Economic liberalization and poverty in the developing countries

In recent years the neoliberal economists have sought to establish the claim that economic liberalization unfailingly promotes growth and reduces poverty in the developing countries. Liberalization of markets in the developing countries, according to them, promotes economic perfection by intensifying competition between domestic and external economic actors and exposing management and workers to improved practices. Thay also claim that liberalization of trade and investment regimes by the developing countries has attracted more direct foreign and portfolio investment which, in turn, has accelerated the rate of economic growth and lifted the poor out of poverty. This article contends this neoliberal claim and argues that the post-Cold War neoliberal regime of global economic liberalization ensures the production of poverty in the developing countries by shrinking their prospects of economic growth. It pursues a structural explanation to explore how the neoliberal regime fosters conditions that make possible the continued production of poverty in the developing South and arrives at the conclusion that the neoliberal regime of economic liberalization was not designed to promote growth in the developing countries, rather it was initiated to facilitate capital accumulation by transnational capitalist class at the global level. As its consequence, the poverty situation has not improved; rather there has been a rise in absolute poverty in many developing countries.     

Rich doctors and poor patients: Market failure and health care systems in developing countries

This article argues that, in developing countries, health care systems (HCS) have been facing the problem of market failure, implying that the fair rules of market principles do not apply and patients often become losers. Explaining the theoretical issues involved, the article examines various causes of market failures in HCS, including: rent-seeking activities by doctors, asymmetric information between doctors and patients, between patients and insurance companies, and the oligopolistic behaviour of health care practitioners. The policy implications of the study suggest that, in many cases, government intervention is essential to eliminate market failures in the HCS in developing countries.     

Exchange controls and national capitalism: The Philippines experience

(There is an) unnecessary degree of unreality and Western bias involved in most economic theorizing about the rural tropical world, as well as economists' gullibility in their use of official statistics…¹     

Hybrid regimes and the challenges of deepening and sustaining democracy in developing countries1

South Africa's history of political domination during apartheid and the tendency of its companies to dominate business development on the continent may undermine the country's aim of being an African powerhouse due to resentment in other African countries. The article argues that South Africa's global ambitions can only be achieved if it is a leader on its own continent.     

毒品贸易与上海合作组织:前景与矛盾

从上合组织所在中亚地区的有组织毒品贸易的视角看,全球化和非传统安全问题如何日益成为影响上合组织的重要因素。通过对上合组织成员国在反毒品贸易政策上的差异及其形成原因的分析,认为反毒品问题是中亚地区第四股恶势力,应成为上合组织发展的优先方向,反之可能对其构成不良后果。为此,上合组织应采取加强边境安全与海关检查、澄清上合组织以及其他与其优先方向类似的地区多边机构关系等措施。     

Plantation colonialism,capitalism, and critics

Scholars have variously described the development experience of the Indian state of Kerala as a “model” or a “paradox” or an “enigma” and posited different meanings and significance to its developmental trajectory. Rather than following the usual one-dimensional accounting of Kerala's achievements and shortcomings, we present a historically informed social and political analysis to reveal the meaning and significance of the “Kerala model” of development. This article, thus, critically appraises Kerala's development experience since decolonization to show how the discourse on development and the discursive practices of the dominant actors involved in governance of Kerala diverge in recent years, especially after the second round of economic liberalizations at the national level in 1991, which coincidently corresponds to the beginning of the newest phase of economic globalization. Old lessons are reviewed based on the notion of replicability of the “Kerala model” and new lessons are analyzed within the contexts of sustainability and economic globalization.     

The imperial counter offensive: Contradictions,challenges and opportunities

A noteworthy lacuna in the voluminous literature dedicated to the “globalization” phenomenon has been sustained discussion of the position of organized labor. This article attempts to remedy this deficit by considering the experiences of two geographically adjacent, but very different nations: Australia and Indonesia. Concentrating on the last twenty years or so, when the general restructuring of international economic activity gathered pace, the article analyses the separate experiences of each country's labor force, before considering what such a comparative analysis reveals about labor's overall position in a global economy. It is suggested that while the outlook for organized labor is generally bleak, contingent national circumstance remains an important determinant of labor's developmental trajectory.     

The second path to capitalism: A model of international development

This article examines debates about the industrialisation of parts of the periphery (in particular East Asia) in the context of the impasse in development theory. It is argued that neo-classical theory, regulation theory and the theory of the new international division of labour, all fail to adequately explain the rise of the newly industrialising countries, and indeed all share a methodology which reads off events in the “periphery” from the actions of metropolitan countries. An alternative approach is suggested, which combines analysis of the “global” and the “local.” This analysis suggests that there are competitive disadvantages for late developers in the global political economy, and in putting forward this view a brief critique of flexible specialisation is made. Finally, it is argued that these competitive disadvantages are dealt with in different ways by different nations in the periphery. The main factors shaping this process will be indigenous classes and state structures.     

America,capitalism, and the interstate system

Peter Gowan responds to published criticisms of his article “Triumphing toward International Disaster: The Impasse in American Grand Strategy” (Critical Asian Studies 36, no. 1 [March 2004]: 3-36) by Kristen Nordhaug, Ravi Arvind Palat, Vijay Prashad, Marika Vicziany, Mark T. Berger, and Heloise Weber (see Critical Asian Studies 37, no. 1 [March 2005]: 75-140).     

Causes of the Asian crisis,Asian-style capitalism and Transparency

In this article, Noriyuki Tomioka, senior research fellow at the Institute for International Policy Studies (IIPS), explains the importance of transparency when looking at recent developments in theory on the causes of the Asian financial crisis. He challenges the generally accepted notion that inherent flaws in the ''Asian miracle,'' or the Asian style of capitalism, lay at the root of the crisis. To completely reject the style of capitalism which helped certain Asian countries be dubbed the ''tigers'' of emerging markets in favor of an Anglo-Saxon style of capitalism is shortsighted. Furthermore, he argues that increasing market transparency is important not only for the crisis-inflicted Asian economies, but also when considering international policies.     

Indigenous Autonomy and the Contradictions of Plurinationalism in Bolivia

The government of Bolivia led by President Evo Morales and the Movement Toward Socialism (MAS) party claims to be constructing a new postliberal or plurinational state. However, this alleged experiment in plurinationalism conflicts with two central elements of government and MAS party strategy: the expansion of the economic development model based on the extraction of non‐renewable natural resources, and the MAS's efforts to control political space, including indigenous territories. This article analyzes these contradictions by examining how Bolivia's constitution and legal framework appear to support indigenous autonomy while simultaneously constraining it. Specifically, it explores how political and bureaucratic processes have seriously limited opportunities to exercise indigenous rights to autonomy. The article makes a comparative analysis of the implications of Bolivia's experience for indigenous autonomy and plurinationalism for other resource extraction–dependent states.