Showing papers on "State (polity) published in 2012"

The Concept of the Political

Abstract: The object of the concept of the political is diverse. In the original and etymological sense, this concept enters into the sphere of public life, but everyday language sometimes applies it in relation to non-state actors, or even to individuals. We are concerned here with the definition of the concept of the political in the sphere of interstate relations. Our considerations are solely concerned with the sphere of foreign policy. Applied to state relations, the concept of the political designates something which concerns the “polis”, the state taken as such, in accordance with the concept’s etymological sense and with its most widespread usage. In the sphere of international relations, political matters are thus those which are likely to have an influence on the relation of one state with other states — that is, on the situation of one state within the international community.1

The Unheavenly Chorus: Unequal Political Voice and the Broken Promise of American Democracy

Abstract: List of Figures ix List of Tables xiii Preface xvii Acknowledgments xxv Chapter 1. Introduction: Democracy and Political Voice 1 PART I: Thinking about Inequality and Political Voice Chapter 2. The (Ambivalent) Tradition of Equality in America 31 Chapter 3. The Context: Growing Economic Inequality and Weakening Unions 69 Chapter 4. Equal Voice and the Dilemmas of Democracy 96 PART II: Inequality of Political Voice and Individual Participation Chapter 5. Does Unequal Voice Matter? 117 Chapter 6. The Persistence of Unequal Voice 147 Chapter 7. Unequal at the Starting Line: The Intergenerational Persistence of Political Inequality with Nancy Burns 177 Chapter 8. Political Participation over the Life Cycle with Jennifer Erkulwater 199 Chapter 9. Political Activism and Electoral Democracy: Perspectives on Economic Inequality and Political Polarization 232 PART III: Inequality of Political Voice and Organized Interest Activity Chapter 10. Political Voice through Organized Interests: Introductory Matters 265 Chapter 11. Who Sings in the Heavenly Chorus? Th e Shape of the Organized Interest System with Traci Burch and Philip Edward Jones 312 Chapter 12. The Changing Pressure Community 347 Chapter 13. Beyond Organizational Categories 370 Chapter 14. Political Voice through Organized Interest Activity with Philip Edward Jones and Traci Burch 393 PART IV: Can We Change the Accent of the Unheavenly Chorus? Chapter 15. Breaking the Pattern through Political Recruitment 447 Chapter 16. Weapon of the Strong? Participatory Inequality and the Internet 483 Chapter 17. What, if Anything, Is to Be Done? with Shauna Shames 534 Chapter 18. Conclusion: Equal Voice and the Promise of American Democracy 574 Appendixes Appendix A: Equality and the State and U.S. Constitutions 605 Appendix B: The Persistence of Political and Nonpolitical Activity 608 Appendix C: The Intergenerational Transmission of Political Participation 616 Appendix D: Age, Period, and Cohort Effects 619 Appendix E: The Washington Representatives Database 621 Appendix F: Additional Tables 645 Appendix G: Do Online and Offline Political Activists Differ from One Another? 649 Index 655

Brownlie's Principles of Public International Law

Abstract: PART I - PRELIMINARY TOPICS PART II - PERSONALITY AND RECOGNITION PART III - TERRITORIAL SOVEREIGNTY PART IV - LAW OF THE SEA PART V - THE ENVIRONMENT AND NATURAL RESOURCES PART VI - INTERNATIONAL TRANSACTIONS PART VII - STATE JURISDICTION PART VIII - NATIONALITY AND RELATED CONCEPTS PART IX - THE LAW OF RESPONSIBILITY PART X - THE PROTECTION OF INDIVIDUALS AND GROUPS PART XI - DISPUTES

When Things Fell Apart: State Failure in Late-Century Africa

Abstract: In the later decades of the twentieth century, Africa plunged into political chaos. States failed, governments became predators, and citizens took up arms. In When Things Fell Apart, Robert H. Bates advances an exploration of state failure in Africa. In so doing, he not only plumbs the depths of the continent's late-century tragedy, but also the logic of political order, and the foundations of the state. This book covers a wide range of territory by drawing on materials from Rwanda, Sudan, Liberia, and Congo. Written to be accessible to the general reader, it is nonetheless a must-read for scholars and policymakers concerned with conflict and state failure.

Ordering Power: Contentious Politics and Authoritarian Leviathans in Southeast Asia

Abstract: Like the postcolonial world more generally, Southeast Asia exhibits tremendous variation in state capacity and authoritarian durability. Ordering Power draws on theoretical insights dating back to Thomas Hobbes to develop a unified framework for explaining both of these political outcomes. States are especially strong and dictatorships especially durable when they have their origins in 'protection pacts': broad elite coalitions unified by shared support for heightened state power and tightened authoritarian controls as bulwarks against especially threatening and challenging types of contentious politics. These coalitions provide the elite collective action underpinning strong states, robust ruling parties, cohesive militaries, and durable authoritarian regimes - all at the same time. Comparative-historical analysis of seven Southeast Asian countries (Burma, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Vietnam, and Thailand) reveals that subtly divergent patterns of contentious politics after World War II provide the best explanation for the dramatic divergence in Southeast Asia's contemporary states and regimes.

The Making Of Global Capitalism: The Political Economy Of American Empire

Abstract: Panitch and Gindin's monumental study offers a significant rethinking of the development of global capitalism. Transcending classical theories of interimperialist rivalry and the false dichotomy between states and markets in the neoliberal era, this book produces an exceptionally rich account of postwar global capitalism to the present day. Focussing on the American state, Panitch and Gindin argue that its distinctiveness rests in its capacity to identify the interests of its own capital with that of capital in general, while restructuring other states to the end of spreading capitalist social relations and preventing economic crises from interrupting capital's globalizing tendencies. Examining recent economic crises, the authors identify social conflict occurring within, rather than between, states, producing political fault-lines replete with possibilities for the emergence of new movements to transcend capitalist markets and states.

Walled States, Waning Sovereignty

Abstract: Walled States, Waning Sovereignty by WENDY BROWN New York, Zone Books (distributed by The MIT Press), 2010, 168 pp., 10 illustration $25.95, 19.95[pounds sterling] cloth, ISBN 978-1-935408-08-6. The future of independent and equal state sovereignties is in doubt, or so Wendy Brown argues in her monograph concerning the recent explosion in state-built border walls for keeping people either 'in' or 'out', and to differentiate between 'us' and 'them'. The author of this slim volume utilises the material, physical and psychological characteristics of walls to highlight a renewal of concern regarding the seeming imperviousness of global capital and other transnational forces to individual sovereign state power. The growing imbalance in strength between the global and the local forms in the author's view the central danger to longstanding frameworks of international relations and power-politics. Professor Brown argues in particular that, while walls may project an image of impregnability, the huge pressures being placed on traditional sovereign frameworks of governance by globalised forces have only strengthened the opposing contexts of virtual power over physical power, of open sourcing over material appropriation, of de-territorialised tentacle of control over fixed territorial limits, and so on. Accordingly, border walls can only project an image of statehood, soothe a growing sense of state powerlessness, and bolster national xenophobia against the 'outside other'. How do walls function as effective communicators? Professor Brown points to three central paradoxes of what walls represent and make visual: the power to open or block, to universalise or to exclude/stratify, and to allow virtual networking or to impose physical barriers to networking. After these binary themes are introduced, she develops two further ideas: first, that state sovereignties are today battling a larger 'sovereignty' of globalisation, in the sense of 'a higher power' or the 'power to decide', as advocated by such theorists as Carl Schmitt; secondly, that states utilise the visual symbolism of walling to project an underlying theological dimension of state power, by helping to produce sovereign awe ('God is on our side'). She develops this latter idea in particular to illustrate her premise that the more walls are built, the more 'real' state power diminishes. In turn, as walls are of dubious efficacy when faced with human inventiveness, wall-building states rely on their walls to project a more intense sense of state power, while in actuality, walls can serve only as visual coda, in the sense of the theatrical projection of a bounded, secure nation when nothing could be further from the case. For example, some walls foster a bunker mentality among those living inside them, while others securitise a way of life. Notable examples of walls today are detailed throughout the book, and include post-apartheid South Africa, which has built a complex internal maze of walls and checkpoints, and maintains a controversial electrified security barrier on its Zimbabwe border; Saudi Arabia, which has a ten-foot-high concrete post structure along its border with Yemen (soon to be followed by a similar wall at the Iraq border); and India, which has walled-out Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Burma, and has walled-in Kashmir, as well as mining, and placing barbed concertina wire along the Indo-Kashmir border. The building of walls, such as the 'Security Wall' in Israel to contain West Bank and Gazan 'terrorists', or that between the southern U.S. and Mexico, to prevent illegal migration, further illustrates the challenges and insecurities felt by the numerous states whose sovereignty is placed under severe challenge, particularly during the last half century, by the growing transnational flows of capital, people, technology, ideas, violence, and politico-religious loyalties. The importance of international institutions of economic governance such as the IMF and WTO, and in the last quarter century the ever-broader assertions of international law and individual rights, further illustrate a failing Westphalian world order of territorial sovereign states. …

Sino-Capitalism: China's Reemergence and the International Political Economy

Abstract: There is little doubt that China's international reemergence represents one of the most significant events in modern history. As China's political economy gains in importance, its interactions with other major political economies will shape global values, institutions, and policies, thereby restructuring the international political economy. Drawing on theories and concepts in comparative capitalism, the author envisages China's reemergence as generating Sino-capitalism—a capitalist system that is already global in reach but one that differs from Anglo-American capitalism in important respects. Sino-capitalism relies more on informal business networks than legal codes and transparent rules. It also assigns the Chinese state a leading role in fostering and guiding capitalist accumulation. Sino-capitalism, ultimately, espouses less trust in free markets and more trust in unitary state rule and social norms of reciprocity, stability, and hierarchy. After conceptualizing Sino-capitalism's domestic political economy, the author uses the case of China's efforts to internationalize its currency, the yuan or renminbi, to systematically illustrate the multifarious manner in which the domestic logic of Sino-capitalism is expressed at the global level. Rather than presenting a deterministic argument concerning the future international role of China, he argues that China's stance and strategy in the international political economy hew quite closely to Sino-capitalism's hybrid compensatory institutional arrangements on the domestic level: state guidance; flexible and entrepreneurial networks; and global integration. Sino-capitalism therefore represents an emerging system of global capitalism centered on China that is producing a dynamic mix of mutual dependence, symbiosis, competition, and friction with the still dominant Anglo-American model of capitalism.

Wars do end! Changing patterns of political violence in sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract: Contrary to common assumption, major forms of large-scale organized political violence in sub-Saharan Africa are declining in frequency and intensity, and the region is not uniquely prone to the onset of warfare. African civil wars in the late 2000s were about half as common compared to the mid-1990s. The character of warfare has also changed. Contemporary wars are typically small-scale, fought on state peripheries and sometimes across multiple states, and involve factionalized insurgents who typically cannot hold significant territory or capture state capitals. Episodes of large-scale mass killing of civilians are also on the decline. That said, other forms of political violence that receive less attention in the academic literature are increasing or persistent. These include electoral violence and violence over access to livelihood resources, such as land and water. While primarily descriptive, the article posits that geo-political shifts since the end of the Cold War are a leading candidate to explain the changing frequency and character of warfare in sub-Saharan Africa.

Unrecognized States in the International System

Abstract: Introduction: Unrecognized States in the International System Nina Caspersen and Gareth Stansfield Part 1: Concepualizing Unrecognized States 1. Theorizing Unrecognized States: Sovereignty, Secessionism, and Political Economy James Harvey and Gareth Stansfield 2. Complex Terrains: Unrecognized States and Globalization Matan Chorev 3. International Actions and the Making and Unmaking of Unrecognized States Klejda Mulaj 4. What do Unrecognized States Tell us About Sovereignty? Stacy Closson Part 2: The Interactions of the Recognized and the Unrecognized State 5. States without Sovereignty: Imitating Democratic Statehood Nina Caspersen 6. After the War Ends: Violence and Viability of Post-Soviet Unrecognized States Kristin Bakke 7. 'Seperatism is the Mother of Terrorism': Internationalizing the Security Discourse on Unrecognized States Pal Kolsto and Helge Blakkisrud 8. The Foreign Policies of Unrecognized States Francis Owtram Part III: Conflict Management and Unrecognized States 9. The Limits of International Conflict Management in the Case of Abkhazia and South Ossetia Stefan Wolff 10. The Politics of Unrecognized States and the Business of International Peace Mediation: Enablers or Hindrance for Conflict Resolution? Antje Herrberg 11. Reintegrating Unrecognized States: Internationalizing Frozen Conflicts Liam Anderson Appendix 1: Maps of Unrecognized States

Separated Powers in the United States: The Ideology of Agencies, Presidents, and Congress

Abstract: Government agencies service interest groups, advocate policies, provide advice to elected officials, and create and implement public policy. Scholars have advanced theories to explain the role of agencies in American politics but efforts to test these theories are hampered by the inability to systematically measure agency preferences. We present a method for measuring agency ideology that yields ideal point estimates of individual bureaucrats and agencies that are directly comparable with those of other political actors. These estimates produce insights into the nature of the bureaucratic state and provide traction on a host of questions about American politics. We discuss what these estimates reveal about the political environment of bureaucracy and their potential for testing theories of political institutions. We demonstrate their utility by testing key propositionsfromGailmardandPatty’s(2007)influentialmodelofpoliticalcontrolandendogenousexpertisedevelopment.

Authoritarian Rule of Law

Abstract: Scholars have generally assumed that authoritarianism and rule of law are mutually incompatible Convinced that free markets and rule of law must tip authoritarian societies in a liberal direction, nearly all studies of law and contemporary politics have neglected that improbable coupling: authoritarian rule of law Through a focus on Singapore, this book presents an analysis of authoritarian legalism It shows how prosperity, public discourse, and a rigorous observance of legal procedure have enabled a reconfigured rule of law such that liberal form encases illiberal content Institutions and process at the bedrock of rule of law and liberal democracy become tools to constrain dissent while augmenting discretionary political power - even as the national and international legitimacy of the state is secured This book offers a valuable and original contribution to understanding the complexities of law, language and legitimacy in our time

The Roots of Domination: Beyond Bourdieu and Gramsci

Abstract: In this article I examine Bourdieu’s conception of symbolic domination as based on misrecognition and compare it with Gramsci’s notion of hegemony based on consent. Drawing on ethnographic research in workplaces in the USA and Hungary I show how both theories are flawed. Gramsci does not appreciate the importance of mystification as a foundation for stable hegemony in advanced capitalism while Bourdieu’s notion of misrecognition, based on the notion of habitus, is too deep to comprehend the fragility of state socialist regimes. Comparative analysis, I argue, calls for a concept of domination that is more contingent than Bourdieu’s symbolic domination, yet deeper than Gramsci’s hegemony.

Territorial Rights: Concept and Justification

Abstract: This article begins by analysing the idea of territorial rights. It argues that the rights over territory standardly claimed by states can be separated into three main elements: the right of jurisdiction, the right to the territory's resources and the right to control borders. A full justification of territorial rights must therefore address each of these three elements. It proceeds to examine theories that treat states as the primary holders of territorial rights. Utilitarian theories (such as Sidgwick's) maintain that states acquire such rights simply by maintaining social order over the relevant territory. Such theories are insufficiently discriminating and cannot deal adequately with the issues raised by invasion and secession. An alternative view adds the condition that the state must be the legitimate representative of the people who (innocently) occupy the territory, but this too faces an objection. A historical version of the statist theory claims that states gain territorial rights by increasing ...

Federalism and American Inequality

Abstract: Studies of the political determinants of economic inequality have usually focused on the national government, but in federalist systems subnational governments may also be important. In recent decades, the U.S. national government has been less active in fighting inequality, but increasing devolution means that states wanting to address this problem have had a greater incentive and perhaps means by which to do so. Applying power resources theory, we argue that in states where left parties are stronger and more liberal politics are enacted, the government will reduce inequality and that this state effect becomes more pronounced as middle- and lower-class power wanes nationally. In the analysis we find that both federal and state governments influence inequality, and since the Republican takeover of Congress in 1995, the states have played a more important role in shaping the income distribution.

Why Comparative Politics Should Take Religion (More) Seriously

Abstract: The study of religion holds great promise for the study of identity, institutional origins, the state, and the strategies of institutional actors in comparative politics. Doctrinal differences translate into distinct patterns of state institutions, economic performance, and policy preferences. Religious attachments affect voting and popular mobilization. Churches can become powerful institutional players that lobby, influence policy, and form effective coalitions with both secular and denominational partners. Finally, natural religious monopolies and (conversely) resolutely secular countries show how churches have played a central role in the struggle of nations and states. The relationship is thus mutual: religion influences political attitudes and institutions, and politics affects religious practice and political activity.

Beyond state/non-state divides: Global cities and the governing of climate change

Abstract: This article challenges the assumption that the boundaries of state versus non-state and public versus private can readily be drawn. It argues that the roles of actors — as state or non-state — and...

The Impossible State: Islam, Politics, and Modernity's Moral Predicament

Abstract: Preface and AcknowledgmentsIntroduction1. Premises2. The Modern State3. Separation of Powers: Rule of Law or Rule of the State?4. The Legal5. The Political Subject and Moral Technologies of the Self6. Beleaguering Globalization and Moral Economy7. The Central Domain of the MoralNotesGlossary of Key TermsBibliographyIndex

The Ideology of Pragmatism: Neo-liberal Globalisation and Political Authoritarianism in Singapore

Abstract: This article uncovers the strongly ideological quality in Singapore's theory and practice of pragmatism. It also points to a strongly pragmatic quality in the ideological negotia- tions that play out within the dynamics of hegemony. In this complex relationship, the combina- tion of ideological and pragmatic manoeuvring over the decades has resulted in the historic political dominance of the People's Action Party (PAP) government in partnership with global capital. But in an evolving, diversifying and globalising society, this manoeuvring has also engen- dered a number of mismatched expectations. It has also seen a greater sensitivity and attention to the inherent ideological contradictions and socio-economic inequalities that may erode what has been a relatively stable partnership between state and capital. This article argues that Singapore's one-party dominant state is the result of continuous ideological work that deploys the rhetoric of pragmatism to link the notion of Singapore's impressive success and future prospects to its ability to attract global capital. In turn, this relies on maintaining a stable political system dominated by an experienced, meritocratic and technocratic PAP government. While this Singaporean conven- tional wisdom has supported the political and economic interests of the state and global capital in a period of neo-liberal globalisation, its internal contradictions and external pressures have also begun to challenge its hegemonic pre-eminence.

Questioning Secularism: Islam, Sovereignty, and the Rule of Law in Modern Egypt

Abstract: The central question of the Arab Spring - what democracies should look like in the deeply religious countries of the Middle East - has developed into a vigorous debate over these nations' secular identities. But what, exactly, is secularism? What has the West's long familiarity with it inevitably obscured? In "Questioning Secularism", Hussein Ali Agrama tackles these questions. Focusing on the fatwa councils and family law courts of Egypt just prior to the revolution, he delves deeply into the meaning of secularism itself and the ambiguities that lie at its heart. Drawing on a precedent-setting case arising from the family law courts - the last courts in Egypt to use Shari'a law - Agrama shows that secularism is a historical phenomenon that works through a series of paradoxes that it creates. Digging beneath the perceived differences between the West and Middle East, he highlights secularism's dependence on the law and the problems that arise from it: the necessary involvement of state sovereign power in managing the private spiritual lives of citizens and the irreducible set of legal ambiguities such a relationship creates. Navigating a complex landscape between private and public domains, "Questioning Secularism" lays important groundwork for understanding the real meaning of secularism as it affects the real freedoms of a citizenry, an understanding of the utmost importance for so many countries that are now urgently facing new political possibilities.

Religious Freedom, the Minority Question, and Geopolitics in the Middle East

Abstract: The right to religious freedom is widely regarded as a crowning achievement of secular-liberal democracies, one that guarantees the peaceful coexistence of religiously diverse populations. Enshrined in national constitutions and international laws and treaties, the right to religious liberty promises to ensure two stable goods: (1) the ability to choose one's religion freely without coercion by the state, church, or other institutions; and (2) the creation of a polity in which one's economic, civil, legal, or political status is unaffected by one's religious beliefs. While all members of a polity are supposed to be protected by this right, modern wisdom has it that religious minorities are its greatest beneficiaries and their ability to practice their traditions without fear of discrimination is a critical marker of a tolerant and civilized polity. The right to religious freedom marks an important distinction between liberal secularism and the kind practiced in authoritarian states (such as China, Syria, or the former Soviet Union): while the latter abide by the separation of religion and state (a central principle of political secularism), they also regularly abrogate religious freedoms of their minority and majority populations. Despite claims to religious neutrality, liberal secular states frequently regulate religious affairs but they do so in accord with a strong concern for protecting the individual's right to practice his or her religion freely, without coercion or state intervention.

European Integration: From Nation-States to Member States

Abstract: Preface and Acknowledgements List of Acronyms List of Figures and Tables Introduction PART I 1. Europe's Compromising Union 2. The Member State Paradigm 3. From Nation-States to Member States: A Brief History PART II 4. European Economic Integration and State Transformation 5. From Nation-States to Member States in European Foreign Policy Conclusion Bibliography Index

Political Science Research on International Law: The State of the Field

Abstract: Political scientists are actively engaged in research on many aspects of international law and organizations. This article reviews the key theories and empirical findings that have emerged over the last two decades of that research program. The aim, in addition to a comprehensive review and assessment, is to outline an agenda for collaboration between political scientists and international lawyers on topics that will advance the state of the art in both fields.

Taxation, Political Accountability and Foreign Aid: Lessons from Somaliland

Abstract: For years, studies of state formation in early and medieval Europe have argued that the modern, representative state emerged as the result of negotiations between autocratic governments in need of tax revenues and citizens who were only willing to consent to taxation in exchange for greater government accountability. This article presents evidence that similar dynamics shaped the formation of Somaliland's democratic government. In particular, it shows that government dependency on local tax revenues – which resulted from its ineligibility for foreign assistance – provided those outside the government with the leverage needed to force the development of inclusive, representative and accountable political institutions.

Governance of Protected Areas

Abstract: Governance includes the state, but transcends it by taking in the private sector and civil society All three are critical for sustaining human development The state creates a conducive political and legal environment The private sector generates jobs and income And civil society facilitates political and social interaction – mobilizing groups to participate in economic, social and political activities Because each has weaknesses and strengths, a major objective of our support for good governance is to promote constructive interaction among all three

Nobel Lecture: United States Then, Europe Now

Abstract: Under the Articles of Confederation, the central government of the United States had limited power to tax. Therefore, large debts accumulated during the US War for Independence traded at deep discounts. That situation framed a US fiscal crisis in the 1780s. A political revolution—for that was what scuttling the Articles of Confederation in favor of the Constitution of the United States of America was—solved the fiscal crisis by transferring authority to levy tariffs from the states to the federal government. The Constitution and acts of the First Congress of the United States in August 1790 gave Congress authority to raise enough revenues to service a big government debt. In 1790, the Congress carried out a comprehensive bailout of state governments’ debts, part of a grand bargain that made creditors of the states become advocates of ample federal taxes. That bailout created expectations about future federal bailouts that a costly episode in the early 1840s proved to be unwarranted.

The Arab State and Neo-liberal Globalization. The Restructuring of State Power in the Middle East.

Abstract: This collection of essays by leading academics offers an alternative approach to the study of today's Arab states by focusing on their participation in neo-liberal globalization rather than on authoritarianism or Islam. The effects of the restructuring of traditional state power engendered by globalization are analyzed separately, through updated empirical research into the political, economic and security processes of each country considered. Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and Saudi Arabia are the case studies selected to represent different paths towards a shared model of a 'new' Arab state which, far from representing an exceptional case of resilience against global trends, may be seen in many instances as typifying their effects. This book thus offers both an overall conceptualization of change affecting the Arab states, domestically and internationally, and a series of in-depth case studies by country and functional areas. It is extremely timely when viewed within the context of the current political unrest and unprecedented change within the Middle East. The paperback edition includes a new preface which links the author's research to the current Arab Spring crisis.

The Land of Too Much: American Abundance and the Paradox of Poverty

Abstract: The Land of Too Much presents a simple but powerful hypothesis that addresses three questions: Why does the United States have more poverty than any other developed country? Why did it experience an attack on state intervention starting in the 1980s, known today as the neoliberal revolution? And why did it recently suffer the greatest economic meltdown in seventy-five years? Although the United States is often considered a liberal, laissez-faire state, Monica Prasad marshals convincing evidence to the contrary. Indeed, she argues that a strong tradition of government intervention undermined the development of a European-style welfare state. The demand-side theory of comparative political economy she develops here explains how and why this happened. Her argument begins in the late nineteenth century, when America's explosive economic growth overwhelmed world markets, causing price declines everywhere. While European countries adopted protectionist policies in response, in the United States lower prices spurred an agrarian movement that rearranged the political landscape. The federal government instituted progressive taxation and a series of strict financial regulations that ironically resulted in more freely available credit. As European countries developed growth models focused on investment and exports, the United States developed a growth model based on consumption. These large-scale interventions led to economic growth that met citizen needs through private credit rather than through social welfare policies. Among the outcomes have been higher poverty, a backlash against taxation and regulation, and a housing bubble fueled by "mortgage Keynesianism." This book will launch a thousand debates.

Between ‘marx and markets’? the state, the ‘left turn’ and nature in ecuador

Abstract: Ecuador is a prominent example of a Latin American country that has elected a left-wing president who aims to create a post-neoliberal development strategy. Many of the policies pursued by President Rafael Correa have focused on changing the relationship between nature and society. The new constitution of 2008, which grants rights to nature, adapts a new development model based on indigenous cosmology and strengthens the power and regulatory remit of the state over the economy and society, is an important statement of intent in this regard. The Yasuni-ITT (Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini) initiative to leave oil underground in exchange for international financial contributions is the most significant manifestation of this intent in actual policy. Analysis of two emblematic changes reveals that the creation of a post-neoliberal development strategy has so far produced partial and uneven results. While nature and natural resources have come under stricter control by the state, this has not significantly diminished their commercialisation. © 2012 The Author. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie