Search

Begin New Search Topic Globalization Political Geography Europe

121. Remapping Inequality in Europe: The Net Effect of Regional Integration on Total Income Inequality in the European Union

Author:
Jason Beckfield
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
Research on the determinants of inequality has implicated globalization in the increased income inequality observed in many advanced capitalist countries since the 1970s. Meanwhile, a different form of international embeddedness — regional integration — has largely escaped attention. Regional integration, conceptualized as the construction of international economy and polity within negotiated regions, should matter for inequality. This paper offers theoretical arguments that distinguish globalization from regional integration, connects regional integration to inequality through multiple theoretical mechanisms, develops hypotheses on the relationship between regional integration and inequality, and reports fresh empirical evidence on the net effect of regional integration on inequality in Western Europe. Three classes of models are used in the analysis: (1) time-series models where region-year is the unit of analysis, (2) panel models where country-year is the unit of analysis, and (3) analysis of variance to identify how the between- and within-country components of income inequality have changed over time. The evidence suggests that regional integration remaps inequality in Europe. Regionalization is associated with both a decrease in between-country inequality, and an increase in within-country inequality. The analysis of variance shows that the net effect is negative, and that within-country inequality now comprises a larger proportion of total income inequality.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, and Social Stratification
Political Geography:
Europe

122. Regionalization and Retrenchment: The Impact of European Integration on the Welfare State

Author:
Jason Beckfield
Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University
Abstract:
This paper demonstrates the utility of a sociology of regional integration by addressing two central questions that have sparked much debate over the welfare state. Is there evidence of long-anticipated retrenchment? Does globalization cause that retrenchment? I redirect these debates by showing that there is evidence of retrenchment in Europe, and that regional integration – not globalization – accounts for it. Regional integration is conceptualized as the construction of supranational political economy in negotiated and bounded regions through political institutionalization and market expansion. I develop the argument that regional political integration should constrain the welfare state through policy feedbacks, the politics of blame avoidance, and the diffusion of classical-liberal policy scripts, while regional economic integration should constrain the welfare state by expanding labor markets and undermining labor unions. I assess these arguments with time-series cross-section models and data from 13 European Union (EU) and non-EU states. The results show that (1) there is evidence of retrenchment, (2) regionalization is significantly associated with retrenchment, and (3) the effect of regional integration is dampened in the strongest welfare states. I draw the general conclusion that regional integration is a new and consequential part of the social context that should receive more attention from sociologists.
Topic:
Globalization, Regional Cooperation, and Sociology
Political Geography:
Europe

123. Europe Is Losing Out in Global Competition Among Universities: A Talk with Richard Descoings, Head of Sciences Po in Paris

Publication Date:
01-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
European Affairs
Institution:
The European Institute
Abstract:
Richard Descoings, a reform-minded educator who heads the prestigious Sciences-Po, says in an interview that French universities are boxed into mediocrity by state control and state under-funding. Outside Britain, European universities need more control over their finances to compete in a globalized market.
Topic:
Education and Globalization
Political Geography:
Britain, United States, and Europe

124. Innovation and Adaptability in a Digital Era: How Wealthy Nations Stay Wealthy

Author:
Tobias Schulze-Cleven, Bartholemew C. Watson, and John Zysman
Publication Date:
05-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Berkeley Roundtable on the International Economy
Abstract:
The challenge for the advanced countries is to stay wealthy in a rapidly evolving and ever more competitive global economy. As a new digital era emerges and the mechanisms of value creation – i.e. the engines of productivity and growth – change in volatile marketplaces, wealthy nations have to find new ways to adapt. Particularly in Europe, successful adjustment has often been posed as a choice between social protection and market flexibility. In this paper, we recast this all too common framing and emphasize instead that competitive advantage for the advanced countries may be built through appropriate social policy. Upon clarifying the character of competition in the emerging digital era, we argue that the long-standing strong social protection systems particularly in many European countries could be leveraged to these countries' unique advantage in the emerging digital era. With such benefits as promoting social peace and assisting people in meeting new labour market demands, social protection systems have an important role to play in helping societies reorganize existing economic structures in support of successful adaptation to new competitive conditions.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, International Political Economy, and Science and Technology
Political Geography:
Europe

125. Energy Sovereignty and Security

Author:
Greg Austin and Danila Bochkarev
Publication Date:
01-2007
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
EastWest Institute
Abstract:
Energy security has re-surfaced as a headline issue in the policy councils of Europe and the Americas in a way not seen since the 1970s. On the one hand, some leaders believe that there is a new energy rivalry with ominous geopolitical overtones, and they look at Russia and China with suspicion in this regard. On the other hand, at a more commercial level, there has been rising uncertainty about oil supply and demand, because of political instability in the Persian Gulf and rampant consumption in the major industrial countries and emerging economies. Price volatility, long a feature of the oil market, reached levels not seen for some years, leading to fresh concerns about 'peak oil'.
Topic:
Development, Energy Policy, Globalization, and Nationalism
Political Geography:
Russia, China, America, and Europe

126. East Asian Security: Two Views

Author:
Gilbert Rozman and Chu Shulong
Publication Date:
11-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
The Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College
Abstract:
In the post-Cold War era and in the early 21st century, the region of Northeast Asia remains one of the most unstable areas in Asia and in the world compared with other regions of Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Southern Asia, Middle East, Eastern Europe, Africa, and Latin America. And it could become a harsh strategic confrontational area between major powers in Asia and in the world in the future, if those major powers like the United States, China, Japan, and Russia do not manage their relationships well. It can also become a place of hot war or new Cold War in the Korean Peninsula and the Taiwan Strait, if the two Koreas and two sides of the Taiwan Strait problem cannot manage the unresolved issues in their relations. Northeast Asia is also on track to become another center of the global economy, science and technology, military, and international politics. Opportunities as well as challenges to Asia and the world come from the “rising” China and Asia.
Topic:
Security, Globalization, and Terrorism
Political Geography:
Africa, United States, America, Europe, Middle East, and Asia

127. Religion et politique en France dans le contexte de la construction européenne

Author:
Jean-Paul Willaime
Publication Date:
12-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
French Politics, Culture Society
Institution:
Conference Group on French Politics Society
Abstract:
Strongly marked by the weight of the past, the French approach to State-Religion- Society relations has distinct qualities, and especially a strong confrontational and emotional dimension. This essay address the evolution of these relations and their tensions by focusing on three subjects that make manifest the relationship between politics and religion in important ways, namely, schools, sects, and Islam. The arena of the school is especially significant in three respects: the link between public and private schools; the question of what should be taught about religion, and the display of religious expression by students. The essay considers these matters within the context of wider transformations in religion (secularization) and politics (disenchantment and changes in the state's role in society). It concludes by situating recent developments in the context of globalization and especially Europeanization.
Topic:
Development, Globalization, and Islam
Political Geography:
Europe and France

128. Consumer Citizenship in Postnational Constellations?

Author:
Christian Joerges and Michelle Everson
Publication Date:
12-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
European Research Papers Archive
Abstract:
It is perhaps a truism to note that 'the consumer' is but a role that is played by human subjects. This insight leaves us, as lawyers, with one vital question: how can or does the legal system meaningfully rationalise its encounters with the consumer? Can it, and if so to what way, shape the act of consumption? Can it even ensure that the 'fact' of consumption translates into 'good' normative institutions.
Topic:
Economics, Globalization, and Politics
Political Geography:
Europe

129. Empire Writes Back: Between Dreams of Trespass and Fantasies of Resistance

Author:
Alina Sajed
Publication Date:
11-2006
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition, McMaster University
Abstract:
This paper attempts to address the issues of what is at stake in reading between East and West, and how orality might pose a challenge to the legitimized academic views of doing research and of attaining knowledge. Indeed, I find myself situated somewhere in the middle between East and West. I come from an Eastern European country, in which the mélange of Western and Eastern elements can be confusing at best. Romanian culture (if one can talk of a unified and homogeneous cultural system which would bear the unambiguous mark of Romanian-ness) has been profoundly influenced both by its Eastern neighbours (influence which sometimes materialized into lengthy occupation by the Ottoman Empire) and by Western ideas and practices that have been imported both by foreign travellers and by the local intelligentsia. Boasting rich and captivating oral traditions, Romanian culture has also been under the tyranny of the written sign. It has sometimes tried to negotiate between the two, but not without doing violence to the richness of the former, while acknowledging the modern necessity and superior expediency of the latter.
Topic:
Globalization, Politics, and Post Colonialism
Political Geography:
Europe and Romania

130. Oxfam Publishing: Green but not clean: Why a comprehensive review of Green Box subsidies is necessary

Author:
Liz Stuart
Publication Date:
11-2005
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Green Box subsidies, by definition of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), are not allowed to distort trade. This is why, under the terms of the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA), countries may provide as many Green Box subsidies as they like. ActionAid, CIDSE, and Oxfam believe, as this briefing note will show, that the EU and the USA are using this provision to continue to give support that is manifestly trade-distorting, thereby causing serious damage to farmers in developing countries. At least $40bn of Green Box payments annually are likely to be trade-distorting and therefore break WTO rules.
Topic:
Development, Globalization, International Trade and Finance, and World Trade Organization
Political Geography:
Europe