Legitimacy and comparative economic success at the core of the world system: an exploratory study

This paper suggests that comparative economic success is influenced by political choices which themselves are linked to the competitive world system. Governments produce social order (or protection) as a territorially bounded public utility, which is seen as a productive force. Citizens invest a social order with differing degrees of legitimacy which is thus, via motivation, an important competitive resource. A multiple regression design covering 18 Western core societies over the postwar era is used to test whether legitimacy, operationalized as relative absence of mass political protest, has an effect on comparative overall economic performance once initial wealth, absolute and relative size of government and membership in trading blocs are controlled for. We find robust empirical evidence for a positive impact of legitimacy on growth in the postwar era. The study thus suggests additional support for the theory of the ‘world market for protection', developed elsewhere to explain long-term economic success and societal convergence at the core of the world syste

Economic Policy and Multinational Corporations in Development: The Measurable Impacts in Cross-National Persepective

In this article we report the main findings of a research project at the University of Zurich on Multinational Corporations, Economic Policy and National Development in the World System. For reasons of space the focus is on cross-national empirical findings rather than on theoretical discussion. Dimensions of economic policy against multinational corporations are established and operationalized. A combination of these dimensions is the basis of a typology of economic policy. The article presents the distribution of 73 countries according to different types of economic policy for the period 1960 to 1975. Analyses of the determinants and concomitants of economic policies are reported as well as their effect on foreign capital and development. Results are presented in the context of cross-national findings of how multinational corporations affect development. These findings relate to the impact of multinational corporations on subsequent economic growth and on social inequalit

Zum Zusammenhang von Geschlechterungleichheiten in Bildung, Beruf und Karriere : ein Ausblick

Ziel der folgenden Ausführungen im abschliessenden Teil dieses Sammelbands zur Entwicklung und Genese von geschlechtsspezifischen Bildungsungleichheiten ist es, den Blick zu öffnen in Richtung Berufsleben. Wie sind die verbesserten Bildungsmöglichkeiten von Frauen zu interpretieren? Ist es in den letzten Jahrzehnten gelungen, eines der grundlegendsten gesellschaftlichen Ungleichheitsverhältnisse zu beseitigen? Oder beginnt sich dieses sogar zu verkehren in eine gesellschaftliche Benachteiligung der Männer? Wir gehen bei unseren Überlegungen von der These aus, dass ein Abbau von Benachteiligungen der Frauen im Bildungssystem für sich genommen noch wenig aussagekräftig ist, wenn wir uns mit der klassischen soziologischen Frage der Persistenz bzw. des Wandels von gesellschaftlichen Ungleichheiten befassen wollen. Erst wenn die ganze Verknüpfung von Bildung und gesellschaftlicher Ungleichheit in den Blick genommen wird und sich dabei zeigt, dass Frauen ihre Bildungsgewinne auch in entsprechende Chancen im Beschäftigungssystem umsetzen können, sind ihre verbesserten Bildungschancen ein Gewinn für die Individuen und ein Fortschritt für die Gesellschaft – und erst dann könnten mögliche Bildungsvorteile von Frauen, wie sie in den vorliegenden Aufsätzen z.T. diagnostiziert werden, gar als neue gesellschaftliche Benachteiligungen von Männern skandalisiert werden

Hegemonic Decline, West European Unification, and the Future Structure of the Core

This paper queries the applicability of hegemonic cycle theories to the emerging structure in the core of the world political economy and argues that we are likely, following this period of relative decline in American hegemony, to witness the emergence of hegemonic social practices in the absence, however, of a hegemonic state. Contrasting new beginnings with past patterns, we will suggest arguments why history will not be repeated. Drawing on our research on the Single European Act (SEA), we argue that the bargain struck between the Commission of the European Union and West European transnational corporations, which culminated in the SEA, represents more than a decisive step towards economic and political union. We see it, more significantly, as embodying Europe's response to its declining position through an attempt to articulate a new societal model capable of successfully replacing the disarticulated post-WWII Keynesian social-welfare model, and of competing with the Japanese and American societal models. In the future, it is very unlikely that power among the actors in the Triad will be so unevenly distributed as to permit the rise of a new hegemonic state. While it would seem, judging from historical experience, that the presence of a hegemonic state was functionally necessary for the establishment of hegemonic social practices in the core, we argue that another mechanism has now moved to the forefront. Due to pressures generated through increasing economic globalization, linked to demands associated with the quest for legitimacy on the part of democratic governments, we foresee, following a period of increased economic competition, the convergence of social practices around a single societal model

Changing Income Inequality in the Second Half of the 20th Century Preliminary Findings and Propositions for Explanations

There exists a rather widespread professional consensus that income inequality both within and between societies in the world system has increased over the last quarter of a century. This, however, does not represent a secular trend since inequality between WWII and the 1970s was rather stable or decreasing. For the increasing inequality both within and between societies since the 1970s we present fresh evidence which helps to settle open questions of previous research. Less consensus has been achieved until now with regard to explanations. Arguing that monocausal explanatory schemes are of little help, the paper suggests eight propositions for an explanation. The evaluation of them is also enriched by diverse pieces of preliminary empirical evidence. The paper also brie?y considers which factors are responsible for a rather transitory increase and those which suggest a lasting higher level of inequality in the world