’s rise shines light on conceptual shortcomings

2020 ◽  
pp. 102452942096552
Author(s):  
Pascale Massot
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
The State ◽  
Global Markets ◽  
China’S Rise ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
Classical Political Economy ◽  
China's Rise ◽  
Definition Of

The minimalist, atomistic classical liberal definition of markets is dominant in the global political economy literature, if often implicitly so. But major shifts are occurring in the 21st century, including China’s rise, which highlight the deficiencies of this definition and challenge us to develop fresh tools to conceptualize global markets. There are three ways in which China’s emergence challenges established market conceptualizations: the continued resilience of China’s authoritarian state-led capitalist economic model, China’s positioning around notions of power and fairness in the global economy, and China’s mixed preferences regarding global markets. The study of China’s rise, far from only impressing upon us how different China is, shines a light on dynamics that are prevalent everywhere, yet suffer from a lack of attention. This paper argues that the political economy literature is limiting the development of richer conceptualizations of the market because it operates within three conceptual ‘straitjackets’: the notion of the pure market as ideal- type, the state-market dichotomy and the notion of a sequential progression towards a market economy. The fact that markets are an underdefined concept deprives us of useful tools for elucidating important questions about markets in the global economy and limits our capacity to evaluate China’s impact on global markets. Drawing from diverse literatures, from comparative politics, to classical political economy and economic sociology, this paper develops an institutionally grounded set of tools, including a list of characteristics and a typology, to define, evaluate and compare markets, and inspire others to contribute to the endeavour.

scholarly journals Livelihood, Market and State: What does A Political Economy Predicated on the ‘Individual-in-Group-in-PLACE’ Actually Look Like?

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (15) ◽  
pp. 4082 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Quilley ◽  
Katharine Zywert
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
High Energy ◽  
The State ◽  
Global Markets ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Welfare Systems ◽  
Market State ◽  
State And Market ◽  
The Individual

Ecological economics has relied too much on priorities and institutional conventions defined by the high energy/throughput era of social democracy. Future research should focus on the political economy of a survival unit (Elias) based upon Livelihood as counterbalance to both State and Market. Drawing on the work of Polanyi, Elias, Gellner and Ong, capitalist modernization is analyzed in terms of the emergence of a society of individuals and the replacement of the survival units of place-bound bound family and community by one in which the State acts in concert with the Market. The operation of welfare systems is shown to depend upon ongoing economic growth and a continual flow of fiscal resources. The politics of this survival unit depends upon high levels of mutual identification and an affective-cognitive ‘we imaginary’. Increasing diversity, a political rejection of nationalism as a basis for politics and limits to economic growth, are likely to present an existential threat to the State–Market survival unit. A reversal of globalization, reconsolidation of the nation-state, a reduction in the scope of national and global markets and the expansion of informal processes of manufacture and distribution may provide a plausible basis for a hybrid Livelihood–Market–State survival unit. The politics of such a reorientation would straddle the existing left–right divide in disruptive and unsettling ways. Examples are given of pre-figurative forms of reciprocation and association that may be indicative of future arrangements.

Globalization through Feminist Lenses

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela B. McCracken
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Conceptual Development ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
Global Markets ◽  
Feminist Scholarship ◽  
Feminist Literature ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
Feminist Perspectives ◽  
Definition Of

Feminist scholarship has contributed to the conceptual development of globalization by including more than merely the expansion and integration of global markets. Feminist perspectives on globalization are necessarily interdisciplinary; their definitions and what they bring to discussions of globalization are naturally shaped by differing disciplinary commitments. In the fields of International Relations (IR) and International Political Economy (IPE), feminists offer four major contributions to globalization scholarship: they bring into relief the experiences and agency of women and other marginalized subjects within processes of globalization; they highlight the gendered aspects of the processes of globalization; they offer critical insights into non-gender-sensitive globalization discourses and scholarship; they propose new ways of conceiving of globalization and its effects that make visible women, women’s agency, and gendered power relations. The feminist literature on globalization, however, is extensively interdisciplinary in nature rather than monolithic or unified. The very definition of key concepts such as globalization, gender, and feminism are not static within the literature. On the contrary, the understanding of these terms and the evolution of their conceptual meanings are central to the development of the literature on globalization through feminist perspectives. There are at least four areas of feminist scholarship on globalization that are in the early stages of development and deserve further attention: the intersection between men/masculinities and globalization; the effects of globalization on women privileged by race, class, and/or nation; the gendered aspects of the globalization of media and signs; and the need for feminists to continue undertaking empirical research.

The Political Economy of Ethiopia from the Imperial Period to the Present

2019 ◽  
pp. 32-47
Author(s):  
Christopher Clapham
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Developmental State ◽  
The State ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Economic Exploitation ◽  
Rapid Economic Growth ◽  
Imperial Period

Ethiopia’s political economy has historically been shaped by two key factors: the strength of the state, and the divergence between the sources of political power, concentrated in the northern highlands, and of economic power, concentrated in the southern and western regions incorporated in the late nineteenth century. These features were intensified under both imperial (1941–74) and revolutionary (1974–91) regimes that used a greatly strengthened state to promote development programmes that rested on the economic exploitation of politically marginalized regions. The EPRDF regime, in office since 1991, has addressed these problems through a federal system designed to rectify historical imbalances in political power, combined with a ‘developmental state’ that drew on East Asian models to generate rapid economic growth through incorporation into the global economy, while retaining a strong role for the state. Despite the impressive successes of this programme, problems derived from the historical structure of Ethiopian statehood inevitably remain.

Introduction: China’s Rise in the Global Economy

2011 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor D. Lippit ◽  
Ron Baiman ◽  
David Kotz ◽  
Mehrene Larudee ◽  
Minqi Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Global Economy ◽  
China’S Rise ◽  
China's Rise

scholarly journals An den Grenzen des American Empire

2015 ◽  
Vol 45 (181) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Schmalz
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
American Empire ◽  
Global Political Economy ◽  
Trade Routes ◽  
China’S Rise ◽  
Active Player ◽  
The Us ◽  
China's Rise ◽  
Other World

During the last decade, China has become an active player in global political economy. China’s rise has led to important structural changes: First, China is close to replace the US as the “consumer of last resort” in the world economy, thus, being able to influence states and companies in other world regions by granting or restricting access to its huge domestic market. Second, China is heavily investing in infrastructure and commodity supply chains in the Global South, thereby gaining control over important trade routes. And, third, China has become a major creditor of several governments, thus, challenging US-dominated international financial institutions such as the IMF. The paper draws on World-Systems Analysis in order to give an assessment of these developments. Even though China’s influence in global political economy is likely to continue to grow, internal and external factors (China’s increasing economic woes and the US counterstrategy in East Asia) might stall China’s rise.

scholarly journals Structural power and political science in the post-crisis era

2015 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 391-409 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pepper D. Culpepper
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
International Relation ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
The State ◽  
Global Capitalism ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Comparative Political Economy ◽  
Structural Power ◽  
Political Actors ◽  
New Generation

This essay highlights productive ways in which scholars have reanimated the concept of structural power to explain puzzles in international and comparative politics. Past comparative scholarship stressed the dependence of the state on holders of capital, but it struggled to reconcile this supposed dependence with the frequent losses of business in political battles. International relation (IR) scholars were attentive to the power of large states, but mainstream IR neglected the ways in which the structure of global capitalism makes large companies international political players in their own right. To promote a unified conversation between international and comparative political economy, structural power is best conceptualized as a set of mutual dependencies between business and the state. A new generation of structural power research is more attentive to how the structure of capitalism creates opportunities for some companies (but not others) vis-à-vis the state, and the ways in which that structure creates leverage for some states (but not others) to play off companies against each other. Future research is likely to put agents – both states and large firms – in the foreground as political actors, rather than showing how the structure of capitalism advantages all business actors in the same way against non-business actors.

Bargaining, Consent and the Just Wage in the Sources of Scholastic Economic Thought

1998 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 467-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edd S. Noell
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Policy ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Economic Justice ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
The State ◽  
Classical Political Economy ◽  
Fair Wage ◽  
Voluntary Basis ◽  
Policy Discussion

Economic justice in the labor market is an abiding issue of economic policy. Concerns regarding fair pay or just compensation were addressed in classical political economy and continue to be the objects of policy discussion. What constitutes a fair wage? How is a fair wage to be determined? Will competition in the labor market ensure that a fair wage is established? Should employers be required by the State, or persuaded on a voluntary basis, to pay wages that maintain a family's dignity and honor?

State, market, and the manufacturing of war memory: China’s television dramas on the war of resistance against Japan

2021 ◽  
pp. 175069802110243
Author(s):  
Yi Wang ◽  
Matthew M. Chew
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Collective Memory ◽  
Identity Politics ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
War Memory ◽  
Authoritarian State ◽  
Commercial Media ◽  
War Of Resistance ◽  
Market Factor

Remembering the War of Resistance against Japan is central to China’s memory and identity politics. By focusing on the production of China’s War of Resistance television dramas, this study analyzes how collective memory is shaped by market actors and their interactions with the state. The first substantive section investigates how commercial media and the state cooperate in the production of War of Resistance television dramas. The second explicates how market actors undermine the state’s ideological imperatives by adding entertainment content to repackage war memory, which then conflicts with the propagandistic task. This study contributes to introducing the market factor to research on the remembering of War of Resistance in China and enriching the political economy of memory approach by examining an authoritarian state-capitalist case, which is centrally characterized by these cooperative and conflictual relations between the state and the market.

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