scholarly journals Capitalizing Asian Studies: Critical Scholarship and the Production of Knowledge in a Globalizing World

Author(s):  
Tim Oakes

This paper explores the implications of the related trends of economic globalization and the corporatization of higher education in the United States for Asian area studies scholarship. It argues that the scales at which geographical knowledge is produced are increasingly in flux due to the shift in global political economy. Area studies scholarship is subsequently left scrambling to both understand this shift and make its knowledge production somehow relevant and valuable in an arena in which knowledge about Asia is being produced and diffused from an increasingly diverse array of sources. In response, the paper suggests that more attention to the production of scale is needed if area studies scholars are to comprehend the changing relationship between our categories of geographic knowledge and global political economy.

Author(s):  
Renée Marlin-Bennett

The concept of international political economy (IPE) encompasses the intersection of politics and economics as goods, services, money, people, and ideas move across borders. The term “international political economy” began to draw the attention of scholars in the mid-1960s amid problems of the world economy and lagging development in the third world. IPE was later replaced by the term “global political economy” (GPE) in recognition of the fact that what happens in the world is not only about interactions between states, and that the global political economy includes many different kinds of actors. In general, GPE better suits the reality of a globalizing world. Early works that explored the relationship between economic activities and state interests originated long before the term “political economy” was coined. Examples are those by Aristotle, Kautilya, Ibn Khaldun, and Niccolò Machiavelli. Adam Smith used the word “mercantilism” to describe the various theories and policies on how states should intervene in markets in order to increase wealth and power. “Mercantilism” was supplanted by “economic nationalism” in the twentieth century, followed by classical liberalism, neoliberal institutionalism, and neoclassical liberalism. Whereas both mercantilism and economic nationalism emphasize state power and state interests, liberal writers such as John Locke and Immanuel Kant argue that possessive individualism and the individual are the bearer of rights. Other major schools of thought that have conceptualized important concepts, relationships, and causal understandings in IPE include Marxism and its variants, feminist approaches, and communitarianism.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (04) ◽  
pp. 733-739 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rahel Kunz

Recent discussions over similarities and differences between feminist security studies (FSS) and feminist global political economy (FGPE) approaches invite us to reflect on the underlying assumptions about knowledge production within feminist international relations (IR) more broadly (Allison 2015; Enloe 2015; see also the introduction to this forum). I use Nepali women ex-combatants’ life stories to make two specific points relating to these discussions. First, I illustrate how the separation of security and political economy issues cannot fully account for their life experiences. Second, and by way of overcoming this separation, I show how by beginning with life stories, we can develop a holistic analysis that challenges the broader Eurocentric politics of feminist IR knowledge production.


2016 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 979-1000 ◽  
Author(s):  
ISABEL FEICHTNER

AbstractHow can I as an international lawyer, conscious that international law is deeply implicated in today's global injustices and that the course of history will not be changed by any grand legal design, practice law responsibly? Taking as a point of departure my own desire not to seek comfort in the formulation of a critique of law, but to aspire to a responsible practice, I consult two quite different bodies of work: first, critical theory of law and second, recent scholarship on international law that argues a practice guided by ethics may enhance the legitimacy of international law. I turn then to my own practice of international economic law focusing on my occasional role as legal expert on the so-called megaregionals the EU aims to conclude with Canada and the United States. I propose that the debate on international economic law lacks an investigation into the role of law in shaping political economy; that this lack can be explained by the compartmentalization of expertise which leads to justification gaps with respect to projects such as the megaregionals. One way lawyers can assume responsibility is to work on closing these gaps even if it means leaving the ‘inside’ of the legal discipline. Finally, I suggest that a responsible legal practice of social change might follow Roberto Unger's call for institutional imagination. Maybe I can satisfy my wish for a transformative practice by joining forces with friends in experimenting with institutions, hoping to build an alternative political economy.


2005 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-100
Author(s):  
Michael Salman

AbstractEvaluations of the success, viability, and future of Southeast Asian studies in the United States have long been characterized by pessimism, and also by a set of deeply rooted assumptions about what an area studies programme is supposed to be and what it requires to be successful. These assumptions concern not just institutional issues, but conceptions of what makes a region a proper unit for scholarly analysis, conceptions that invariably hinge on explicit or implicit comparisons to other regions. In this essay, I reverse the gaze of such evaluations by turning some of O.W. Wolter's classic notions about Southeast Asian cultures back upon the practice of Southeast Asianists, and by reversing some of the comparisons that are often used to demarcate Southeast Asia as both as distinctive region and a distinctively weak subject for successful area studies. Rather than accept such abstract and a priori notions about what Southeast Asian studies must be and what must be wrong with it, I propose instead a much more expansive, inclusive, and flexible definition of the field based upon the way it is practised in particular places and times. Such a performative model of Southeast Asian studies can take students, pedagogy, diaspora, and diverse transnational flows into account, while emphasizing all the more the importance of Southeast Asia as a field of scholarly and institutional collaboration.


2014 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica Owen ◽  
Dennis P. Quinn

Does increasing economic globalization influence aggregate policy mood toward the role and size of government in the United States? Drawing on insights from international political economy scholarship, this article suggests that the impact of trade on aggregate preferences will depend on citizens’ exposure to trade. It hypothesizes that employees of import-competing, export-oriented and multinational firms will adopt a ‘compensatory’ model in which higher levels of imports (exports) lead to a liberal (conservative) shift in policy preferences for more (less) government. It distinguishes between intrafirm and non-intrafirm trade flows. It measures policy mood using Stimson's ‘Mood’, and estimates Error Correction and Instrumental Variable models. Trade flows strongly influence Mood in a manner consistent with hypotheses drawn from international political economy and heterogeneous firms (or ‘new new’) trade theory.


2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (04) ◽  
pp. 710-715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Chisholm ◽  
Saskia Stachowitsch

Considerations to integrate feminist security studies (FSS) and global political economy (GPE) were first systematically reflected in the Critical Perspectives section of the June 2015 issue of this journal. That collection presented engaging essays on how the divide between the two fields has evolved and ways we can seek to overcome it—or, indeed, whether we should attempt to bridge the divide. This debate has gained momentum in workshops and conference panels attempting to build bridges between the two feminist subfields. Given the richness of scholarship associated with the two fields, we aim to continue this productive conversation by bringing new voices and ideas into the debate and by engaging in further possibilities for theoretical, methodological, and empirical advancement that allow for a more comprehensive approach to global gendered inequalities and hierarchies—one that is not disciplined by academic boundaries. With this, we hope to challenge the constructed and sometimes violently sustained borders between public and private, domestic and international, political and economic, Global North and Global South, as well as disciplinary “camp structures” (Parashar 2013) that too often shape academic, and also feminist, knowledge production.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 111-132
Author(s):  
Chikodiri Nwangwu ◽  
Chukwuemeka Enyiazu ◽  
Ejikeme Jombo Nwagwu ◽  
Christian C Ezeibe

Globalisation has promoted the connections among sovereign states in the international political economy. Despite the preponderance of neo-protectionist tendencies in the United States and some European countries, the import of regionalism in global political economy has not waned. While economic regionalism was adopted in the advanced capitalist formations as a logical consequence of and/or the instrument for the universalisation of capitalism, the emergence and/or revival of regional groupings like the African Union (AU) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) was a reactionary outcome of the twin problems of colonialism and globalisation. Specifically, West African states reached out to one another in order to mitigate the negative effects of globalisation and advance their common interest through economic integration. This study interrogates the relevance of ECOWAS in the international political economy within the global resurgence of protectionism. Although ECOWAS is impaired by multifarious political and socioeconomic challenges, this study demonstrates that its achievements in free movement of goods and persons, promotion of peace, security, good governance, and democratisation make it remain relevant in the global political economy.


2002 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 897-985

Kelly, Stéphane. Les fins du Canada: selon Macdonald, Laurier, Mackenzie King et Trudeau. Par François Charbonneau 900Cross, William, ed. Political Parties, Representation, and Electoral Democracy in Canada. By Nelson Wiseman 901Boisvert, Yves, Jacques Hamel et Marc Molgat, sous la direction de. Vivre la citoyenneté. Identité, appartenance et participation. Par Christian Nadeau 903Doern, G. Bruce, Arslan Dorman and Robert W. Morrison, eds. Canadian Nuclear Energy Policy: Changing Ideas, Institutions, and Interests. By Genevieve Fuji Johnson 906Seymour, Michel. Le pari de la démesure. L'intransigeance canadienne face au Québec. Par François Rocher 908Doran, Charles F. Why Canadian Unity Matters and Why Americans Care: Democratic Pluralism at Risk. By Garth Stevenson 910Bakvis, Herman and Grace Skogstad, eds. Canadian Federalism: Performance, Effectiveness, and Legitimacy. By Willem Maas 912Poitras, Guy. Inventing North America: Canada, Mexico and the United States. By Maureen Appel Molot 914Cuccioletta, Donald, Jean-François Côté et Frédéric Lesemann, sous la direction de. Le grand récit des Amériques. Polyphonie des identités culturelles dans le contexte de la mondialisation. Par Jean Rousseau 915Pue, W. Wesley, ed. Pepper in our Eyes: The APEC Affair. By Sharon A. Manna 918Delannoi, Gil et Pierre-André Taguieff, sous la direction de. Nationalismes en perspective. Par Frédéric Boily 920Stevenson, Garth. Community Besieged: The Anglophone Minority and the Politics of Quebec. By Stephen Brooks 923Mény, Yves and Yves Surel, eds. Democracies and the Populist Challenge; and Taggart, Paul. Populism. By Andrej Zaslove 924Gainsborough, Juliet F. Fenced Off: The Suburbanization of American Politics. By Andrew Sancton 927Sineau, Mariette. Profession : femme politique. Sexe et pouvoir sous la Cinquième république. Par Chantal Maillé 928Nissen, Bruce, ed. Which Direction for Organized Labor? Essays on Organizing, Outreach, and Internal Transformations. By Greg Albo 931Dashwood, Hevina S. Zimbabwe: The Political Economy of Transformation. By Sara Rich Dorman 933Bonin, Pierre-Yves, sous la direction de. Mondialisation : perspectives philosophiques. Par Hélène Pellerin 935Diamond, Larry and Ramon H. Myers, eds. Elections and Democracy in Greater China. By Jeremy Paltiel 936Polo, Anne-Lise. La Nef marrane : essai sur le retour du judaïsme aux portes de l'Occident. Par Sophie Régnière 939Hazony, Yoram. The Jewish State: The Struggle for Israel's Soul. By Neil Caplan and Rueven Shultz 941Embong, Abdul Rahman and Jurgen Rudolph, eds. Southeast Asia into the Twenty First Century: Crisis and Beyond. By Erik M. Kuhonta 943Sidjanski, Dusan. The Federal Future of Europe. From the European Community to the European Union. By Amy Verdun 945Capling, Ann. Australia and the Global Trade System: From Havana to Seattle. By Nobuaki Suyama 946Thompson, John B. Political Scandal: Power and Visibility in the Media Age. By Constantine J. Spiliotes 947Rozell, Mark J. and Clyde Wilcox, eds. The Clinton Scandal and the Future of American Government. By Hans Hacker 949Volkoff, Vladimir. Désinformations par l'image. Par Yves Laberge 952Graber, Doris A. Processing Politics: Learning from Television in the Internet Age. By Terri Susan Fine 952Delacampagne, Christian. Le philosophe et le tyran. Par Francis Dupuis- Déri 954Gaukroger, Stephen. Francis Bacon and the Transformation of Early- Modern Philosophy. By Travis D. Smith 955Grell, Ole Peter and Roy Porter, eds. Toleration in Enlightened Europe. By Jene M. Porter 957Murphy, Andrew R. Conscience and Community: Revisiting Toleration and Religious Dissent in Early Modern England and America. By Mark David Hall 959Todorov, Tzvetan. Frail Happiness: An Essay on Rousseau. By Rosanne Kennedy 960Braybrooke, David. Natural Law Modernized. By John von Heyking 962Munzer, Stephen R., ed. New Essays in the Legal and Political Theory of Property. By Rowan Cruft 964Dallmayr, Fred and José M. Rosales, eds. Beyond Nationalism? Sovereignty and Citizenship. By Josep Costa 966David, Charles-Philippe. La guerre et la paix : Approches contemporaines de la sécurité et la stratégie. Par Jean-Sébastien Rioux 967Deveaux, Monique. Cultural Pluralism and Dilemmas of Justice. By Philip Parvin 970Barry, Brian. Culture and Equality. By Patti Tamara Lenard 972Hampshire, Stuart. Justice is Conflict. By Colin Farrelly 975Miller, David and Sohail H. Hashmi, eds. Boundaries and Justice: Diverse Ethical Perspectives. By Seana Sugrue 976Cohen, Herman J. Intervening in Africa: Superpower Peacemaking in a Troubled Continent. By Carola Weil 978Nye, Joseph S. and John D. Donahue, eds. Governance in a Globalizing World. By William D. Coleman 980Rupert, Mark. Ideologies of Globalization: Contending Visions of a New World Order. By Stephen McBride 981Thomas, Daniel C. The Helsinki Effect: International Norms, Human Rights, and the Demise of Communism. By Morton Winston 982Stevis, Dimitris and Valerie J. Assetto, eds. The International Political Economy of the Environment. By Edward Sankowski 984


2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (184) ◽  
pp. 423-440 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Dietz ◽  
Bettina Engels ◽  
Oliver Pye

This article explores the spatial dynamics of agrofuels. Building on categories from the field of critical spatial theory, it shows how these categories enable a comprehensive analysis of the spatial dynamics of agrofuels that links the macro-structures of the global political economy to concrete, place-based struggles. Four core socio-spatial dynamics of agrofuel politics are highlighted and applied to empirical findings: territorialization, the financial sector as a new scale of regulation, place-based struggles and transnational spaces of resources and capital flows.


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