Introduction

John King’s introduction to this section surveys the development of Latin American film studies in the UK over the past 25 years. All three papers explore the interplay between local and global factors in the development of Mexican cinema. Andrea Noble introduces the work of Carlos Monsiváis and discusses the role that early and Golden Age cinema played in the processes of modernisation in Mexico. Carlos Monsiváis pays particular attention to the image of the city in recent Mexican cinema, exploring the use of language and the depiction of sex. Geoffrey Kantaris offers a number of theoretical pathways into an exploration of contemporary cinema in Mexico, analysing how ideas of place and identity are disrupted by the crisis of the nation state in a globalised, postmodern world.     

Neo-liberalism, 21st Century Caribbean General Elections and the Post-colonial Development Challenge

A striking feature of elections held in the independent English-speaking Caribbean since 2000 has been the tendency towards the rejection of incumbent governments, with many of them resulting in one-term administrations or weak majorities. This experience represents a sharp break from earlier electoral features of the post-colonial period such as mass loyalty to anti-colonial workers’ parties, regular and consistent alternations of two dominant parties in office, or alternatively the long-term dominance of a single party. This paper argues that the present hegemonic consolidation of neo-liberal globalisation has eroded the structural framework upon which the earlier legitimacy of the parties, leaders, ideologies and approaches to development had been constructed, and advances the notion of the ‘collapse of the post-colonial order’ as an explanation for the dominant electoral feature of anti-incumbency since 2000. While addressing developments in the independent English-speaking Caribbean territories as a whole, the paper concludes by presenting the case of Barbados as a concrete manifestation of these tendencies.     

Brazilian History as Global History

The article discusses the relationship between global history and Brazilian history and suggests an agenda for future research. It argues that global history scholars could profit from Brazil's great scholarly tradition, which conceptualises key topics of global history such as global encounters and cultural identities, power asymmetries and spatial orders. Scholars interested in Brazilian history, on the other hand, will find a set of approaches and questions from a global history perspective helpful for research on central fields of Brazil historiography such as the coffee economy, scientific racism, the Cold War and the Amazon.     

Is Politics Behind Trade? The Impact of International Trends and Diplomatic Action on Brazil's Exports during Globalisation

Although it is well known that domestic and international factors converge to affect a nation's foreign policy orientation and trade, their actual weights vary. Brazil's situation during globalisation sheds light on this issue. Through statistical and qualitative analysis, this article shows how structural factors, rather than diplomatic action, influenced the direction of Brazil's exports as the country became more integrated into the world economy. It was only under Cardoso's presidency that trade had an impact on bilateral diplomacy. The findings contradict conventional wisdom, which emphasises the state's role in driving Brazilian integration into the global economy.     

The idea of a Southern Criminology

Southern Criminology is a theoretical perspective that shifts the focus from the state criminal justice process to global inequalities, transnational crime, and postcolonial politics. While recognising the importance of this shift in perspective for a globalising world, this paper asks two difficult questions. Firstly, how easy is it to generalise about whole regions of the world in advancing a political viewpoint? Secondly, is it possible for those in the West to imagine an alternative global criminology, if non-Western societies really do have different cultural values and epistemologies? For example, how should we respond to traditional practices among Indigenous Australians or a Confucian understanding of crime? These questions may make a Southern Criminology sound impossible in the same way as other varieties of critical theory. But this paper is intended to strengthen this emerging movement by acknowledging, and working through, potential difficulties.     

NEPAD: Talking from the South,governing from the West

The formation of the New Partnership for African Development (NePAD) in 2001 at the African Union (AU) Summit in Lusaka, Zambia, marked the advent of what is regarded as a novel development strategy crafted by Africans for Africa. Rooted in former South African President thabo Mbeki’s call for an African renaissance, the initiative seeks to trigger the continent’s economic development by encouraging African states to explore the prevailing international economic order or globalisation. this article explores NePAD’s capacity to foster economic development in Africa, assesses the reasons for its establishment, reviews its mandate and examines institutional mechanisms for achieving its goals. the article takes issue with the ‘westernisation’ of the ‘discourse’ of Africa and calls for the revitalisation of NePAD’s strategy for sustainable African development.     

Government,corporate or social power? The internet as a tool in the struggle for dominance in public policy

This paper sets out to demonstrate to corporations the need to monitor closely and to respond genuinely to public opinion. It predicts a rise in the power of citizens and a government response to that power that will include regulation to protect social and environmental interests. The paper gives an overview of the ways in which the economic sector, embodied in corporations, has risen to and maintained a position of dominance both within nation states and globally. It provides a model that illustrates the power relationship between corporations, governments and the public, noting in particular that the fundamental key to corporate dominance is the positioning of the public as consumers. Using the framework of legitimation, the paper then demonstrates and theorises the rise of opposition to the dominant order and the corporate and government responses to such opposition. It is proposed that these responses may be insufficient to maintain corporate dominance and that a new model is likely to gain ascendance. In this new model the public make a shift from consumers to citizens in order to reassert their role in governance. Internet sites of activist groups are examined in order to determine the ways in which the sites are used as a tool to facilitate a shift towards the second model. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications     

Reframing the rising powers debate: state transformation and foreign policy

Abstract

The volume that we introduce breaks with the prevalent tendency in International Relations (IR) scholarship to treat rising powers (such as China, Russia, India and Brazil) as unitary actors in international politics. Although a neat demarcation of the domestic and international domains, on which the notion of unitary agency is premised, has always been a myth, these states’ uneven integration into the global political economy has eroded this perspective’s empirical purchase considerably. Instead, this collection advances the concept of ‘state transformation’ as a useful lens through which to examine rising power states’ foreign policymaking and implementation. State transformation refers to the pluralisation of cross-border state agency via contested and uneven processes of fragmentation, decentralisation and internationalisation of state apparatuses. The volume demonstrates the significance of state transformation processes for explaining some of these states’ most important foreign policy agendas, and outlines the implications for the wider field in IR.     

Casualisation and international labour standards： The role of trade unions in Nigeria

Casualisation is a new form of work arrangement occasioned by globalisation and trade liberalisation. This development was facilitated by the technological improvements in communication and information technology. Scholars have attributed the shift from standard work arrangements to nonstandard work arrangements to the fact that employers use it to avoid the mandates and costs associated with labour laws which are designed to protect permanent employees. Casualisation became a feature of Nigerian labour market in the late 1980＇s and is traceable to the adoption of the Structural Adjustment Programme in line with the neoliberal policies prescribed by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. One of the effects of this policy was the retrenchment of workers in the public sector which created large scale unemployment. However, the private sector which was to be strengthened by government policies to absorb these workers could not absorb all the retrenched workers from the public sector. Therefore, many of them were employed as casual and contract workers with low remuneration, limited benefits and lack of right to organise. This development led to a ＇race to the bottom＇ of labour standards. This paper seeks to examine the adequacy of labour laws governing trade unionism in Nigeria in ensuring the right of nonstandard workers to freedom of association, as well as their conformity to international labour standards. It is argued that Nigerian labour laws are inadequate and need to be reformed in order to give protection to casual and contract workers in many sectors of the economy and to guarantee their right to unionise in order to enable them improve their rights at works.     

Conservative Economics and Globalisation

Since 1979, modern Conservatism has been torn between a traditional regard for the nation state and a powerful, internationalising, global capitalism. Increasingly, radical free marketeers in the party reject the diffuse and patriotic political economy of big government. Instead, they prefer the consumption ethic of radical supply side reform and privatisation. However, in a country in which private healthcare is expanding, in which private schools and home education are booming, and in which for every one state policeman there are now at least two private security guards, how far will this process go? When a Labour government issues a green paper highlighting the scope for the greater use of private military companies and it accepts the commodification of public space through the use of road pricing, what room is left for Conservatives who believe that 'the people should be big and the state small'?