Political Economy

Citizens, cities and sports teams.

by John Nauright

Policy Options, 18:3 (1997), 9-12. [Reprinted in P. Donnelly, ed. (2000). Taking sport seriously: Social issues in Canadian sport. 2nd ed. Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing].

Coauthored with Peter Donnelly and Phil White

Sustainable Ecologies, Unsustainable Politics: Chinampa Farming in Ancient Central Mexico

by Christopher Morehart

History Shows European Monetary Union May Have Been 'Bridge Too Far'

by Gilles Bransbourg

A short reflexion about the Eurozone crisis, published under the form of a media column. A short reflexion about the Eurozone crisis, published under the form of a media column.

Prosperity, power, and change: Modeling maize at Postclassic Xaltocan, Mexico

by Christopher Morehart

Lusoga Essay Series: Okwanghanga enimi dh'obuzaale n'engeri y'okukikolamu

by Cornelius Gulere

To be published in Lusoga journal "Amakobo" soon.

This essay is the first in the series to be written in Lusoga. It is intended as a sample for those studying Lusoga... more This essay is the first in the series to be written in Lusoga. It is intended as a sample for those studying Lusoga language and literature in high school. It raises the fundamental question of language policy in Uganda and give 25 reasons why Lusoga should be promoted and this should be done. This paper has deliberately left out the references which will appear in the journal.

The Emerging Neo-Communitarianism

by Will Davies

Forthcoming in Political Quarterly, 83: 4 Oct-Dec 2012 http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0032-3179

The financial crisis which began in 2007 has been widely interpreted as a crisis of neoliberalism, akin to the crisis... more The financial crisis which began in 2007 has been widely interpreted as a crisis of neoliberalism, akin to the crisis of Keynesianism of the 1970s. But there is little sign of a major paradigmatic alternative, either in theory in practice. This article looks at how the crises and failures of neoliberalism are occurring at a micro-policy level, where they are interpreted in terms of the fallibility of individual rational choice. Policy responses to this crisis, drawing on more psychologically nuanced accounts of economic behaviour, can be described as ‘neo-communitarian’, inasmuch as they echo the communitarian critique of the liberal self. Where neoliberalism rests on a vision of the individual as atomised and rational, neo-communitarianism treats individuals as governed by social norms and incentives simultaneously. And where neoliberalism subjects individuals to periodic audit organised around targets and outputs, neo-communitarianism conducts a constant audit of behavioural fluctuations in real time.

Cosmopolitanism vs Terrorism? Discourses of Ethical Possibility Before and After 7/7

by james brassett

The article provides a critical analysis of the relationship between cosmopolitanism and terrorism, via the question... more The article provides a critical analysis of the relationship between cosmopolitanism and terrorism, via the question of response. Using 9/11 and 7/7 as key moments in the evolution of this relationship, the article asks: how does cosmopolitanism respond to terrorism? What limits does this response contain? How might we go beyond such limits? It is argued that cosmopolitan responses to terrorism provide an important, but limited (and sometimes limiting), alternative to mainstream discourses on terror. After 9/11 the possibility for cosmopolitan thinking ‘beyond’ the mainstream view was articulated by a range of authors, including Archibugi, Habermas, Held and Linklater. A brief survey suggests that defending international law, constructing international institutions and alleviating global poverty were seen as good responses, in the context of divisive mainstream politics. However, by engaging a case study of the Make Poverty History campaign, the article argues that when cosmopolitan ideas were cemented in practice, the distinctiveness of a cosmopolitan response faded. This point was brought into sharp relief by a number of moralising responses to 7/7. Straightforward dichotomies between ‘barbaric terrorists’ and ‘civilised cosmopolitans’ served to construct cosmopolitanism as a coherent, and united, global community. Available tactics, for this ‘community’, were reduced to more-of-the same – more aid, more global democracy – and assertions of a moral equivalence between Bush and ‘Terror’, such that ‘you are either with cosmopolitans, or, you are with the War on Terror’. In light of
these ethical closures, and drawing from the arguments of Jacques Derrida and Judith Butler, the article identifies some cursory ways in which cosmopolitans might think beyond such limits, to articulate an imaginative and engaged approach to global ethics.

Crisis Is Governance: Sub-Prime, the Traumatic Event, and Bare Life

by james brassett

co-authored with Nick Vaughan-Williams

This article provides a critical analysis of how discourses of trauma and the traumatic event constituted the... more This article provides a critical analysis of how discourses of trauma and the traumatic event constituted the ethico-political possibilities and limits of the sub-prime crisis. Metaphors of a “financial tsunami” and pervasive media focus on emotional “responses” such as fear, anger and blame constituted the sub-prime crisis as a singular, traumatic “event” demanding particular (humanitarian) responses. Drawing upon the work of Giorgio Agamben, we render this constituted logic of event and response in terms of the securing of sovereign power and the concomitant production of bare life; the savers and homeowners who became “helpless victims” in need of rescue. Using Agamben’s recent arguments about “the apparatus” and processes of subjectification and de-subjectification, we illustrate this theoretical approach by addressing the position of the British economy, bankers and homeowners. On this view, it was the movement between subject positions—from safe to vulnerable, from entrepreneurial to greedy, from victim to survivor—that marked out the effective manner of governance during the sub-prime crisis. In the process sovereign categories of financial citizenship, asset based welfare and securitisation (which many would posit as the very problem) were confirmed as central to our future “survival”. In short, (the way that the) crisis (was constituted) is governance.

A Pragmatic Approach to the Tobin Tax Campaign: The Politics of Sentimental Education

by james brassett

The article provides a critical analysis of the campaign for a Tobin
Tax. A popular view that global civil... more The article provides a critical analysis of the campaign for a Tobin
Tax. A popular view that global civil society can act as an agent for ethics is interrogated by appeal to the dilemmas and political contests which pervade the campaign. Problems with financial and institutional universalism undermine any unambiguous ethical appeal in the TobinTax by imposing a set of limits on thinkable avenues of reform. How ever, and drawing on the philosophical pragmatism of Richard Rorty, it is argued that the campaign can be celebrated for its role in ongoing practices of ‘sentimental education’. By illustrating the harm that financial markets cause, the Tobin Tax involves larger, more diverse, audiences in a conversation about global finance; technical and sentimental discourses blur. Moreover, those very contests that pervade the campaign can act to interrupt the totalizing aspects of the proposal, thus making alternatives thinkable. Engaging the ‘politics of sentimental education’, in this way, allows a contingent celebration of what is ethically useful in the Tobin Tax, while leaving an area of contest that is potentially antithetical. Rather than plump for an either/or position, the difficult, but ethical, challenge is to do both-and. The article concludes by suggesting how this ‘politics of sentimental education’ might bear upon existing knowledge about the theory and practice of global civil society.

Ethics in world politics: cosmopolitanism and beyond?

by james brassett

Building the normative dimension (s) of a global polity

by james brassett

The Politics of Legitimate Global Governance

by james brassett

Legitimacy is an important question to ask of the theory and practice of global governance. In this introduction, we... more Legitimacy is an important question to ask of the theory and practice of global governance. In this introduction, we make two propositions that are used to push thinking about these issues forward. Firstly, in analytical terms we outline a spectrum between legitimacy and legitimization which is aimed to capture the diverse set of approaches to this subject and to develop an engaged and reformist attitude that refuses the either-or distinction in favour of a methodologically pluralist logic of ‘both and’. Secondly, in political terms, we argue that discussions of legitimate global governance in both policy and academic circles can carry a ‘Trojan horse’ quality whereby the ambiguity of the term might allow a point of intervention for more ambitious
ethical objectives.

Misyurov D.A. Dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas // Credo New. 2012. №2

by Dmitry Misyurov

The article suggests dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas: formula with... more The article suggests dialectical formulas based on the binary notation as the development formulas: formula with dominant and the non-dominant elements; universal formula; formula with symbolic weight of elements; tautological formula. For example, it suggests an opportunity to use the dialectical formulas for modeling and artificial intelligence creation, etc.

The Pedagogical Subject of Neoliberal Development

by Alvin Lim

Under review

I first started to seriously consider the pedagogical subject of neoliberal development when I began drafting a... more I first started to seriously consider the pedagogical subject of neoliberal development when I began drafting a proposed course on the challenges of development. In order for me to develop a syllabus for my proposed course, I had to understand the development challenges which emerged from Nigeria’s neoliberal transformation in the 1980s. After considering this history of neoliberal development in Nigeria, I describe a visit to the underdeveloped Koma Hills to see first hand the challenges faced by a traditional community facing the encroachment of "development." I conclude with a consideration of community service learning as a methodology for introducing my proposed students to the challenges of neoliberal development.

Five formulas to deal with new contexts

by Marcelo Manucci

The five formulas are representative of five dimensions of approach of a new developmental territory. Both in... more The five formulas are representative of five dimensions of approach of a new developmental territory. Both in individual and group or corporate, we face new conditions of life generated by a social and economic context that moves with unusual speed, deep interdependence with factors that permanently redefine "rules" of a production system. How to maintain competitiveness in relation to this new landscape?

British irony, global justice: a pragmatic reading of Chris Brown, Banksy and Ricky Gervais

by james brassett

The article provides a critical analysis of the concept of irony and how it relates to global justice. Taking Richard... more The article provides a critical analysis of the concept of irony and how it relates to global justice. Taking Richard Rorty as a lead, it is suggested that irony can foreground a sense of doubt over our own most heartfelt beliefs regarding justice. This provides at least one ideal sense in which irony can impact the discussion of global ethics by pitching less as a discourse of grand universals and more as a set of hopeful narratives about how to reduce suffering. The article then extends this notion via the particular – and particularly – ethnocentric case of British Irony. Accepting certain difficulties with any definition of British Irony the article reads the interventions of three protagonists on the subject of global justice – Chris Brown, Banksy and Ricky Gervais. It is argued that their considerations bring to light important nuances in irony relating to the importance of playfulness, tragedy, pain, self-criticism and paradox. The position is then qualified against the (opposing) critiques that irony is either too radical, or, too
conservative a quality to make a meaningful impact on the discussion of global justice. Ultimately, irony is defended as a critical and imaginative form, which can (but does not necessarily) foster a greater awareness of the possibilities and limits for thinking/doing global justice.

Deliberation and Global Governance: Liberal, Cosmopolitan, and Critical Perspectives

by james brassett

Deliberation and Global Civil Society: Agency Arena Affect

by james brassett

The article provides a critical analysis of the role and function of global civil society within deliberative... more The article provides a critical analysis of the role and function of global civil society within deliberative approaches to global governance. It critiques a common view that global civil society can/should act as an agent for democratising global governance and seeks to explore the importance of global civil society as an arena of deliberation. This more reconstructive aim is supplemented by an empirically focused discussion of the affective dimensions of global civil society, in general, and the increasingly important use of film, in particular. Ultimately, this then yields an image of the deliberative politics of global civil
society that is more reflective of the differences, ambiguities and contests that pervade its discourses about global governance. This is presented as a quality that debates about deliberative global governance might learn from as well as speak to.

The Value of Marx: Free Labour, Rent and ‘Primitive’ Accumulation in Facebook

by Steffen Boehm

Working paper, co-authored with Chris Land and Armin Beverungen

This paper argues that critical studies of organization need to extend their analysis of labour beyond the sphere of... more This paper argues that critical studies of organization need to extend their analysis of labour beyond the sphere of value production organized by capital in order to fully apprehend the realities of today’s political economy. One direction in which this analysis must be developed is to radically expand our understanding of ‘labour’ to incorporate the full range of value producing activities, including productive consumption (also called ‘prosumption’) and ‘free labour’. The second direction, which is more theoretically neglected, is to recognize that some contemporary business models do not depend much upon value production at all, but rather on the appropriation of value through the extraction of rents. In this paper we develop this analysis of ‘profit becoming rent’ by returning to Marx’s conception of ‘primitive accumulation’, both to highlight the continued significance of enclosure and appropriation in the global circuits of the extractive industries and manufacturing, but also to demonstrate that this logic is at work even in the most advanced socio-economic formations, for example in the basic business model of Facebook.

148 الأقباط والانتخابات الرئاسية

by Mohamed Nabeel Gamie