Political Economy

The Overarching Dilemma Of Aid Is That It Is Needed Most In Those Countries In Which The Prospects For Its Being Most Effective Are The Poorest. Discuss

Rajpal Singh Ghataoura • Jan 13 2009 • Essays

Donors are distributing foreign aid, to certain poor countries only. The most prominent justification for this policy action is as the statement suggests, ‘the prospects for aid being most effective are the poorest’ in these countries. This paper will ascertain how donors have come to reach this development policy, by analyzing the evolving theories and trends of aid. However it will also suggest that the justification, on which the current policy agenda is set, is not founded upon robust assumptions.

To What Extent does the Dutch Disease Affect Development of Democracy and the Economy in Oil-rich CIS States?

Vera Michlin • Jul 25 2008 • Essays

This essay discusses the characteristics of the Dutch Disease and its possible impacts on the development of economies. It outlines the case of Kazakhstan, which is the richest in oil resources of all the former Soviet republics and presents the solutions Kazakhstan adopted for mitigating the effect of resources on its development.

State Building, the Colonial Legacy and Development: How the North and South Were Born

Nicolo Nourafchan • May 25 2008 • Essays

Developed regions are generally able to provide basic welfare services for their citizens, while developing regions are plagued by extreme poverty, government ineffectiveness, and other socioeconomic adversities.Many scholars have attributed these disparities to the different processes through which state formation occurred in developed and developing countries. It is the purpose of this essay to examine these claims by comparing the state building processes.

Economic Growth and Development: Is High GDP Enough?

Katarzyna Karpowicz • Feb 23 2008 • Essays

In the very first sentence of the book entitled ‘Whose Development? An Ethnography of Aid’, Emma Crewe and Elizabeth Harrison pose the following question: “Is development a failure?” (1998: 1). It might seem rhetorical at first, but by no means is it so.

To What Extent is the Neoliberal Paradigm Limiting in the Study of ‘offshore’?

Pia Muzaffar • Feb 3 2008 • Essays

This essay argues that neoliberalism seeks to frame highly political and morally-charged operations within a bland discourse that insists on the neutrality of the market. Thus it is necessarily flawed in its contribution to the study of offshore, because it attempts to disguise the invariably political and pragmatic functions of offshore in the contemporary global political economy.

To What Extent is ‘crony capitalism’ a Reasonable Explanation for Recent Experiences of the East Asian ‘developmental state’?

Pia Muzaffar • Feb 1 2008 • Essays

This essay first outlines the orthodox or neoclassical understanding of ‘cronyism’ and its pejorative connotations, before considering the ‘developmental state’ paradigm that emerged with East Asia’s ‘miracle’ growth. I then attempt to recast the concept of cronyism within its historical and cultural context, dispensing with neoclassical ideas of ‘correct’ economic practice and notions that crony capitalism itself represents either an explanation or a necessary outcome.

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