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22. Cultivating Credit: Financialized Urbanization Is Alienation!
- Author:
- Tareq Radi
- Publication Date:
- 03-2022
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Journal of Palestine Studies
- Institution:
- Institute for Palestine Studies
- Abstract:
- Since 2007, the Palestinian Authority has implemented a strategy of financialized urbanization in response to economic crises precipitated by Israel’s settler-colonial stranglehold on the Palestinian economy. This article argues that financialized urbanization operates as a mechanism to expand the local banking sector and as a modality of settler-colonial alienation. Examining the joint-ownership structures of companies whose activities straddle real estate and financial markets, the article shows where land ownership in the West Bank ultimately lies. The study highlights qualitative changes in money lending and the extended reach of finance to emphasize the risks of financial collapse. Understanding finance capital and settler colonialism as systems predicated on managing risk for maximum returns, the discussion draws their relation to each other into a single analytical framework to center the question of land dispossession and racialization at the heart of financialized urbanization.
- Topic:
- Development, Urban, Settler Colonialism, Indigenous, Geography, Property, Financialisation, and Native Americans
- Political Geography:
- Middle East and Palestine
23. Towards a Pax Cubana: revolution, socialism and development in Havana’s Cold War foreign policy
- Author:
- Radoslav Yordanov
- Publication Date:
- 01-2022
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional (RBPI)
- Institution:
- Instituto Brasileiro de Relações Internacionais (IBRI)
- Abstract:
- This paper uses a wide array of original documents collected from Bulgarian, Czech, German, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian and Serbian diplomatic, party and security services archives, reflecting Havana’s foreign policy during the Cold War. The article’s narrative follows Cuba’s Cold War foreign policy in the 1970s. Through its multipolar archival research methodology, the paper aims to help us acquaint a more nuanced and fuller picture of the complex and evolving character of Cuba’s Cold War internationalism as seen through the eyes of Moscow’s East European allies, marking a clear departure from existing literature mostly engaging Soviet or American sources.
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Cold War, Development, Revolution, and Socialism
- Political Geography:
- Cuba, Caribbean, and North America
24. Competing Economic Visions in the Gulf
- Author:
- Robert Mogielnicki
- Publication Date:
- 01-2022
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Cairo Review of Global Affairs
- Institution:
- School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, American University in Cairo
- Abstract:
- Economic visions offer regional governments roadmaps for development, but they can also serve as a tool for measurement and—ultimately—accountability
- Topic:
- Development, Economics, Governance, and Accountability
- Political Geography:
- Gulf Nations
25. Restructuring Our Assistance in Least Developed Countries
- Author:
- Mark Wentling
- Publication Date:
- 08-2022
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- American Diplomacy
- Institution:
- American Diplomacy
- Abstract:
- U.S. missions abroad tend to adhere to a basic organizational structure, with an ambassador, deputy chief of mission, political, economic, management, consular and public diplomacy offices. While many embassies, especially those in Least Developed Countries (LDCs), also include development specialists from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), more focus on high-impact development assistance is needed by the poorest countries. Ideally, U.S. missions in seriously underdeveloped countries should be organized in such a way as to focus on developmental progress. For example, when it comes to appointing ambassadors to LDCs, consideration should be given to those qualified to oversee and participate in a development program aimed at moving the host country up the ranks of the UN’s human development index (HDI).
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Development, and Public Diplomacy
- Political Geography:
- United States of America
26. The Real U.S.-China 5G Contest is Just Getting Started
- Author:
- Philip Hsu
- Publication Date:
- 07-2022
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- China Brief
- Institution:
- The Jamestown Foundation
- Abstract:
- On June 6, China declared the three-year anniversary of its business deployment of 5G, with the country having invested nearly 185 billion yuan in related infrastructure in 2021 alone (Xinhua Baoye, June 5). However, China’s 5G ambitions, which continue to form a substantial component of its national and international development policies, began years ago with Huawei. After Apple revolutionized the smartphone, demand for sophisticated computer “chips” and other components skyrocketed. Companies like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC) and Foxconn capitalized on this shift to become the main pillars of Taiwan’s economy. In addition to supplying Samsung, Apple and HTC, a lesser-known, nominally private Chinese company, Huawei was also starting to make smartphones around this time using Taiwanese hardware (Nikkei Asia, 2016). Although in recent years up to 60 percent of 5G-capable Huawei phone components have been manufactured in China, which is due in large part to U.S. sanctions against it and other Chinese technology companies, a new technological Cold War is unlikely to materialize over 5G. The economic stakes over advanced computing and a new generation of telecommunications infrastructure are too high for the international community to afford any one nation or corporation primacy across the deep and diverse set of software, hardware and human capital requirements this technology will demand.
- Topic:
- Development, Science and Technology, Infrastructure, Strategic Competition, and 5G
- Political Geography:
- China, Asia, North America, and United States of America
27. China and Sri Lanka’s Debt Crisis: Belt and Road Initiative Blowback
- Author:
- Sudha Ramachandran
- Publication Date:
- 05-2022
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- China Brief
- Institution:
- The Jamestown Foundation
- Abstract:
- Sri Lanka is in the grip of an unprecedented crisis. For several months, the country has been reeling under a severe foreign exchange crisis. In early May, Foreign Minister Ali Sabry said that its usable forex reserves were just $50 million (Daily News, May 5). As a result, Sri Lanka has been forced to suspend repayment of $51 billion worth of debt owed to China, Japan and other foreign creditors (The Hindu, April 12; The Island, April 13). The country has also been unable to pay for imports of essential commodities, and has experienced serious shortages of food, fuel and medicine (The Island, January 15). The economic crisis has in turn triggered a political crisis. Public anger has boiled over onto the streets. Angry protesters have been calling for the resignation of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his brother, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa (Colombo Telegraph, April 7). The Rajapaksa family has dominated Sri Lankan politics for decades and several members of the family are in positions of power as ministers, legislators or heads of corporations and departments. Sri Lankans want the entire clan out. Some of them, including Mahinda, resigned under public pressure in recent months (Island, April 17). Although Gotabaya remains president and under the country’s executive presidential system, continues to wield enormous power, it is evident that the influence of the Rajapaksas has declined. The unfolding crises in Sri Lanka have implications beyond the island. China is among Sri Lanka’s largest bilateral lenders and has played a big role in the island’s infrastructure development. Sri Lanka is a part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Despite China’s pledges that BRI would boost Sri Lanka’s economic and social development by transforming it into “the hub of the Indian Ocean”, Chinese loans are widely believed to have pushed the country into a ‘debt trap’ (Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Sri Lanka, June 16, 2017). How have the crises impacted China’s image in Sri Lanka and will the decline of the Rajapaksas, widely regarded as ‘pro-China,’ impact Sino-Sri Lankan relations? Finally, will the Sri Lankan crises affect the fate of BRI?
- Topic:
- Debt, Development, Politics, Infrastructure, Economy, and Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)
- Political Geography:
- China, South Asia, Asia, and Sri Lanka
28. Central and South Asia Economic Corridor in the Evolving Central Asian Geo-Political Circumstances
- Author:
- Shabir Amhad Khan and Imrana Begum
- Publication Date:
- 07-2022
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- South Asian Studies
- Institution:
- Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
- Abstract:
- The US withdrawal from Central Asia, Russia-Ukraine conflict and diverted great-powers’ competition from the region necessitate and drive the Central Asian region to revive historical links and open up in southern direction. The circumstances also induce Russia to open up trade routes to South via Central Asia. Central Asia with prudent regional approach may move from a “shatter belt” status (a region torn by internal strife and external intervention) to strengthened regionalism in the absence of direct great powers’ competition. The changed geo-political and geo-economic situation presents new opportunities to Central Asia, Afghanistan and South Asia for developing the Central-South Asia economic corridor, though accompanied with challenges within Afghanistan. The paper argues that the recent changes in the situation of the region provide additional space to the Central Asian countries for political maneuver to address the issues of security and development by materializing Central-South Asia economic corridor.
- Topic:
- Security, Development, Geopolitics, and Economy
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan, Afghanistan, South Asia, and Central Asia
29. Paradoxes of Judicial Independence: Issues and Challenges of Constitutionalism in Pakistan
- Author:
- Sadia Mahmood Falki and Aisha Shahzad
- Publication Date:
- 07-2022
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- South Asian Studies
- Institution:
- Department of Political Science, University of the Punjab
- Abstract:
- Pakistan has oscillated between weak civilian rules and military regimes throughout its history. Military co-option with the judiciary, alongside few exceptions commenced an era of dissolutions in 1988. This led to develop an institutional imbalance which undermined the representative institutions by upholding the presidential orders to dismiss federal and provincial assemblies in Pakistan. The judiciary in Pakistan largely remained a reactionary institution as it endeavored for the self-preservation rather than upholding the constitutionalism and enforcing the rule of law. Judiciary‟s political assertiveness during the decade of 1990s by addressing the political questions led to decline of its impartial character. This research expounds that judiciary‟s informal support for military increased the federal challenges of Pakistan and enhanced the authoritarian features of the state. This paper also explicates that by validating the dismissals of the representative institutions and authorizing the military regimes to amend the constitution, Judiciary compromised its judicial independence, which is one of the salient features of Constitution of 1973. Keeping in view the nature of case study and employing qualitative approach of research, this paper largely addresses the key question that how judicial Independence is relevant to the issues of federalism and democracy in Pakistan.
- Topic:
- Democratization, Development, Constitution, Judiciary, Federalism, Independence, and Civil-Military Relations
- Political Geography:
- Pakistan and South Asia
30. Through the Lenses of Morality and Responsibility: BRICS, Climate Change and Sustainable Development
- Author:
- Goktug Kiprizli
- Publication Date:
- 08-2022
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- Uluslararasi Iliskiler
- Institution:
- International Relations Council of Turkey (UİK-IRCT)
- Abstract:
- The aim of this article is to shed a broader light on the social identity of the BRICS group of countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) whose growing economic power is the defining motive of their social construct in international relations. In line with this purpose, the article examines the BRICS nations’ positions concerning the moral aspect and the notion of responsibility for the nexus between climate change and sustainable development. This article argues that their statements and discourse on climate change and sustainable development forge the process of constructing a separate group identity for the BRICS partners. The articulation of moral appraisals and the notion of responsibility in the areas of climate change and sustainable development help the BRICS countries build their self-conception and self-categorization corresponding to their identity as emerging powers, so their actions are accomplished accordingly.
- Topic:
- Development, Sustainability, BRICS, Morality, Identity, and Emerging Powers
- Political Geography:
- Africa, Russia, China, Europe, India, Asia, South Africa, Brazil, and South America