scholarly journals Mercantilist origins of capitalism and its legacies: from birth to decline of Western hegemony

2011 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 51-87
Author(s):  
Kari Polanyi Levitt ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Mergers And Acquisitions ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Financial Capital ◽  
Productive Capacity ◽  
European Expansion ◽  
Cheap Labor ◽  
American Hegemony ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
Peripheral Production ◽  
Western Hegemony

In this paper we trace capitalism from its origins in European expansion by commerce and conquest to the financialization of Western economies and the unraveling of Anglo–American hegemony. We emphasize continuities in the domination of metropolitan capital over peripheral production from the slave plantations to the outsourcing of manufacturing to cheap labor locations by multinational corporations. But the subordination of production to powerful agglomerations of commercial and financial capital has now penetrated the Western heartlands of capitalism, where rampant financialization is destroying productive capacity and has precipitated the most serious crisis since the 1930s. This predatory style of capitalism is more concerned with the accumulation of wealth by financial manipulation, mergers and acquisitions, privatization of public assets, and dispossession of peoples in distant lands than with investment in productive capacity. In this sense we may regard contemporary Western capitalism as a return to its mercantile commercial origins.

Foreign Direct Investment

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yilmaz Akyüz
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Direct Investment ◽  
Mergers And Acquisitions ◽  
Financial Markets ◽  
Foreign Exchange ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
Balance Of Payments ◽  
Productive Capacity ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Direct Contribution ◽  
High Profit

Recent years have also seen increased openness of EDEs to foreign direct investment (FDI) in search for faster growth and greater stability. However, FDI is one of the most ambiguous and least understood concepts in international economics. Common debate is confounded by several myths regarding its nature and impact. It is often portrayed as a stable, cross-border flow of capital that adds to productive capacity and meets foreign exchange shortfalls. However, the reality is far more complex. FDI does not always involve inflows of financial or real capital. Greenfield investment, unlike mergers and acquisitions, makes a direct contribution to productive capacity, but can crowd out domestic investors. FDI can induce significant instability in currency and financial markets. Its immediate contribution to balance-of-payments may be positive, but its longer-term impact is often negative because of high-profit remittances and import contents.

scholarly journals (Im)mobile Geographies

2013 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Minca
Keyword(s):  
Academic Work ◽  
Academic Careers ◽  
International Literature ◽  
University Management ◽  
American Hegemony ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Good Research

Abstract. The growing tendency to evaluate – sometimes even ''measure'' – the ''productivity'' of academics is seriously affecting what we consider to be relevant geographical output. This tendency is also significantly reshaping the actual geographies of the disciplinary debate, by introducing important debates about the relationship between one English speaking mainstream international literature and the different national schools. However, the related discussion on the Anglo-American hegemony in geography seems to be strongly influenced by the growing request on the part of university management to identify ways of ''ranking'' good research and how to respond to the increasing internationalization of academic work. This paper will discuss the effects of neoliberal agendas on how geographical work is promoted, produced and circulated in Europe, with different results in different contexts; in some cases originating perverse impacts on the quality of geographical work; in others, creating the opportunity for innovative agendas and for more transparent ways of managing academic careers.

scholarly journals Contextualising Late-Nineteenth-Century Feminism: Problems and Comparisons

2006 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-36
Author(s):  
Judith Allen
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Women's Movements ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Western Countries ◽  
American Experience ◽  
American Hegemony ◽  
History Of ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
Sexual Cultures ◽  
International Character

Abstract Histories of feminism since the 1970s have generally observed national and regional boundaries. In view of the international character of women's movements in western countries since the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the neglect of comparative approaches has been unfortunate. The outcome is parochialism and inwardness, as feminist historians evaluate feminists of the past according to current preoccupations, in a cycle of identification and repudiation. An Anglo-American hegemony in the field is identified as is the consequent and pervasive “Northern Hemispherism” it ordains (notwithstanding an almost invariable omission of Canadian feminist experience). Advantages of comparative, international approaches to the history of feminism are not confined to the virtues of representativeness and comprehensiveness. Rather, major causal and chronological schema generalised from Anglo-American experience stand to beproblematised and revised in more useful directions. Most significantly, comparative studies of feminism permit due recognition of the fact that feminism emerged relatively contiguously across western countries in response to relatively common international characteristics of transformations in sexual patternings and sexual cultures.

scholarly journals Is it the end of North-American hegemony? A structuralist perspective on Arrighi’s systemic cycles of accumulation and the theory of hegemonic stability

2018 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 434-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARCOS VINICIUS ISAIAS MENDES
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
North American ◽  
International System ◽  
The United States ◽  
The North ◽  
Global Power ◽  
Terrorist Groups ◽  
American Hegemony ◽  
Theory Of Hegemonic Stability ◽  
Hegemonic Stability

ABSTRACT The paper aims to present some aspects of the debate about the end of the hegemony of the United States, in light of the theories of systemic cycles of accumulation and hegemonic stability. Among the conclusions, the paper shows that the North-American hegemony is diminishing not only because of the emergence of new powerful countries, such as China, but because the international system, composed by new powerful actors such as multinational corporations, global cities, religious organizations and transnational terrorist groups, is diminishing the means by which the US has exercised its global power since the mid twentieth century.

scholarly journals Vitoria, Suárez, and Grotius: James Brown Scott’s Enduring Revival

Grotiana ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 137-162
Author(s):  
Mark Somos ◽  
Joshua Smeltzer
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
American Exceptionalism ◽  
The United States ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
United States Constitution ◽  
Institutional Work ◽  
Hugo Grotius ◽  
American Hegemony ◽  
The Face ◽  
Anglo American

This article recovers James Brown Scott’s conviction in American exceptionalism, a belief that underlay both his institutional work as well as his understanding of the origins and trajectory of international law. In the first section, we discuss Scott’s interpretation of Hugo Grotius as part of his tactic to make US foreign affairs policies and perspectives more compelling by presenting them as universal. In the second section, we argue that Scott’s writings on the Spanish origins of international law were in fact meant to protect Anglo-American hegemony and US influence in the Americas in the face of rapidly changing geopolitical pressures. In the final section we suggest that Scott’s US exceptionalism is reflected in his use of the United States Constitution and Supreme Court as a model for key international organizations. We conclude that Scott reframed Vitoria not to redress American bias but to enshrine it.

Bank caution will make Russian firms draw on own funds

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Mergers And Acquisitions ◽  
Economic Recovery ◽  
Productive Capacity ◽  
Fixed Asset ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Domestic Capital ◽  
Investment Rates ◽  
Growth Prospects

Subject Financing sources for Russian companies. Significance Low investment rates in the last three years have led to substantial fixed asset deterioration. Russian companies are trying to make better use of existing assets instead of renewing productive capacity, and the main source of investment is their own funds. Impacts As EU and US sanctions persist, Russia will strive to boost domestic capital markets. Prolonged low investment will restrict economic growth prospects for the medium-to-long term. Insufficient investment will limit productivity and undermine product competitiveness. Signs of economic recovery may boost mergers and acquisitions.

Chinese multinationals’ FDI motivations: suggestion for a new theory

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 70-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Byung Il Park ◽  
Taewoo Roh
Keyword(s):  
Mergers And Acquisitions ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Emerging Market ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Foreign Direct Investments ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Developed Economies ◽  
Chinese Mncs

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to complement the conventional international business (IB) theory, the OLI perspective, which is good at explaining the foreign direct investments (FDIs) undertaken by developed market multinational corporations (DMNCs). This study also suggests a new theoretical framework, namely, the OILL paradigm, that is able to encompass FDIs from emerging market multinational corporations (EMNCs) toward developed economies. Design/methodology/approach The data comprising 206 Chinese MNCs, which completed international mergers and acquisitions (IMAs), were obtained from Zephyr. By using these data, logical regressions are conducted to statistically confirm that we should not omit the learning motivation if we want to adequately understand the FDI phenomenon by encompassing investment flow from developing (or emerging) to developed countries. Findings The results based on this data set indicate that EMNCs often try to enter developed economies with the motivation to seek sophisticated foreign host knowledge that is not available internally. In particular, they tend to use IMA strategies when they want to learn from heterogeneity (i.e. inter-industry mergers and acquisitions) and absorb advanced technologies from DMNCs. Research limitations/implications By shedding light on the recent new trend in FDI (i.e. FDI from emerging countries to developed economies), the study provides useful theoretical implications, as well as suggesting scholarly contributions. However, we should acknowledge that there are some limitations to this study. First, the study explores only Chinese MNCs. Second, learning motivations need to be minutely and precisely measured by other studies. Third, this study argues that FDI from EMNCs to DMNCs is triggered by the former’s motivation concerning knowledge acquisition. However, the type of knowledge should be considered, and this is perhaps another avenue for future research. Practical implications Conventional IB theories, such as the OLI paradigm and internalization theory, have long sought to answer the question of why DMNCs go for foreign markets, in spite of the presence of the liabilities of foreignness, and focused on their main investment motivations (i.e. market-seeking, efficiency-seeking and resource-seeking motivations). For this reason, these theories do not adequately capture the primary FDI motivations of EMNCs, and consequently, they are unable to see the big picture when it comes to the FDI phenomenon. Based on this idea, the authors complement the well-known triad motivations (i.e. market-seeking, efficiency-seeking and resource-seeking motivations) by adding the knowledge-seeking motive and contribute to the evolution of IB theories by suggesting a new theory, which is the OILL paradigm. Originality/value The study contributes to the extant literature in the field of IB in two key ways. First, it examines EMNCs’ central motivations in conducting FDI where empirical research is sparse. By doing this, this paper attempts to solve the query indicated above (i.e. why MNCs choose FDI in spite of the presence of the liabilities of foreignness), and it offers a new theory (i.e. the OILL paradigm).

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