Suchergebnisse

AbstractEconomic globalization is reducing the significance of state boundaries. We have a global economy but lack the institutions necessary for a global polity. Unilateral action by a would–be hegemon is untenable in the long term and hence there is a need to discuss our institutions of global governance. The benefits and costs of globalization have been distributed asymmetrically, placing poor people in poor countries at a disadvantage, especially as regards the free movement of low–skilled labour and the creation of intellectual property rights. The World Trade Organization, a target of the critics of globalization, should be seen as a welcome extension of the rule of law to the international arena and a counterweight to unilateralism. More generally, global economic liberalism should be balanced by institutions which provide global public goods and international mechanisms to finance them. All of this implies a further weakening of state sovereignty and a need to ensure that global institutions are democratic and can be held accountable to people worldwide for their performance.

The decollectivizing impacts of Fiji's post-1990 economic reforms upon its labour market institutions have aggravated its economic vulnerabilities. Accelerated internationalization of its economy has meant that the market coordinating capabilities of labour market institutions have been eroded. Weakened labour market institutions have harmed state capacity to deal with social exclusion and economic marginalization. It has also inhibited its ability to direct small- to medium-scale enterprises towards competitive growth.

Does economic globalization influence the economic policy positions adopted by political parties in democratic countries? In this article, we identify multiple pathways through which market integration might induce ideological change among both left and right parties. Utilizing data from 51 countries between 1970 and 2014, we evaluate the degree to which leftist and rightist economic ideologies, respectively, are present in parties' platforms. We find that traditionally leftist positions are increasingly adopted by parties on both the right and the left in response to globalization. The evidence also suggests that, though there is a general tendency among parties to shift their economic platforms leftward in response to liberalization, there is significant between-country variability in the effects. An important implication of this study is that partisan ideological evolution is not driven solely by domestic forces, but by external factors, too.