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21. Two Paths to Dominance: Military Businesses in Turkey and Egypt

Author:
Zeinab Abul-Magd, İsmet Akça, and Shana Marshall
Publication Date:
06-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Abstract:
Egyptian and Turkish military businesses have used their institutional privileges to dominate their respective economies, but they have key differences. Turkey’s military businesses are centrally managed while Egypt’s use multiple complex conglomerates. In recent years, Turkish and Egyptian military institutions have followed divergent paths in their respective states. After many decades of full or partial control over the government, the Turkish military today is largely marginalized in politics. By contrast, after periods of exclusion from power, the Egyptian military is now in full control of the state. Despite these differences, both military institutions are powerful economic actors within their states. They have developed extensive civilian economic enterprises over the decades, dominating important sectors by capitalizing on their political influence, legal and regulatory privileges unique to their enterprises, and opportunities provided by market liberalization.
Topic:
Government, Economy, Business, and Liberalization
Political Geography:
Turkey, Middle East, and Egypt

22. A Few Problems with Mouffe’s Agonistic Political Theory

Author:
Monika Mazur-Bubak
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Polish Political Science Yearbook
Institution:
Polish Political Science Association (PPSA)
Abstract:
The main goal of examining a single philosophical theory, connected with social and political disciplines, is not just to identify its incoherence or to restate the theory in a more elegant way. More important in that kind of investigation is to show its possible impact on people’s lives and the functioning of communities. Thus, it seems more reasonable to conduct a critical analysis of the possible consequences for a real society than to undertake a simple study of the argument’s logical consistency. The main aim of this paper is to introduce doubts about the thesis of Chantal Mouffe presented by her in Agonistics. Thinking the World Politically and Passion and Politics. Main hypothesis is that thinking about the “political” and “politics” with reference to enmity as well as claiming that the source of every political and social activity is antagonism, can provoke an attitude that social and political scenes are battlefields rather than an agora or the space of human interactions. First of all, the author provides the critical analysis and reconstruction of the most important claims connected with the “political”, which can have strong negative effects-i.e. brutalization and creating a negative basis for social relation. Then presents a few possible sources of thinking of “political” as a “competition” or rather “enmity”. The last part it is the critic of what Mouffe claims about reason why people get involve into politics, based on the psychological experiments and in result of this the author shows the importance of validity the high standards in politics, diplomacy and relation on the social level.
Topic:
Politics, Political Theory, Democracy, and Liberalization
Political Geography:
Global Focus

23. Migration: Challenging visa liberalization for Kosovo

Author:
Donika Emini
Publication Date:
11-2015
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (KCSS)
Abstract:
This paper aims to demonstrate the extent to which the recent migratory flows from Kosovo challenged its visa liberalization process in both the technical and political aspects. While the technical aspect includes repatriation of the returned persons in Kosovo, the political aspect relies on the attitude of the EU countries towards Kosovo when granting their opinion on the visa liberalization process for Kosovo. The end of 2014 and the beginning of 2015 have witnessed a rather large wave of Kosovo migrants heading towards the EU countries through the so called “Western Balkan route” mainly via Serbia aiming to reach the EU Schengen zone. The flux of migrants raised a lot of questions about the implications for Kosovo's EU perspective. According to the authorities in Prishtina, roughly 50,000 (Kosovo Intelligence Agency, 2015) people left Kosovo from November 2014 to April 2015, although data published by the Eurostat count roughly 75,000 persons (Eurostat, 2015) aiming to reach the EU countries, in most of the cases Germany. Correspondingly, during this period, citizens of Kosovo topped the list of asylum seekers in Europe with roughly 74,755 applications, followed by Syrians with and Afghans (Eurostat, 2015).
Topic:
Migration, European Union, Asylum, Visa, and Liberalization
Political Geography:
Europe, Kosovo, and Balkans

24. Trade Liberalization and Aggregate Matching Function in India

Author:
Woong Lee
Publication Date:
09-2014
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP)
Abstract:
This article investigates the link between trade liberalization and the job matching process in India. The aggregate matching function in India is estimated by incorporating the trade openness as a proxy for trade liberalization. The monthly data are drawn from Employment Exchange in India, the only public employment service in the country. Overall, it appears that trade liberalization leads to a decline in new hires. However, the analysis of period decomposition shows that correlation between trade-to-GDP ratio and new hires is negative and significant only in the period of the Ninth Plan, 1997 to 2002, when political influence delayed economic reform. The suggestion is made that the negative relationship between trade liberalization and new job creation does not hold except for the period of political influence and thus the Indian government should continue to promote external reform.
Topic:
Economy, Trade, Job Creation, and Liberalization
Political Geography:
South Asia and India

25. The EU Visa Liberalization Process in the Western Balkans Countries: A Comparative Assessment

Author:
Armend Muja
Publication Date:
10-2013
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Kosovar Centre for Security Studies (KCSS)
Abstract:
The comparative analysis takes Kosovo’s roadmap as a baseline and assesses every country’s standing towards that reference. The analysis narrows down to 16 months – the date when the first roadmaps were delivered to WB countries (with the exception of Kosovo), in March 2008 and October 2010 when the last recommendations were made to the EU Council for the liberalisation of visa regime for all Western Balkan countries.
Topic:
European Union, Regional Integration, Visa, and Liberalization
Political Geography:
Europe, Kosovo, and Balkans

26. Reforms and Counter-Reforms in Bolivia

Author:
Luis Carlos Jemio, Fernando Candia, and José Luis Evia
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Advanced Development Studies (INESAD)
Abstract:
Towards the end of the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s, Bolivia experienced a period of deep economic and political crisis, resulting from the international economic shocks that hit the country at the time and from the large levels of foreign indebtedness the country had acquired during the 1970s. The crisis was characterized by hyperinflation, continuous drops in GDP, economic uncertainty and political volatility. Starting in 1985, after a change in government, Bolivia embarked in a comprehensive program of structural reforms aimed at stabilizing the economy and at removing the structural constraints which precluded faster economic growth and increases in productivity. The reform package was implemented over a period of time which began in 1985 and lasted for approximately 20 years. The reform policies comprised measures such as the opening of the economy to foreign trade; price, exchange rate and interest rate liberalizations; fiscal adjustments; central bank independence; instauration of a financial regulation and supervision system; capitalization and privatization of public enterprises; pension reforms; decentralization of the public administration; strengthening of key public institutions, (e.g. the internal revenue and customs offices, and the national road administration), among the most noticeable.
Topic:
Economics, Reform, Trade, and Liberalization
Political Geography:
South America and Bolivia

27. Misallocation and Manufacturing TFP in the Market Liberalization Period of Bolivia

Author:
Carlos Gustavo Machicado and Juan Cristóbal Birbuet
Publication Date:
08-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Advanced Development Studies (INESAD)
Abstract:
This paper analyzes productivity levels, dispersion and growth in the Bolivian Manufacturing Sector during the Market Liberalization Period: 1988-2001. These years are characterized first, by a period of macroeconomic stabilization and 1st Generation Reforms (1988-1993), second, by a period of privatization and 2nd Generation Reforms (1994-1997) and third, by a Post-reforms period (1998-2001). The 1st and 2nd Generation Reforms were framed in line with the Washington Consensus and their main objectives were to guarantee macroeconomic stability, to improve the efficiency and allocation of resources in the economy and to promote economic growth with fairness. We show that in contrast to what was expected, productivity in the manufacturing sector decreased steadily. We compute Total Factor Productivity (TFP), for the first time, using firm-level data and in addition we break down this measure in productivity per se and resource misallocation. We find that both issues contributed to the decline in productivity and if resource misallocation were eliminated, the gains in productivity would have been in the order of 60 percent, but the trend of productivity along time would have been the same, which means that there are also structural problems that affect productivity in Bolivia. In addition, we evaluate TFP considering exporting firms, size of firms, age of firms and geographical location.
Topic:
Markets, Macroeconomics, Manufacturing, and Liberalization
Political Geography:
South America and Bolivia

28. Financial Liberalisation, Bureaucratic Corruption and Economic Development

Author:
Keith Blackburn and Gonzalo F. Forgues-Puccio
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Institute for Advanced Development Studies (INESAD)
Abstract:
We study the e§ect of international Önancial integration on economic development when the quality of governance may be compromised by corruption. Our analysis is based on a dynamic general equilibrium model of a small economy in which growth is driven by capital accumulation and public policy is administered by governmentappointed bureaucrats. Corruption may arise due to the opportunity for bureaucrats to embezzle public funds, an opportunity that is made more attractive by Önancial liberalisation which, at the same time, raises e¢ ciency in capital production. Our main results may be summarised as follows: (1) corruption is always bad for economic development, but its e§ect is worse if the economy is open than if it is closed; (2) the incidence of corruption may, itself, be a§ected by both the development and openness of the economy; (3) Önancial liberalisation is good for development when governance is good, but may be bad for development when governance is bad; and (4) corruption and poverty may co-exist as permanent, rather than just transitory, Öxtures of an economy.
Topic:
Corruption, Development, Finance, and Liberalization
Political Geography:
Global Focus

29. The Internet and Political Control in Singapore

Author:
Garry Rodan
Publication Date:
03-1998
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Political Science Quarterly
Institution:
Academy of Political Science
Abstract:
GARRY RODAN investigates the political implications of the Internet in Singapore, where authorities have embarked on an ambitious attempt to restrain the liberalizing impact of the new technology. His findings contradict popular expectations of the Internet necessarily aiding the erosion of authoritarian rule.
Topic:
Politics, Science and Technology, Authoritarianism, Internet, and Liberalization
Political Geography:
Singapore and Southeast Asia

30. The Politics of Economic Liberalization: Argentina and Brazil in Comparative Perspective

Author:
Robert A. Packenham
Publication Date:
04-1994
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Kellogg Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
The recent trends toward economic liberalization in Latin America provide an unusual opportunity to analyze a number of important questions in the political economy of development and underdevelopment. Why has virtually every Latin American country suddenly reversed the direction of the economic policies that had been in place for a full half-century or more? Why is the pace of such change rapid in some countries and slow in others? What are the already discernible and likely future consequences of such changes for development? What are their implications for theories of development and underdevelopment? What conceptual, theoretical, and methodological tools are available and fruitful for analyzing these topics? This paper examines these questions with particular reference to the difference in the pace of change toward economic liberalization between Argentina under Menem and Brazil under Collor.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Political Economy, Economic Growth, and Liberalization
Political Geography:
Brazil, Argentina, and Latin America