The 2008 global financial crisis prompted an extensive re-evaluation of the effectiveness, legitimacy and relevance of the institutions that governed the global economy since the end of the Second World War. This re-evaluation resulted in various attempts to improve the formal and informal structures of global financial governance in order to avoid similar shortcomings in the future. As a result, the G20 developed from a mere suggestion at a G7 Summit in 1999 into a significant society of states ranging from highly developed states to developing states. The G20 is a deliberative forum representing 19 of the world’s leading industrialised and emerging economies and the European Union. Global financial instability resulting from the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis triggered the establishment of the G20 and informed its mandate to promote international financial stability. Consequently, the G20 became the key agent for the reform of the international financial architecture and has been described as an international steering committee, a premier forum and a cornerstone for international financial cooperation. This study is grounded in the constructivists’ assumption that the international environment should be explained as a social structure constructed by a normative framework. This non-material framework provides both agents (actors, such as, but not limited to, states) and the material environment social identity and legitimacy. Crises in the material environment, however, can result in new identities, interests and norms, a new normative platform for the reform of the system. This study found that the G20, represented by members from the global North and the global South, focused on the reform of the IMF, overseer of global financial processes. Yet, a main finding in this study is that the urgency to reform the IMF disappeared as new global issues emerged on the global agenda. This study also asks how the G20 can become a more effective global actor, an agent of long-term change driven by shared understandings and new norms to ensure the reform of the global financial architecture to increase its stability. / Dissertation (MA)--University of Pretoria, 2018. / Political Sciences / MA / Unrestricted

China’s attitude and foreign policies in global financial governance are not consistent. A two-stage model, which is comprised of formation of Guojia Liyi (interests and preferences of China, 国家利益) (Stage I) and decision-making process (Stage II), is established to explain China’s policy inconsistency in global financial governance. Through this model, the thesis makes two major explanations for policy inconsistency. First, China’s Guojia Liyi in various global financial governance institutions and/or events may be different. These different Guojia Liyi are constituted by personal epistemic interests, interests of the state and national interests and are constrained by both material and ideational factors, particularly the domestic and international political economic environment, state ideology and interpretation. Therefore, China’s policies based on these Guojia Liyi vary. Second, even if the Guojia Liyi formed are the same in different events or institutions, the final actions are not always in accordance to the Guojia Liyi due to the influence of some factors on the specific decision-making process, such as lobbying, institutional conflicts and others. The two-stage model explains the policy inconsistency through both ontological and epistemological integration. Ontologically, this model considers structure and agent and treats both state and decision- makers as units of analysis. Epistemologically, this model incorporates both rational and cognitive school of thoughts by separating Guojia Liyi formation with specific decision- making processes and considering time as a crucial variable. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

As former colonies and newly independent states of the ‘Third World’ organized internationally around anticolonialism in the 1950s and 1960s, Ghana became a key site in debates over development at the height of the Cold War. Contributing to the new economic and political history of postcolonial Ghana, this study examines the national development visions and international political-economic connections of the Nkrumaist state 1957-66 and the first year under the post-coup National Liberation Council through the lens of translocality. Translocality refers to the entanglement of different localities and communities, and in this context, how the idea and practice of national development is co-constituted with these connections. Kwame Nkrumah situated national development as a resource in uniting the African continent against foreign political and economic influence. The Nkrumaist state played a leading role in the formation of the Organization of African Unity, non-alignment, nuclear non-proliferation, and attempts at harmonizing national development continentally. The movements of individuals to Ghana seeking participation within the Nkrumaist project were also racialized and gendered. Women Pan-Africanist activists organized conferences and made internationalist commentaries, making claims for inclusive economic development and participation. Furthermore, Ghanaian national development, dependent on mixed-planning foreign capital, markets, and technologies to finance projects, became increasingly subject to non-national departmental debates and an emerging liberal disciplinary politics through 1962-1966. The International Monetary Fund, Britain and the United States came to a consensus regarding a balance of payments and foreign reserve crisis in Ghana. After a military coup d'état in 1966, the NLC introduced an IMF reform package and embarked on a program of unmaking Nkrumaism. This study contributes to understanding the translocal dynamics of postcolonial development and development discourses. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / I argue that Ghana’s national development from 1957 to 1968 was conceived of, practiced, and situated within, transnational and international connections that can be best understood through the concept of translocality. Translocality refers to the entanglement of different localities and communities, and in this context, how the idea and practice of development cannot be separated from these relational connections. The research supporting this concept contributes to understanding African postcolonial national development in tension and co-constituted with non-national dynamics. As an idea and policy mandate dictated by Kwame Nkrumah, national development was defined as a resource in the struggle for Pan-Africanism but also entangled with the politics of Pan-Africanism, the Cold War and international creditors. These translocal connections are explored through the activisms and commentaries of women Pan-Africanists, activists, and political moderates travelling to Ghana as well as the formal Pan-African diplomacies in pursuit of the economic unification of Africa. Ghana’s development future was also subject to the interdepartmental politics of international creditors and an emerging liberal economic consensus. This study is necessary because it changes our understanding of how the politics of postcolonial development is understood, as co-constituted with non-national political, economic and social dynamics.

This thesis is about the provisioning of development assistance, as a major component of foreign aid. Conventional approaches to the subject have tended to focus on the determinate interactions of discrete agents as the principle units of analysis. This necessarily obscures the functional role development assistance fulfills in relation to the global politico economic order, however. This study, by contrast, properly situates individual programs of development assistance as belonging to a much larger historical pattern, or system of coordinated politico-economic behavior. The objective, therefore, is to apprehend the systematic and functional interrelations existing (i) among the various agents engaged in the transfer of assistance, on the one hand, and (ii) between these institutions and organizations as an aggregate and the global order itself, on the other. ‘Regime analysis’ is utilized as the preferred method of analysis. The basis of the argument is that the regime for the provision of development assistance functions as a regulative-control mechanism, ancillary to the prevailing economic arrangements and relations within the global political economy. Altogether, I argue that regime apparatuses have been configured so as to (i) forestall cataclysmic instabilities in the global politico economic order, and (ii) to induce compliance among developing nations to the order’s organizing principles and-or logic. This is revealed in phases in the liberalization and-or illiberalization of access to external financing over different global-historical epochs and during periods and in contexts of either instability or stability. I find that during periods and in contexts of instability, development assistance has been initiated or expanded in geo-strategic ways so as to regenerate markets and, thereby, obviate, or thwart the anticipated metastasization of adversarial politico-economic organizational frameworks. During periods and in contexts of relative stability, conversely, I find that the provision of development assistance becomes contracted, or made less expansive, as well as increasingly driven by conditionalities. Consequently, the functioning of the regime structurally conditions the developmental orientations and prospects of peripheral nations and regions and, thereby, also contributes to the overall evolution of the global politico-economic order.

This thesis is about the provisioning of development assistance, as a major component of foreign aid. Conventional approaches to the subject have tended to focus on the determinate interactions of discrete agents as the principle units of analysis. This necessarily obscures the functional role development assistance fulfills in relation to the global politico economic order, however. This study, by contrast, properly situates individual programs of development assistance as belonging to a much larger historical pattern, or system of coordinated politico-economic behavior. The objective, therefore, is to apprehend the systematic and functional interrelations existing (i) among the various agents engaged in the transfer of assistance, on the one hand, and (ii) between these institutions and organizations as an aggregate and the global order itself, on the other. ‘Regime analysis’ is utilized as the preferred method of analysis. The basis of the argument is that the regime for the provision of development assistance functions as a regulative-control mechanism, ancillary to the prevailing economic arrangements and relations within the global political economy. Altogether, I argue that regime apparatuses have been configured so as to (i) forestall cataclysmic instabilities in the global politico economic order, and (ii) to induce compliance among developing nations to the order’s organizing principles and-or logic. This is revealed in phases in the liberalization and-or illiberalization of access to external financing over different global-historical epochs and during periods and in contexts of either instability or stability. I find that during periods and in contexts of instability, development assistance has been initiated or expanded in geo-strategic ways so as to regenerate markets and, thereby, obviate, or thwart the anticipated metastasization of adversarial politico-economic organizational frameworks. During periods and in contexts of relative stability, conversely, I find that the provision of development assistance becomes contracted, or made less expansive, as well as increasingly driven by conditionalities. Consequently, the functioning of the regime structurally conditions the developmental orientations and prospects of peripheral nations and regions and, thereby, also contributes to the overall evolution of the global politico-economic order.

As the world system and the global political economy is under constant transformation, there is an increasing need for further research. Shifting from a North-South polarity towards a South-South-East relationship, the situation on the African continent is gaining more and more attention. The debate goes between the highly concerned alarmists warning for a new type of colonialism and those that are more opportunistic emphasizing the possibilities for underdeveloped countries to finally gain independence from Western predator claws. This thesis further explores the relationship between Ethiopia’s expanding partnerships with China and Turkey, aiming for analysis through the lens of the also highly debated dependency theory.  China and Turkey both express and emphasize the economic and political rhetoric of solidarity and mutual win-win relationships. This thesis thus seeks to investigate if this can be considered the case or if instead, the driving forces behind Chinese as well as Turkish engagement in Ethiopia are to be viewed upon as purely strategical concerning political and economic self-interests. By applying a comparative case study approach when analysing the two relationships of China-Ethiopia and Turkey-Ethiopia, this thesis will examine statistics and numbers regarding the economic exchange in terms of trade, financial assistance and investment flows.  The underlying driving forces behind the relationships will also be analysed before arriving at the conclusion that the relationships are indeed significantly uneven regarding power. The imbalances in the trade structures can be seen as an underlying factor of dependency. However, the characteristics of the of these South-South relations differ from the historically exploitative of North-South relations. Ethiopia can be seen to be given more room for self-determination and has gained benefits from its cooperation with both China and Turkey. Despite this, there is a need for the Ethiopian government to address its development needs and furthermore, increase its bargaining capacity in order to benefit further from trade agreements and foreign investment.

It has been written extensively on the EU’s evolving role in the global economy. A mere numeric analysis tells the story about the world’s greatest economic actor that continuously grows in both scope and magnitude. However, due to an increased politicisation of global economic interactions, the matter is not that simple. Scholars agree that the USA, since the end of the Cold War, has been the preeminent actor, arranging, facilitating and maintaining the liberalisation of the global economy. Amongst these scholars, there is a consensus that the EU has developed its position within the framework for which the USA has pioneered and provided. The question is what happens when the USA withdraws from its global commitments and runs a policy counter to fundamental European interests and values? Through a detailed investigation of the European efforts to counter the American withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and the reactions from the number of actors affected, I capture the extent to which the EU arrives at operating credibly and autonomously of the USA on an issue of strategic interest. My conclusion is that the EU’s agency in global affairs is restricted by the American position in the increasingly politicised economy. It becomes apparent that the institutional and structural framework within which the EU operates limits the Union’s ability to consolidate its position in global affairs through economic means.

On t.p.: Master of Arts (International Studies) / Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2001 / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This study attempts to examine the chances that South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki has in changing the unbalanced relations between the powerful countries of the North and the marginalised developing world. In doing so, it investigates how the leaders of Northern countries received the New Africa Initiative which was launched by a group of African heads of states, including Mbeki, at the G-8 summit in Genoa in July 2001. Unlike preceding works, this study takes a systemic perspective. The power relations in international affairs are pointed out with specific consideration of South Africa's status as an emerging middle power in the international system. Special recognition is furthermore given to the question as to whether there is currently a global re-think under way about globalisation, the ideology of neo-liberalism and the interaction with poor countries in the global political economy. The study comes to the conclusion that despite the fact that South Africa as a middle power is subordinate to the powerful countries of the North when it comes to effecting global change, and despite the outcomes of Genoa that do not indicate that an equitable global order is close, there are considerable trends and developments visible which support what Mbeki is trying to achieve. As a consequence, it is contended that his "Global Initiative" has a much better chance of being successful than the plea for a New International Economic Order in the 1970s. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie poog om die volgende te ondersoek: die waarskynlikheid dat Suid-Afrika se President, Thabo Mbeki, die ongebalanseerde verhoudinge tussen die magtige lande van die Noorde en die gemarginaliseerde ontwikkelende wêreld kan verander. Gevolglik word gekyk in hoe die leiers van die Noordelike lande die "New Africa Inititiative", wat in Julie 2001 by die G-8 spitsberaad in Genoa deur 'n groep staatshoofde van verskeie Afrikalande (Mbeki ingesluit) bekend gestel is, ontvang het. Anders as in vorige studies, word 'n sistematiese benadering in hierdie studie gevolg. Spesiale aandag word verder geskenk aan die vraag of daar huidiglik 'n globale heroorweging onderweg is. met petrekking tot _globalisering, die ideologie van neo-liberalisme en die hantering van arm lande binne die globale politeke ekonomie. Die studie 'kom tot die gevolgtrekking dat daar merkbare neigings en ontwikkelinge is wat Mbeki se werk ondersteun. Dit is ten spyte van die feit dat Suid-Afrika, as middelrnag, ondergeskik is aan die Noordelike lande wanneer invloede op globale veranderinge ter sprake is, en nieteenstaande die gevolge van Genoa, wat geensins aandui dat 'n regverdige globale bedeling naby is nie. Gevolglik word geargumenteer dat hierdie "Globale Inisiatief' 'n beter kans het om suksesvol te wees as die pleidooi vir 'n "Nuwe Internasionale Ekonomiese Orde" tydens die 1970s.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This research study aims to approach illicit market activity, particularly transnational organ-ised crime, from a political-economy point of view. The study of illicit market activity is characterised by various and often ambiguous concepts and approaches. The benefits of a political-economy approach include the provision of an alternative view of the illicit, combin-ing aspects from these various approaches. The study of the Global Political Economy (GPE) examines the relationship between authority, mostly in the form of states, and markets. This thesis looks at the relationship between the state and illicit markets. It does so by using the concept Illicit Global Political Economy (IGPE), which is defined as concerning the social, political and economic arrangements affecting the global systems of illicit production, ex-change and distribution, and the mix of values reflected therein. States, illicit markets and criminal actors are considered here as interdependent and interrelated parts of the IGPE spe-cifically, and the overall GPE. Within this relationship several „roles‟ of the state are identi-fied: the state as a creator and regulator of the illicit, through its legislative and executive au-thorities; the state as a locale of the illicit, as home, host, transhipment or service state for transnational criminal activities; the state as a victim of the illicit, for example, through the inherent nature of crime denying the state´s jurisdiction over its territory and also through the use of violence or corruption by criminals; and the state as a facilitator for illicit activity, meaning that certain characteristics of states can enable illicit activity. This thesis is primarily concerned with the last role of the state. It is argued that certain characteristics of states, par-ticularly weak and transitional states, enable the state´s exploitation by criminal actors. In the framework provided by Phil Williams (2002) seven of these characteristics are referred to as capacity gaps, which can result in functional holes, possibly enabling illicit activity. The pri-mary research question of this thesis is, consequently: Is the role of the state as a facilitator in the IGPE enabled by the existence of capacity gaps and functional holes? The West African state of Guinea-Bissau has been chosen as a case study for its role as a transhipment state in the global cocaine trade. In the first part of the analytical process of this thesis, the global cocaine trade and its historical development are described and analysed for the social, political and economic arrangements affecting it. This highlights the im-portance of taking into account these arrangements for a full understanding of the illicit. Addi-tionally, an analysis of the political-economy of Guinea-Bissau provides the necessary back-ground for understanding the second part of this thesis´ approach. Here, the state of Guinea-Bissau is examined firstly for the existence of capacity gaps and functional holes. If they are found to exist, whether and how they are being used by cocaine traffickers is examined. It was found that six out of seven capacity gaps exist in Guinea-Bissau, most of which are being used by the cocaine traffickers. The involvement of the military in the drug trade in combina-tion with its apparent extra-judicial standing is found to be of particular importance for the cocaine traffickers. This analysis allows for the research question to be answered positively. Moreover, the thesis can be considered to generally affirm the usefulness of a political-economy approach to analysing the illicit and affirms specifically the usefulness of the con-cept of the IGPE. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie navorsingstudie poog om onwettige markaktiwiteite, spesifiek transnasionale georganiseerde misdaad, uit 'n politiek-ekonomiese standpunt te benader. Die studie van die onwettige word gekarakteriseer deur verskeie en dikwels dubbelsinnige konsepte en benaderings. Die voordele van 'n politiek-ekonomiese benadering sluit die voorsiening van 'n alternatiewe beskouing van die onwettige dus 'n kombinasie van aspekte van die verskillende benaderings. Die studie van Globale Politieke Ekonomie (GPE) fokus op die verhouding tussen gesag, meestal in die vorm van die state en markte. Hierdie tesis fokus op die verhouding tussen die staat en onwettige markte. Dit word gedoen deur gebruik te maak van die konsep Onwettige Globale Politieke Ekonomie (OGPE), wat gedefinieer kan word as die sosiale, politieke en ekonomiese reëlings wat die globale sisteem van onwettige produksie, wisseling en dustribusie affekteer, en die vermenging van waardes wat daardeur gereflekteer word. State, markte en kriminele akteurs word hier beskou as afhanklike en onderliggende dele van die OGPE, spesifiek, en die algehele GPE. Binne hierdie verhouding kan daar verskeie „rolle‟ van die staat geïdentifiseer word: die staat as skepper en reguleerder van die onwettige deur die wetgewende en uitvoerende gesag; die staat as lokaliteit van die onwettige, as tuiste, gasheer, oorskeping of diens staat vir transnasionale georganiseerde misdaadaktiwiteite; die staat as slagoffer van die onwettige, byvoorbeeld deur die inherente natuur van misdaad wat die staat se jurisdiksie oor sy grense ontneem asook deur die gebruik van geweld of korrupsie deur kriminele; en die staat as fasiliteerder vir onwettige aktiwiteite, wat beteken dat sekere eienskappe van die staat onwettige aktiwiteite moontlik maak. Hierdie tesis fokus spesifiek op laasgenoemde rol van die staat. Daar word geargumenteer dat sekere eienskappe van state, meer spesifiek swak en oorgangstate, dit makliker maak vir kriminele akteurs om die staat uit te buit. In die raamwerk wat voorgestel word deur Phil Williams (2002) word daar sewe van hierdie eienskappe geïdentifiseer en verwys na as kapasiteitsopeninge wat funksionele gapings kan veroorsaak, en so onwettinge aktiwiteite moontlik maak. Die primêre navorsingsvraag van hierdie tesis is gevolglik: Word die rol van die staat as fasiliteerder in die OGPE moontlik gemaak deur die teenwoordigheid van kapasiteitsopeninge en funksionele gapings? Die Wes-Afrika staat Guinee-Bissau dien as gevallestudie vir sy rol as oorskeep staat in globale handel in kokaïen. In die eerste gedeelte van die analitiese proses van hierdie tesis, word globale handel in kokaïen en die historiese ontwikkeling daarvan beskryf en geanaliseer vir die sosiale, politieke en ekonomiese reëlings wat ‟n impak daarop het. Dit bring die belangrikheid van die inagneming van hierdie reëlings, indien die onwettige verstaan wil word, na vore. 'n Addisonele analiese van die politieke ekonomie van Guinee-Bissau verskaf die nodige agtergrond- informasie om die tweede gedeelte van hierdie tesis se benadering te verstaan. Hier die staat Guinee-Bissau word eerstens ondersoek vir die teenwoordigheid van kapasiteitsopeninge en funksionele gapings, en tweedens hoe dit gebruik word deur kokaïen smokkelaars. Die studie vind dat ses vanuit die sewe kapasiteitsopeninge wel in Guinee-Bissau voorkom en gebruik word deur smokkelaars. Die wederregtelike rol van die landmag, wat gewoonlik die smokkelaars ondersteun, is vir die smokkelaars baie belangrik. Hierdie analiese laat dit toe dat die navorsingsvraag positief beantwoord word. Verder, in hierdie tesis word die bruikbaarheid van 'n politiek-ekonomiese aanslag tot die onwettige en die spesifieke teoretiese fondasies daarvan bevestig.