International capital mobility in an era of globalisation: adding a political dimension to the 'Feldstein–Horioka Puzzle'

The debate about the scope of feasible policy-making in an era of globalisation continues to be set within the context of an assumption that national capital markets are now perfectly integrated at the international level. However, the empirical evidence on international capital mobility contradicts such an assumption. As a consequence, a significant puzzle remains. Why is it, in a world in which the observed pattern of capital flows is indicative of a far from globalised reality, that public policy continues to be constructed in line with more extreme variants of the globalisation hypothesis? I attempt to solve this puzzle by arguing that ideas about global capital market integration have an independent causal impact on political outcomes which extends beyond that which can be attributed to the extent of their actual integration

Re-theorising the core: a ‘globalized’ business elite in Santiago, Chile

World systems theory continues to be a widely adopted approach in theorisations of the contemporary world economy. An important epistemological component to world systems theory is the metaphor of core-periphery. Recent work within the approach has sought to transcend earlier criticisms of regional conceptions of cores, peripheries and semi-peripheries by an increasing sensitivity to local differences and an increasing emphasis on Wallerstein's original idea of core-periphery as process, operating at all scales in the contemporary world system. However, this paper argues that the core-periphery metaphor currently used by world systems theorists is founded around a restrictively narrow spatial epistemology. Such a narrow epistemology implements the core-periphery metaphor only as something which produces territorial outcomes in the physical world. This paper contends that recent work within the social services, concerned with the globalization debate and issues of spatial epistemology, should inform world systems theory in producing a reformulated spatial understanding of the core-periphery metaphor, embodying a wider conception of space to include abstract social spaces. This argument is developed in the notion that the world economy must also be understood as having a ‘social core’: a transnational diasporic business elite exercising decision-making power over the capitalist world system. The contention is grounded in the presentation of research into a case study of such a ‘globalized’ business elite in the capital city of Chile, Santiago

A tale of two capitalisms: preliminary spatial and historical comparisons of homicide rates in Western Europe and the USA

This article examines comparative homicide rates in the United States and Western Europe in an era of increasingly globalized neoliberal economics. The main finding of this preliminary analysis is that historical and spatial correlations between distinct forms of political economy and homicide rates are consistent enough to suggest that social democratic regimes are more successful at fostering the socio-cultural conditions necessary for reduced homicide rates. Thus Western Europe and all continents and nations should approach the importation of American neo-liberal economic policies with extreme caution. The article concludes by suggesting that the indirect but crucial causal connection between political economy and homicide rates, prematurely pushed into the background of criminological thought during the ‘cultural turn’, should be returned to the foreground

Performance measurement of cross-culture supply chain partnership: a case study in the Chinese automotive industry

This study explores a performance measurement system for a dynamic supply chain partnership in a cross-cultural context. An initial framework is constructed by reviewing the existing literature, followed by an in-depth case study in the Chinese automotive industry, where the framework is refined to address the multi-cultural setting. A performance measurement, system which includes the relationship strategy and operational measurement criteria for a supply chain partnership, has been developed. The relationship strategy contains elements of strategy orientation, management style, interdependence, mutual organisational characteristics and common goals. The operational measurement criteria consist of commitment, trust, communication behaviour, information sharing, participation decision, quality, production performance, delivery, cost, supplier strength, attitude, compromise and loyalty. The last three operational measurement criteria are found to be particularly relevant to the cross-cultural feature. While existing studies tend to focus on either specific measures or individual organisations, this paper for the first time proposes a comprehensive framework to measure the performance of supply chain partnerships. The cross-cultural perspective provides a further unique view on how a performance measurement system can be responsive to the dynamics in practice

A Renewed Social Democracy for an 'Age of Internationalism':An Interpretivist Account of New Labour’s Foreign Policy

This paper employs an interpretive approach to explore New Labour’s use of social scientific theories in developing its foreign policy. After situating New Labour in the broad tradition of social democracy, it outlines the beliefs that most social democrats shared about the values of internationalism, international community and moral leadership. Taking these concepts in turn, the paper then considers how New Labour modified their content in response to issues raised by ‘New Times’. In so doing, it problematizes New Labour’s responses by revealing that they drew on ideas taken from complex interdependence theory, communitarianism and democratic peace theory respectively. The paper then examines how these theories, in conjunction with the reformulation of its foreign policy, influenced New Labour’s transformation of the three values, before concluding with a brief examination of the dilemmas arising from this process

Economic crisis and the construction of a neo-liberal regulatory regime in Korea

A consistent theme of the literature on the ontology of the 1997 South Korean crisis is the key role played by regulatory failures and the growing weakness of the state. This paper seeks to briefly highlight both the insights and the limitations of this approach to understanding the crisis. Having done so, we shall set out the argument that the crisis created an opportunity for reformist Korean élites to advance their longstanding, but previously frustrated, project to create a comprehensive unambiguously neo-liberal regulatory regime. This paper will also seek to highlight the implications of our reading of the development of the Korean political economy for broader debates on economic liberalisation, crisis and the future of the developmental state

Europe as a multilevel federation

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Cluster Performance reconsidered: Structure, Linkages and Paths in the German Biotechnology Industry, 1996-2003

This paper addresses the evolution of biotechnology clusters in Germany between 1996 and 2003, paying particular attention to their respective composition in terms of venture capital, basic science institutions and biotechnology firms. Drawing upon the significance of co-location of "money and ideas", the literature stressing the importance of a cluster's openness and external linkages, and the path dependency debate, the paper aims to analyse how certain cluster characteristics correspond with its overall performance. After identifying different cluster types, we investigate their internal and external interconnectivity in comparative manner and draw on changes in cluster composition. Our results indicate that the structure, i.e. to which group the cluster belongs, and the openness towards external knowledge flows deliver merely unsystematic indications with regard to a cluster's overall success. Its ability to change composition towards a more balanced ratio of science and capital over time, on the other hand, turns out as a key explanatory factor. Hence, the dynamic perspective proves effective illuminating cluster growth and performance, where our explorative findings provide a promising avenue for further evolutionary research

Flows and cohesion: balancing capabilities across an expanded union

The dynamics of physical relocation of intellectual capital is seen in the flow of skilled workers across international boundaries and the internal movements within the increasingly integrated economy of the European Union. This article describes a research framework developed within the context of a globalised economy and its potential application to issues within the boundaries of the European Unio

The intertwined geopolitics and geoeconomics of hopes/fears:China’s triple economic bubbles and the ‘One Belt One Road’ imaginary

This paper adopts a discursive-cum-material approach to China's new 'One Belt One Road' (OBOR) geostrategic imaginary and its development through the intertwining of geopolitics and geoeconomics of hopes and fears. It first contextualizes this development after the 2008 financial crisis when China promoted a vast stimulus package that inflated existing property and infrastructure bubbles and fuelled another in finance. Resulting debates over crisis management enabled an incoming President Xi to articulate a set of hope-based discourses that came to include 'China Dream', 'New Normal' and the OBOR. Familiar cartographic statecraft techniques and novel spatial metaphors were used to promote the OBOR's allegedly 'win-win' strategy discursively. The OBOR imaginary was translated materially, and importantly, into policies that promoted a grand transregional 'spatial fix' to postpone China's over-accumulation crises. This strategy is consolidating a China-oriented infrastructural mode of growth in production, finance and security. As this absorbs ever more productive and financial capital, we see the emergence of contradictions, antagonisms and conflicts, especially in the use of bilateral loan-debt contractuality to appropriate strategic infrastructure. The paper concludes with a call for an affective turn examining the intertwining of geoeconomics and geopolitics in the analysis of transregional spatial fixes