What Is Critical Globalization Studies?

From a critical perspective, precisely what kind of knowledge about globalization is meaningful? The distinctive province of a critical orientation to globalization is coming to be defined by a complex of five interacting components: reflexivity, historicism, decentering, crossovers between social inquiry and other streams of knowledge, and an emphasis on strategic transformations. Critical globalization studies may be employed to identify diverse tendencies in world order, parts of a contradictory whole that coexist, with different logics colliding with one another. These are elements of the old configuration, multilateral globalization ; the contemporary structure, militarized globalization ; and the potential constellation, democratic globalization . The motor of transformation is not only countervailing power but also alternative knowledge, which should be demystifying and enabling.     

Transnational Competence in an Emergent Epoch

The article elaborates a framework for understanding the relevance of transnational competence to the dynamics that mark the transformations of our time. Nongovernmental stakeholders interacting through dense civil-society networks that permeate domestic-foreign frontiers bear increasing responsibility for the course of events. Based on linked interests, interorganizational knowledge generation and aggregation, partnerships, and interpersonal/intercultural interactions, they are deeply involved in addressing the many challenges posed by an ever more interdependent world. Transnational competence lubricates transterritorial networks and projects. Here, the authors extend earlier work that posited a worldwide skill revolution both by developing explicit dimensions of transnational competence and by introducing a behavioral component. The new framework provides analytical groundwork for explaining why some people, groups, and networks are more effective than others in forging meaningful transnational solidarities, negotiating and benefiting from the intensifying experience of globalization, and waging successful transnational campaigns. The article also probes how the spread of transnational competence is being facilitated by global migration and transmigration trends. The final section explores the governance implications of expanding transnational competency for the emergent epoch.     

Russia–EU relations at a crossroads: preventing a new Cold War in a polycentric world

In the past year, the Ukrainian crisis has generated an international discussion about a ‘new Cold War’. This article looks into the likelihood of such a scenario and makes suggestions of how it may be precluded. The course of events depends on whether the current model of globalization can be reversed. This would mean not only a change in the current structure of the global economy, but its dismantling. However, it is obvious that for most European and other states, the risks associated with such a policy outweigh potential geopolitical and economic benefits. The international order is in a state of flux. High risks are unacceptable when governments or nations pursue their interests in a stable environment. But when the balance of power shifts substantially, as it has now, the perception of risk threshold also begins to change. European history has shown that large-scale transformations in international relations in most cases triggered tension and violence, caused by rising demands of ascending powers and by resistance of those who were challenged. In the twenty-first century, the polycentric structure of the world provides an opportunity to achieve a new lasting global settlement, and to put an end to the current period of increasing tension.     

State as resource,mediator and performer: understanding the local and global politics of gold mining in Kyrgyzstan

The inability of the state to maintain security and the rule of law for the purposes of foreign direct investment and industrial production is often taken as a sign of its weakness. However, such judgments say little about the actual functions of the state for global extraction industries and local political forces which demand their share of the pie. Whilst coercive state power may have decreased since Kyrgyzstan became independent, more important is the fact that the state itself has been transformed under the ruptures of, on the one hand, economic and political liberalization and, on the other, the effects of so-called ‘revolutions' of 2005 and 2010 which led to the wholesale restructuring of national structures of clientelism. Based on ethnographic research conducted in Talas province, documentary sources and interviews with gold mining companies and state officials, the paper investigates the state's shifting roles with respect to Kyrgyzstan's gold mining sector. Firstly, it explores the state as a source of rents for officials who grant and rescind licences in exchange for formal and informal payments from foreign investors, often via offshore vehicles. Secondly, it considers the role of the state as mediator between foreign investors and their access to sites. Finally, it identifies the state as performer of its status as sovereign power despite its inability to prevent uprisings and actually guarantee the promised access to its territory.     

Global Astana: nation branding as a legitimization tool for authoritarian regimes

This paper examines how, in post-Soviet Kazakhstan, both channels of elite and banal nationalism (such as sports and higher education) serve as instruments to promote the country. Through these channels, Kazakhstan is portrayed as an open, dynamic and successful country, an image which is in serious disjuncture with the authoritarian nature of the regime. Taking advantage of massive oil revenues, the government organized a significant OSCE general conference in 2010, while chairing the institution. In addition, it created the Astana professional cycling team, which rapidly became a world leader in the sport. Last but not least, Nazarbayev University, attracting prominent Western scholars, is now designed to make the country compete in the international arena of academic rankings. Domestic and international performances are thus treated as instruments to promote the legitimacy of the state at national and global levels. But this would not be possible without the help of individual actors who actively participate in this process. A close investigation shows that their social capital is based on global connections in various spheres (sports, finance and academia). This paper draws on evidence gathered through qualitative methods of enquiry (participant observation and semi-structured interviews). Finally, Astana is treated as a Latourian actor-network that has its own life and agency, thanks to the global association of various human actors and material objects.     

全球化条件下的文化安全探析

经济全球化是当今时代的一个重要特征，每一个国家都将面对错综复杂的国内外形势。中国在社会主义现代化建设的进程中，相较于西方国家文化安全的理论研究与现实发展，文化安全建设稍显滞后，面临着较大的威胁与挑战。理论上提出对策，实践中坚决反对文化霸权、力促先进文化的构建成为我国当前的一个重大现实课题。     

全球化对妇女劳动力市场的影响

全球化对妇女劳动力市场有正面和负面影响.全球化在就业机会、跨国公司、知识经济、大众传媒等方面给妇女劳动力市场带来了前所未有的新变化,这些变化正在改进职业中的性别不平等现象.同时,全球化对妇女劳动力市场也有消极方面的影响.发展中国家妇女低廉劳动力的输出、男女就业方面的差异、大众传媒对旧有性别观念的广泛传播、跨国公司对妇女廉价劳动力的雇佣等都是妇女劳动力市场的制约因素.针对这些情况,我们应采取相应措施来改善妇女劳动力市场.     

试论马克思后发展国家理论及其当代价值

马克思认为 ,后发展国家在世界历史的形成过程中付出了惨重的代价 ,但同时又取得了某种跨越式的发展。这些思想为我们考察经济全球化条件下后发展国家的发展提供了一把钥匙。后发展国家必须在理论上对经济全球化有清醒的认识 ;在实践中要坚持开放思维 ,循序渐进参与经济全球化 ;还要通过斗争改善自身在经济全球化中的地位。     

新世纪社会思潮对我国青年影响的特点

进入21世纪以来,改革的不断深入带来了人们生活方式、思维方式的巨大变化,新的社会思潮对人们特别是青年产生重要的影响,表现出新的特点:从形式看更显露时尚性;从内容上看更关注主体性;从层次上看更趋于一致性;从性质上看更具有隐蔽性的新特点。     

经济全球化与我国政治文明建设

政治文明建设对经济全球化的发展起着不断地推动作用 ,经济全球化的发展则是一把双刃剑 ,它既对政治文明的建设提出诸多挑战 ,又有利于政治文明建设的一面。我国要从特殊的党情、国情出发 ,应对经济全球化 ,积极稳妥地推进我国的政治文明建设 ,建设中国特色社会主义的新型政治文明