L3 - economy as an instituted process = markets, regulation and governance

Question 1

Societal changes in western industrialised countries

Answer 1

• pluralisation of lifestyle
• growing individualism
• polarisation of society (more inequality/division)
• changing role/functions of state
• better education, communication and mobility

Question 2

Regulation theory and societal shifts

Answer 2

View on economic and societal developments from a historical and evolutionary perspective (no cyclicality of dev)
- started in C20

Question 3

Development model based on reg theory

Answer 3

Historic formation = hegemonic structure = regime of accumulation (wage relations, styles of cons/prods) AND mode of regulation (political intervention, social rules/cultural interpretation/all institutionalised and immaterial rules)
- must balance both regime of accumulation and mode of regulation

Question 4

Fordist phase of reg theory

Answer 4

• 1920/30s - 1970s
• Macroecon model (regime of accumulation) = structures of mass production are secured through mass consumption
• mechanisation, div of labour, competition structure
• formation of welfare state through Keynsian global gov (deficit) and societal negotiated labour and wage conditions involving go, enterprises and labour unions
• institutional frameworks and societal norm (regulation modes) ensure functioning of these organisational forms of labour

Question 5

Post-Fordist phase of reg theory

Answer 5

• structural crisis of Fordist dev combination during 70/80s
• successive implementation of structural Econ change and reassessment of welfare state
• Global restructuring processes, new international division of labour
• New information and communication systems, flexible production strategies (lean production, just in time), faster reaction to changing market conditions (efficient consumer response), innovative production systems (modular factory)
• Internationalisation of capital and finance flows = more flexible choice of location, increasing spatial fragmentation of enterprise functions and production plants, of labour and wage conditions
• Segmentation, increased flexibility and deregulation of labour markets
• Decoupling of production and income growth = growing inequalities and polarisation

Question 6

Define neoliberalism

Answer 6

A set of policy prescriptions promulgated by the ‘Washington Consensus’ of US Treasury, IMF and World Bank
- includes less reg, fiscal discipline, lower taxes, trade liberalisation, privatisation, deregulation

Question 7

Characteristics of neoliberalism

Answer 7

• As set of processes (ie neoliberalization)
• As grounded in real world people, practices and policies
• As requiring a strong state
• As resisted and not inevitable
• As geographically uneven/variable

Question 8

‘Upscaling’ the state

Answer 8

Increased importance of international cooperation and the coordination of economic policies among nation-states

• international and macro-regional organisations
• most advanced in terms of international frameworks
• increased power, but all essentially groups of states

Question 9

‘Downscaling’ the state

Answer 9

• Also rescaling processes at work within the nation-state
• In the ‘heartlands’ of neoliberalism (e.g. UK and US = increased role for city/region/state governments in economic development policy)
• Inter-place competition for investment key element of neoliberal agenda (old style regional policy)

Question 10

‘Hollowing out’ the state

Answer 10

• Simultaneously state functions being taken over by public-private partnerships and QUANGOs
• Private sector representatives with increasing say over how public funds are dispersed
• Rise of private governance regimes (e.g. regulation of financial markets by credit rating agencies)
• New ethical modes of regulating global commodity chains/production networks

Question 11

Uneven reach of the state

Answer 11

• State control is socially and spatially uneven in coverage and effectiveness
• Socially = informal economy or temporary migrants
• Spatially = zones of special regulation where state cannot enforce its power

Question 12

Regulating labour rights in Cambodian garment factories

Answer 12

• Emerged under neoliberal globalisation = came late to global garment manufacturing due to political instability
• New international division of labour in garment manufacturing
• Economic development in Cambodia is heavily dependent on the garment industry (28% of formal sector employment (2008); 70% of total exports (2009))

Question 13

(Self-) regulating labour = Better factories Cambodia

Answer 13

• Cambodia engaged in garment GPNs at late stage
• BFC established in 2001
• ILO in charge of monitoring compliance with labour standards
• continued after Multi-Fibre agreement in 2005 ended