Henry Houston – Global Political Economy and Development

What to do with the Precarious Precariat?

This is a bit dated. However, PM David Cameron has declared his party’s new position on the jobless youth is to commit to community service or an apprenticeship if they are to receive any further aid from the government.

“You should be earning or learning”

-David Cameron

On the surface, this is a good idea. Youth who are not enriching their lives could lead to delinquency, sure. However, there is an aspect of examining continued change of the role of the state in its citizens lives. Cameron claimed this program isn’t pursued for the sake of saving money. With that statement in mind, we can see this program as a proletarianization process. This is apparent in the Cameron’s arguments that he thinks 18-21 year olds should not be living on the taxes of the “working people.” Additionally, this seems to de-commodify the community in that caring for the community should no longer be something voluntary; rather it is punishment for not being a capable figure of society–e.g. not “earning or learning.”

Global Divestment Day Protest at Toronto Stock Exchange

Last month was Global Divestment Day, so protestors from 350.org too to the Toronto Stock Exchange to protest the Tar Sands extraction. The 350.org people present themselves as environmental alternatives to the normative consumption view on fossil fuel investments. The protestors also added that multilateral institutions such as the IMF and World Bank have put forth condemnations against state subsidies of fossil fuels. So in the case of energy consumption, it seems that the nation-state is more of a “daddy”-state rather than a nanny-state or even managerial state.

China Joins the International Finance Community

One thing I find useful for seeing the global political economy at work is look at The Economist as often as possible — sure, it has a very strong pro-liberal state narrative, but it can be seen as the publication in which one can read the regime of truths that the liberal state is espousing at the time. I came across this article within their website.

In the article, The Economist is praising China’s efforts to put forth a development bank to a certain extent. On one hand, the correspondent supports the better use of their savings, but China is basically throwing away their money by following, to use McMichael’s language, The Development Project by issuing loans to Venezuela, for example, who ended up just “wasting the money,” according to this author. What is interesting is that in this example of The Economist, we see the push for China to use these development loans, instead, by “hewing closer to the model of the Bretton Woods institution…” That, I feel, is a strong statement. Essentially, it is calling for China to jump on board to the “Globalization Project.”

China’s emergence into the development lending provides insight into what could be China’s pathway into either resurrecting the Development Project or perhaps into a quasi-privatization in which they are allowed to enter another country’s economy for resource extraction for their gain. In the case of Venezuela, China does have a interest in energy, so they probably expect to give up some of their oil resources to the thirsty Chinese economy — which looks like is already happening.

INTL 407/507 Goes Global

Here’s a chance for us to come together, step away from historical and abstract examples of the Global Political Economy of Development and see it at work in current events.

So let’s post some news articles, videos, academic papers, images, or whatever else you think shows some aspect of Global Political Economy. From there, just add to the post how it is an illustration of what we’re learning.