What is the ‘Fight Against Corruption’ in Nicaragua?

Two hundred years ago in Great Britain, the political system was dominated by electoral power exercised through rotten boroughs, a system characterized by institutionalized corruption - these electoral boroughs were owned by local elites, and voting was restricted to a handful of people. Whilst industrially she was the wonder of the world, the political system in Great Britain was restricted, corruption was the norm, and it seemed impossible to imagine that such an ancient system could be changed. By the time of the Reform Act of 1832 however, Britain had already been going through a process of constitutional change lasting for hundreds of years – it is only now, from our position of 20/20 hindsight, that we choose to interpret all of the events since the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 as if it were some seamless whole, an inevitable process that would lead to the position of superior moral governance that we appear to think we are in now

The Evolution of Ultracapital and Actor-Network Capitalism

This paper reviews distinct critical writings on the current global economic crisis in order to suggest that the crisis represents a distinctly new form of actor-network capitalism, originating in the hybrid financial innovations since the 1970s, the explosive growth in cyber-space potential during the 1990s and the subsuming of the State by finance that accompanied these two processes. The paper proposes the evolution of what is referred to as ultracapital (capital beyond capital) from within the global financial services sector, as a relational space in which to examine actants, networks and processes. Hybrid cyber-, juridical and socio-political spaces are considered in outline alongside the increasingly sophisticated development of new financial services instruments driven by IT innovation toward the fundamental detachment of value from price. These considerations suggest that many of the partial views on the economic crisis within the disciplines of geography, economics and politics need to be re-thought using cross-disciplinary, holistic analyses that utilize relational and actor-network theorization. Finally, the paper suggests that global economic events since 2007 are not just another episode in a series of crises which are endemic to capitalism, but a transitional phase towards an entirely different capitalist topology

What is the 'Fight Against Corruption' in Nicaragua?

Two hundred years ago in Great Britain, the political system was dominated by electoral power exercised through rotten boroughs, a system characterized by institutionalized corruption - these electoral boroughs were owned by local elites, and voting was restricted to a handful of people. Whilst industrially she was the wonder of the world, the political system in Great Britain was restricted, corruption was the norm, and it seemed impossible to imagine that such an ancient system could be changed. By the time of the Reform Act of 1832 however, Britain had already been going through a process of constitutional change lasting for hundreds of years – it is only now, from our position of 20/20 hindsight, that we choose to interpret all of the events since the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 as if it were some seamless whole, an inevitable process that would lead to the position of superior moral governance that we appear to think we are in nowTwo hundred years ago in Great Britain, the political system was dominated by electoral power exercised through rotten boroughs, a system characterized by institutionalized corruption - these electoral boroughs were owned by local elites, and voting was restricted to a handful of people. Whilst industrially she was the wonder of the world, the political system in Great Britain was restricted, corruption was the norm, and it seemed impossible to imagine that such an ancient system could be changed. By the time of the Reform Act of 1832 however, Britain had already been going through a process of constitutional change lasting for hundreds of years – it is only now, from our position of 20/20 hindsight, that we choose to interpret all of the events since the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215 as if it were some seamless whole, an inevitable process that would lead to the position of superior moral governance that we appear to think we are in now

Speaking in riddles: The Panama Papers and the global financial services sector

In 2007, on the cusp of the economic crisis, a paper was published in Growth and Change (June 2007) entitled “Shadow Europe: alternative European financial geographies,” which began to tackle the idea of shadow finance in Europe and the size and inseparability of what was regarded as “shadow” from “normal” financial flows. A number of the observations made have proved remarkably prescient and one particular phrase stands out in the light of the recent revelations about the so-called Panama Papers in 2016: “Strategically important flows of capital derived from complex underground production systems that have seldom been analyzed in detail move through the European financial networks that connect to offshore tax havens (Christensen, 2003). These havens are not a separate and distinct entity from the financial networks that connect world cities but rather a vital counterpart on which the functioning of the cities connected via those networks depends” (2007, p. 319). The revelation of the Panama Papers constitutes a new critical juncture from which to re-visit that 2007 paper and to re-examine the state of knowledge on shadow and formal financial flows

Energy and development: the political economy of energy choices

Energy and development: the political economy of energy choice

Low Carbon Energy Democracy in the Global South?

Social science tools and practitioner experiences help to understand relations of democratic processes to low carbon energy transitions in the Global South. This requires interrogating Euro-centric assumptions about participation, national development, and infrastructure models in conditions of inequality and state capture. Issues of historical extractive energy injustice and the asymmetries of Southern climate vulnerability as compared to Northern GHG emission sources, drag this topic into political focus for questioning the models of mass consumption that have driven economic development over two centuries. Can democracy be reinvented with renewables

Governance, decentralisation and energy: a critical review of the key issues

Governance, decentralisation and energy: a critical review of the key issue

Welfare convergence, bureaucracy, and moral distancing at the food bank

This paper seeks to extend geographic thinking on the changing constitution of the UK welfare state, suggesting the need to supplement ideas of the “shadow state” with an analysis of the blurring of the bureaucratic practices through which welfare is now delivered by public, private and third sector providers alike. Focusing on the growing convergence of the bureaucratic practices of benefits officials and food bank organisations, we interrogate the production of moral distance that characterise both. We reveal the ideological values embedded in voucher and referral systems used by many food banks, and the ways in which these systems further stigmatise and exclude people in need of support. Contrasting these practices with those of a variety of “ethical insurgents”, we suggest that food banks are sites of both the further cementing and of challenge to the injustices of Britain's new welfare apparatus

Theory and praxis: co-design complexities of community energy projects in Kenya [poster]

Theory and praxis: co-design complexities of community energy projects in Kenya [poster