马克思主义视野下的“全球化”

当今的“全球化”现象并未超出马克思主义的理论视野。20世纪的全球化实践,给当代马克思主义的发展提供了肥沃的土壤与坚固的基石。但是,当今的“全球化”仍然是资本主义的全球化。因此,严格意义上的全球化对于当代马克思主义来说仍然是一个新的政治议题。     

The impact of military expenditures on economic growth in the less developed countries∗

This paper presents the results of empirical research on the economic impact of military expenditure — milex — on the less developed countries. The hypothesis is that the impact on growth is a combination of three effects: (1) increased security — positive impact; (2) diversion of resources from productive investment — negative impact; and (3) pressure for more efficient government policies in response to the external threat — positive impact. The combination of these effects would produce a non‐linear relationship with the growth rate at first increasing as milex increased and then decreasing. For the full sample of 71 countries, we found the predicted relationship, however, it is not robust to changes in the sample. The robust conclusion is that there was no evidence of a negative impact of military spending on economic growth.     

Reward,punishment or inducement? US economic and military aid, 1946–1996

If the US has wielded power as global hegemon, then there should be evidence of a linkage between American resources and the ability to influence behavior. However, there is widespread disagreement on how this power is manifested (see Krause, ). Methodological and epistemological issues have hampered empirical studies of US hegemonic behavior. For example, does the US reward past behavior or does it offer inducements for future behavior? We document and discuss these issues in terms of the aid–foreign policy compliance nexus. The empirical portion of our paper tests whether US military and non‐military aid are correlated with foreign policy similarity. The main merits of our study are that: (1) we test a new measure of foreign policy similarity developed by Signorino and Ritter () and compiled by Gartzke et al. (); (2) we relax the causality issue and test using vector autoregression (VAR) for 76 developing countries; and (3) our time horizon is a minimum of 30 years for each country. Our central finding is that aid is most often used as a reward. More specifically, foreign policy similarity leads to greater economic aid for most African countries, foreign policy similarity leads to greater military aid for a majority of Latin American states, and there are no overarching patterns for Asia and the Middle East. We discuss the implications of our findings in the context of the bargaining and structural approaches to statecraft.     

Thirty Years of Conflict and Economic Growth in Turkey: A Synthetic Control Approach

Abstract

This study seeks to estimate the causal effects of PKK separatist terrorism on economic development in Turkey using the synthetic control method. By creating a synthetic control group that reproduces the Turkish Gross Domestic Product (GDP) before PKK terrorism emerged in the late 1980s, we compare the GDP of the synthetic Turkey and the actual for the period 1955–2008. Our study finds that the Turkish per capita GDP would have been higher by about $2600 had it not been exposed to terrorism. This translates into an average of 21.4% higher per capita GDP over a period of 21 years.     

DAR ES SALAAM

Countries in transition often experience increased levels of crime, making their citizens vulnerable to the exploits of criminals. The lack of reliable statistics hampers the development of sound crime reduction strategies. This essay considers the value of victim surveys as additional sources of information to augment official police data. It presents the findings of such a survey undertaken in Dar es Salaam and compares them with findings obtained in similar surveys of Cape Town, Durban, Pretoria and Johannesburg. The information obtained in the survey conducted in Dar es Salaam provides valuable insights into crime rates and patterns. In comparing the results of the survey in Dar es Salaam, some interesting trends emerged around the theft of vehicle parts and vehicle theft, violent crimes, the levels of violence employed in burglaries and the use of weapons. The information gleaned from these surveys will go far in developing crime reduction strategies and measures that will be effective and appropriately targeted.     

Comparative analysis of Arab Spring determinants

The Arab Spring, a pro-democracy uprising that has been sweeping through North Africa and the entire Arab world since 2010, has been described as a cataclysmic revolutionary wave that has left the overthrow of political regimes in its wake. Studies have comprehensively x-rayed the political and socio-economic circumstances that gave rise to the uprising. Apart from the impact of the uprising on political developments and democratic governance in the Arab world in particular and the world in general, the circumstances that resulted in the revolutions constitute empirical security implications for Nigeria. This is the focus of this article. Using the Ibrahim Index of African Governance (IIAG) and other selected indicators, this article draws a comparative analysis of the key factors that led to the uprisings in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia, pointing out areas of social and security tensions in Nigeria. Based on these findings, it points out the urgency of and imperative for security sector reforms in Nigeria.     

COURTING THE GLOBAL SOUTH WITH “DUAL-BENEFIT” NONPROLIFERATION ENGAGEMENT

President Barack Obama and an array of other Western leaders continue to assert that the spread of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) to non-state actors is one of most pressing challenges to global security today. Yet, Western efforts to engage governments—particularly governments across the global South—in a practical nonproliferation dialogue have largely yielded disappointing results. This viewpoint examines the need for a new strategy to engage the developing world in nonproliferation programs. It argues that strategies focused strictly on WMD nonproliferation are unsustainable, and ultimately are destined for failure. An alternative “dual-benefit” nonproliferation engagement strategy utilizes the enlightened self-interest of partner governments needed to achieve broad-based buy-in among all partners. In a concluding section, we recommend that the “Group of 8” Global Partnership Against the Spread of Weapons and Materials of Mass Destruction standardize this model of nonproliferation engagement as it sets out to identify and fund WMD nonproliferation capacity-building initiatives beyond the states of the former Soviet Union.     

经济视角下的《骆驼祥子》

老舍在《骆驼祥子》中采用经济视角,与自身的生活经历和时代背景有关。通过在作品中运用经济视角探究人的解放、展开社会批判、进行伦理剖析,比较客观地还原了生活的本真和人生的本相,让读者透视了经济生活表象下蕴含的精神内涵。     

欲去明日 问道昨天——走出中国式建筑的困境

中国式建筑的困境在于附加意识形态性的起源和前因后果的关系倒置.近现代建筑进入中国后,曾经保持着与世界的同步发展,直至20世纪50年代初.中国式建筑是伴随着中西古今之争而产生的命题,建筑被赋予了意识形态的内容.在全球化背景下,重新认识中国式建筑产生和发展的局限性,其实质在于混淆了现代化与西方化之区别,将现代化等同于西方化...     

论经济全球化时代资本主义的变与不变

在经济全球化的进程中,资本主义在其自身矛盾的推动下,不断地进行自我扬弃,在生产、分配、经济运行等方面出现了一些新的变化,为资本主义生产关系的调整和发展开辟了新的空间,同时也为社会主义提供了完备的物质基础。透过现象看本质,这种新发展同时也证实了社会主义必将最终取代资本主义的历史必然性,虽然这一过程是漫长而又曲折的。