David Fasenfest

Bio: David Fasenfest is an academic researcher from Wayne State University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Politics & Globalization. The author has an hindex of 12, co-authored 62 publications receiving 1524 citations. Previous affiliations of David Fasenfest include Loyola University Chicago & University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee.

Globalization and its Discontents

Abstract: In this issue of the journal, William Robinson offers his analysis of the rise of transnational elites emerging outside of the traditional frame of nation-based capitalism. What is significant, in large part, is that unlike their national-capital predecessors, this new cadre has little concern for all that we refer to as social reproduction, industrialization, and local development. In its place, argues Robinson, are elites guided by a definition of global development rooted in the expansion of global markets and the integration of national economies into a global capitalist reality. This picture is a logical extension of a narrative that takes capitalism from a period of internationalization to globalization, and while the distinction between these two periods of capitalist development remains somewhat unclear we can agree significant changes are underway. The pages of this journal have recently explored the nature of class politics in globalization (Berberoglu, 2009; Kollmeyer, 2003; and Sakellaropoulos, 2009), the reconceptualization of globalization through a gender lens (Acker, 2004; Gottfried, 2004; and Ng, 2004), the impact of globalization on workers (Archibald, 2009a, 2009b) and the way the rhetoric of the core penetrates other regions of a globalizing economy (Barahona, 2011). Robinson’s article, and the critical exchange between Robinson and commentators in this issue, shifts our attention away from what we mean by globalization and its impact, and towards the question of who now manages this new global economy and what that means. The neoliberal agenda, and apparently the focus of transnational elites, is the expansion and reliance on ‘the market’ and a return to pure laissez-faire practices. The role of markets is the central piece, for example, in the current efforts to restructure the failing economies in Europe and the underpinning of the criticism that markets should be freed from the fetters of government regulations that introduce inefficiencies and are to blame for the economic ills that have befallen the major capitalist economies of the world (Fuchs, 2010). We now know all too well, so we are told, that a correction requires a heavy dose of austerity and the shrinking of the social supports provided by national governments. Otherwise local economies will fail to participate in the growing global economy and nations will fall into unimaginable poverty. The writings of Andre Gunder Frank (especially 1966, 1971) foreshadow the current argument, though I am certain not in the way he would have imagined. For Frank, while post-World War II capitalist countries may have been undeveloped at some point, the rest of the post-colonial world suffered from underdevelopment – that is, from a process that maintained poverty and economic hardship as a result of their relationships with so-called modern capitalist countries. The very forces of capitalism instituted well-documented practices of extracting resources and maintaining low wages in order to increase profits (practices that persist today, if not in the same form). At the same time, to ‘encourage’ development, governments and global financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank provided huge loans so that these countries could ‘afford’ to modernize rapidly. These loans were accompanied by massive intervention 440404 CRS0010.1177/0896920512440404EditorialCritical Sociology 2012

More of the Same: A Research Note on Local Economic Development Policies over Time

Abstract: This article examines local economic development policies over time. Using a quasi-longitudinal trend design, the authors address the following questions: Has the use of economic development incentives increased over time? To the extent that local policies are influenced by intercity competition and the diffusion and transmission of knowledge, are localities becoming more uniform in the techniques used? and, Have local governments changed the types of policies employed based on policy research, evaluation, and experience? Cities in Michigan and Ontario are employing more economic development mechanisms of all types. However, a subtle shift toward more entrepreneurial techniques and a reduced reliance on traditional locational incentives are also apparent.

A Neoliberal Response to an Urban Crisis: Emergency Management in Flint, MI

Abstract: The fiscal crisis faced by municipalities is the product of a range of structural and political factors that leave communities unable to meet their obligations. To deal with this crisis, the State ...

Enforcement Mechanisms Discouraging Black–American Presence in Suburban Detroit

Abstract: In metropolitan Detroit, scholars have long observed that geographic space is racialized in the sense that black Americans are not welcome in many suburban communities This extends beyond housing segregation: black drivers are not wanted on many suburban streets While the existence of racial animosity has been documented, the enforcement mechanisms utilized to ‘protect’ certain geographic areas from black presence have rarely been quantified and dissected This study examines police behavior toward black motorists who were arrested during routine traffic stops in the Detroit suburb of Eastpointe Comparison of search, arrest, and handcuff patterns of white and black motorists indicates that police bias harms blacks Rather than simply being anti-black, patterns of police behavior in Eastpointe enforce racialized space, signaling where black presence is tolerated and where it is discouraged Depuis longtemps, les intellectuels observent la racialisation de l’espace geographique, au sens que les Americains noirs ne sont pas les bienvenus dans de nombreuses communautes de banlieue de la metropole de Detroit La tendance depasse la segregation des logements: les automobilistes noirs sont indesirables dans bien des rues de banlieue Si l’existence d’une animosite raciale a ete documentee, les mecanismes coercitifs utilises pour ‘proteger’ certaines zones geographiques d’une presence noire ont rarement ete quantifies ou disseques Cette etude examine l’attitude policiere vis-a-vis des conducteurs noirs arretes au cours de controles de routine dans la banlieue de Eastpointe, a Detroit Une comparaison des types de fouilles, arrestations et menottages d’automobilistes blancs et noirs revele un prejuge de la police au detriment des noirs Au lieu d’etre simplement anti-noirs, les types de comportement policier a Eastpointe impose un espace racialise, indiquant la ou la presence noire est toleree et la ou elle est dissuadee

The case for regional development intervention: place-based versus place-neutral approaches*

Abstract: The paper examines the debates regarding place-neutral versus place-based policies for economic development. The analysis is set in the context of how development policy thinking on the part of both scholars and international organizations has evolved over several decades. Many of the previously accepted arguments have been called into question by the impacts of globalization and a new response to these issues has emerged, a response both to these global changes and also to nonspatial development approaches. The debates are highlighted in the context of a series of major reports recently published on the topic. The cases of the developing world and the European Union are used as examples of how in this changing context development intervention should increasingly focus on efficiency and social inclusion at the expense of an emphasis on territorial convergence and how strategies should consider economic, social, political, and institutional diversity in order to maximize both the local and the aggregate potential for economic development.

Decolonizing Post-Colonial Studies and Paradigms of Political Economy: Transmodernity, Decolonial Thinking, and Global Coloniality

Abstract: Decolonizing Post-Colonial Studies and Paradigms of Political Economy: Transmodernity, Decolonial Thinking, and Global Coloniality RAMON GROSFOGUEL UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY Can we produce a radical anti-systemic politics beyond identity politics? 1 Is it possible to articulate a critical cosmopolitanism beyond nationalism and colonialism? Can we produce knowledges beyond Third World and Eurocentric fundamentalisms? Can we overcome the traditional dichotomy between political-economy and cultural studies? Can we move beyond economic reductionism and culturalism? How can we overcome the Eurocentric modernity without throwing away the best of modernity as many Third World fundamentalists do? In this paper, I propose that an epistemic perspective from the subaltern side of the colonial difference has a lot to contribute to this debate. It can contribute to a critical perspective beyond the outlined dichotomies and to a redefinition of capitalism as a world-system. In October 1998, there was a conference/dialogue at Duke University between the South Asian Subaltern Studies Group and the Latin American Subaltern Studies Group. The dialogue initiated at this conference eventually resulted in the publication of several issues of the journal NEPANTLA. However, this conference was the last time the Latin American Subaltern Studies Group met before their split. Among the many reasons and debates that produced this split, there are two that I would like to stress. The members of the Latin American Subaltern Studies Group were primarily Latinamericanist scholars in the USA. Despite their attempt at

Local and Regional Development

Abstract: Actors and institutions in localities and regions across the world are seeking prosperity and well-being amidst tumultuous and disruptive shifts and transitions generated by: an increasingly globalised, knowledge-intensive capitalism; global financial instability, volatility and crisis; concerns about economic, social and ecological sustainability, climate change and resource shortages; new multi-actor and multi-level systems of government and governance and a re-ordering of the international political economy; state austerity and retrenchment; and, new and reformed approaches to intervention, policy and institutions for local and regional development. Local and Regional Development provides an accessible, critical and integrated examination of local and regional development theory, institutions and policy in this changing context. Amidst its rising importance, the book addresses the fundamental issues of ‘what kind of local and regional development and for whom?’, its purposes, principles and values, frameworks of understanding, approaches and interventions, and integrated approaches to local and regional development throughout the world. The approach provides a theoretically informed, critical analysis of contemporary local and regional development in an international and multi-disciplinary context, grounded in concrete empirical analysis from experiences in the global North and South. It concludes by identifying what might constitute holistic, inclusive, progressive and sustainable local and regional development, and reflecting upon its limits and political renewal.

Economic valuation and the commodification of ecosystem services

Abstract: In the last decade a growing number of environmental scientists have advocated economic valuation of ecosystem services as a pragmatic short-term strategy to communicate the value of biodiversity i...