Suchergebnisse

This article traces the ways in which political, economic, domestic, and international factors converged to provoke a massive financial crisis in Mexico in 1994/5, as well as its consequences for future reform efforts. The author argues that the ruling PRI party and international investors were equally adamant in defending the anchored exchange rate. However, in attempting to appease both domestic and foreign interests, the Salinas administration lost control of the macroeconomic fundamentals. While the combination of a massive multilateral loan and the shift to a floating exchange rate paved the way for Mexico's rapid economic recovery, a main legacy of the crisis was the political demise of the PRI. (Rev Econ Pol/DÜI)

In the last years several Western corporations from the financial sector, including banks, insurance companies, & rating agencies, begun to offer on the market financial products in conformity with the prescriptions of Islamic Shari'a. At the beginning, the targets were only the Arab & the Islamic markets mainly in the Middle East. More recently, this trend also extended to the Western market, targeting both the liquidity of Arab investors & the Muslim populations of Europe & North America with "ethical" products. Thus, the main objective of this paper is discussing, in a broad way, what is at stake with the expansion of the Islamic finance to the Western societies. The analysis will connect this business trend with other general developments, particularly with Islamism (political Islam), & the Western relativism & multiculturalism. The final purpose is to make an assessment of the possible consequences for the democratic & secular societies of the West. Adapted from the source document.