The European Union as a Security Actor in the Sahel

In the past decade, the EU has significantly stepped up its profile as a security actor in the Sahel. Drawing on historical institutionalism, we conceptualise path-dependencies and lock-in effects as elements of a “foreign policy entrapment” spiral to analyse the EU’s policies towards the Sahel. Specifically, we seek to explain the EU’s increasingly widened and deepened engagement in the region. Hence, this article traces the evolution of the EU’s Sahel policy both in discourse and implementation. We identify a predominant security narrative as well as a regionalisation narrative and show that EU action has followed these narratives. Based on this analysis, we argue that the evolution of the EU’s Sahel policy can be understood as a case of “foreign policy entrapment”. Initial decisions on the overall direction of EU foreign policy have created strong path-dependencies and lock-in effects that make it difficult for EU policy-makers to change the policy course.

Historical International Political Economy

The field of International Political Economy (IPE) is steeped in history; and most IPE scholarship today remains historical in a broad sense. Yet, IPE scholars have never been more diverse in their modes of engagement with history, in the influence they ascribe to the weight of history, or in their beliefs about the potential for human progress. This chapter analyzes each of these developments. First, it considers the field’s major modes of engaging history: holistic, comparative, and deep. This includes the use of both old and new historical methods, techniques, and approaches. The chapter then surveys the broad range of views scholars take on the influence of the past on subsequent outcomes, from accounts of strong path dependency to those of perennial change. Last, this chapter discusses the evergreen debates about whether, and how, studying the past can lead to our emancipation from it. Throughout, the chapter highlights opportunities for more “constructive engagement” across distinct bodies of scholarship.

Perception of Customers towards Employees in Organised Retail Sector

In India, retail sector has transformed as one of the most fast growing and very vibrant industry. In global retail industry ranking, India holds fifth position, Organised retail sector in the country has got 9% of market share in overall retail sector. Kerala being a biggest consumer market state in the country , future for the expansion of organized retail has a strong path way to expand further. The main objective of this study is to examine the importance of employee approach in the organised retail sector and to examine the perception of customers in organised retail sector towards the approach of store employees at the time of shopping. The study has been carried out in major retail chains in Kerala, which has got national presence. Stores such as Big Bazaar,Aditya Birla More, RPG Spencers, Reliance Fresh and Nilgiris were selected to perform the study. This study was conducted among 326 customers who visited the mentioned stores . The response were captured by administrating a structured questionnaire. The findings of the study shows that employee approach is significantly important to enhance customer experience in organsied retail sector. The study examines that helpful and courteous approach of employees plays a vital role to enhance customer experience in organized retail sector

Ideas, Individuals and Institutions: Notion and Practices of a European Electricity System

Based upon extensive multi-archival research, this article traces the long lineage of the notion of European electricity network. Since the 1930s engineers and policy makers conceived of a geographical conception for rationalising and optimising electricity supply: a European one. This article purports that three vectors undergirded threads of continuity: institutional, intellectual and physical (technological networks). These vectors, and the actors involved in them, created strong path dependencies that kept the idea of a European system firmly on the agenda. Today's international electricity market of the European Union should be seen as an extension of this legacy.

Persistence and change in interregional differences in entrepreneurship: England and Wales, 1921–2011

The paper explores time-persistence in interregional differences of self-employment rates in England and Wales in the 1921–2011 period by using census data. The results suggest a strong path-dependence in entrepreneurship as past self-employment rates have strong bearing on future ones. However, there is also some rank mobility reflected in the upward movements of London boroughs and downward movements of primarily coastal areas. Rank mobility relates to structural changes, changes in human capital, regional age structures and immigration.

Mega sporting events in Brazil: transformation and mercantilisation of cities

This paper illustrates the background against which preparations are being made in Brazil to host these mega sports events in the next few years and how the events are positioned in the global market today, hit by the financial and economic crisis. The authors describe the various paths taken by the country and its metropolises since 1980. They employ varied and many faceted theoretical concepts and highlight the specificities of the Brazilian contest compared to other areas of the world. The hypothesis is advanced that the historical transition of this South American giant holds contradictory dynamics, the resolution of which is defined in the field of national and local public policies designed to facilitate new forms of capitalist accumulation, but with strong ‘path dependency' mechanisms and processes which partly diverge between the state and the metropolitan plans.

Definitions, Diversity and Development: Key Debates in Family Business Research

This article begins with an examination of definitions of family firms. The debate about what constitutes a family firm is every bit as complex as the definition of an entrepreneur. This article explores the range of definitions but shows that any definition needs to be interpreted in its economic, social, institutional, and cultural context. An explanation for the multiplicity of definitions is provided in in this article, which explores the diversity in scale, scope, organization, and longevity of family firms, and shows differences through time in different societies and between families. The article also demonstrates the strong path dependency of family firm development, with change (or lack of it) underpinned by the foundations of the past. The article further explores research which compares the performance of family firms with non-family firms and this highlights the potential policy implications of family business research.