scholarly journals A Loosening Grip: Why Do Autocracies Engage in the Neoliberalization of Their Welfare Sectors?

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 140-164
Author(s):  
Ilia Viatkin ◽  
Kristina Komarova
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Qualitative Comparative Analysis ◽  
Authoritarian Regimes ◽  
The Political ◽  
Modernization Theory ◽  
Departure Point ◽  
The Public ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives

Despite the wealth of studies on neoliberalism, research on why authoritarian states engage in processes of neoliberalization remains scarce. Therefore, our article seeks to explore why autocracies use neoliberal power practices, which, as suggested by Foucauldian governmentality approach to neoliberalism, are understood as governance techniques aimed primarily at disciplining and controlling populations through promoting the free market as a key form of societal organization. Empirically, these power practices can manifest in a state’s withdrawal from the provision of welfare services. However, scholars have argued that control over the public sector is essential to the maintenance of authoritarian regimes, and hence, governments must have compelling reasons to opt for its neoliberalization. In this study, we employ three mutually nonexclusive theoretical perspectives that suggest incentives that may motivate autocrats to retreat from the welfare sector; these are the authoritarian legitimation, authoritarian modernization, and political economy perspectives. By means of a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis, we tested the foregoing theories on a sample of 42 autocracies active during 1980–2005. The results revealed that authoritarian modernization theory has the highest explanatory capacity, as it identifies two distinct pathways to public sector neoliberalization—internal and external policy considerations or one of the two—while the political economy perspective was an important theoretical concern in several cases. Overall, our paper contributes to research on the governmentality approach to neoliberalism and serves as a departure point for further investigations into neoliberal authoritarianism.

Structure and Coherence in the Political Economy of Public Finance

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanley L. Winer ◽  
Walter Hettich
Keyword(s):  
Public Finance ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Median Voter ◽  
Collective Choice ◽  
Voter Model ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Public ◽  
Median Voter Model ◽  
Key Issues

The article provides an outline of the economics of the public sector and of its structure when collective choice is regarded as an essential component of the analysis. It identifies the key issues that must be faced by political scientists and economists who insist that collective institutions cannot be ignored in research on taxation and public budgets. It also reviews various alternatives to the median voter model; these alternatives are frameworks that interpret public policies as equilibrium outcomes in a multidimensional setting.

All Shook Up?

2020 ◽  
pp. 157-174
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Chatterjee
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Economic Reforms ◽  
Rent Seeking ◽  
The State ◽  
The Political ◽  
State Autonomy ◽  
The Public ◽  
Indian State ◽  
Dominant Classes

The Political Economy and Development of India (PEDI) outlined highly influential theories of both the Indian state and its bureaucracy. Professionals within the public sector were one of Bardhan’s three competing dominant classes, yet he was also clear that the state was an autonomous actor distinct from the rent-seeking officials who populated its lower ranks. Three decades later, economic reforms have ostensibly challenged the public sector’s economic, ideological, and policy dominance. This chapter argues that the Indian system remains more statist—and correspondingly less ‘pro-business’—than many scholarly interpretations today allow. Nonetheless, elite public sector professionals have become fragmented that challenge their coherence as a class, while new obstacles to effective state autonomy have arisen from the nexus between politicians and the petty bureaucracy.

scholarly journals The Political Antieconomy of Transformations in CEE Countries

Ekonomika ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Povilas Gylys
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Methodological Individualism ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Public ◽  
Negative Side ◽  
Economic Reality

Transformations in CEE countries traditionally are studied in the framework of methodological individualism. As a result, the scope of economic analysis is reduced to the development of the private sector. Thereby, part of economic reality, namely the public sector; is excluded from economic reality. The holistic approach allows to overcome this shortcoming. Holistically perceived transformations encompass the whole economy - both the private and the public sectors. Furthermore, it opens the possibility to widen the scope of investigations by introducing the negative side of transformations in economy as a whole. Conceptualization of this side allows formulating the concept of antieconomy. Introduction of this concept and the extension, development of the political economy tradition give the opportunity to speak about a new direction of scientific explorations - political antieconomy of trasformations.

scholarly journals Social Status Concerns and the Political Economy of Publicly Provided Private Goods

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Friedrichsen ◽  
Tobias König ◽  
Tobias Lausen
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Majority Voting ◽  
The Political ◽  
Public Provision ◽  
Private Goods ◽  
The Public ◽  
Political Equilibrium ◽  
The Social

Abstract We analyse the political economy of the public provision of private goods when individuals care about their social status. Status concerns motivate richer individuals to vote for the public provision of goods they themselves buy in markets: a higher provision level attracts more individuals to the public sector, enhancing the social exclusivity of market purchases. Majority voting may lead to a public provision that only a minority of citizens use. Users in the public sector may enjoy better provision than users in the private system. We characterise the coalitions that can prevail in a political equilibrium.

scholarly journals The Nigerian State and Public Sector Management: A Political Economy Analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 5376-5383
Author(s):  
Igbokwe-Ibeto Chinyeaka Justine ◽  
Nwobi Fidelia ◽  
Nnaji Ifeoma Loretho
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Public Sector ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Class ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Public Sector Management ◽  
The Public ◽  
Material Condition ◽  
And Shifts

The colonial state emerged to serve the economic and political interests of the colonizing power. This state was created to formally organise the exploitation of the colonised territory in the interest of the metropolitan entity. Within the framework of political-economy theory, this article examined the Nigerian state and public sector management at the theoretical level with the aim of understanding the Nigerian state in terms of its integration into the global economy as a peripheral entity. The article relied on the political economy paradigm to explain the dynamics and shifts in the management of the public sector. The political economy approach is predicated on the primacy of material condition. The analysis of the economic sub-structure assists to account for, and explain the power politics behind the public sector management. This approach also elucidates on the character of the state, nature of its governing class and the mechanisms of domination. It concludes that, the Nigerian state and its actors have been major impediments to the deepening of the public sector management. The Nigerian state requires reconstituting in the sense that would make it humane, benevolent and less vulnerable to hijack by the political class.

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