The Chinese, Indian and Myanmar governments share the borderlands in the corners of their respective territories where East, South and Southeast Asia meet. In this region of common concern the capacities of these three systems of post-colonial government are regulated so as to prevent excessive political conflict and discourage territorial fragmentation. My research focus is how the governments seek to exert spatial control in areas occupied by the closely-related Jingpo, Singpho and Jinghpaw peoples. As part of their efforts to shape interactions with the central governments, local elites among these peoples have defended and expanded elements of their Jingpo, Singpho and Jinghpaw cultures, particularly their annual Manau festivals. Seeking a way to analyse the relationship between governments and those they govern I draw on the illustrative potential of these large-scale events. It is the symbolic politics of these festivals that suggest an argument about spatial control that refines the state-repelling “Zomia” model proposed by van Schendel (2002) and Scott (2009a). I argue that nodes of control are sites where the governments concentrate power in order to manage their geopolitical ambitions. These nodes succeed when they encourage the acquiescence of local economic and cultural elites. By opening up opportunities for such collaboration, the nodes buttress the strategic links—cultural, political, economic, transportation and communications—that are the main interests of all central governments. It is, moreover, the intrinsic limitation of government ambitions, and their willingness to allow creative ambiguities, that suggests the direction in which ideas about spatial control at the intersection of China, India and Burma can be re conceived.

Angola is currently the fifth-largest diamond producer in the world. Yet neither the politics nor the history of Angola's diamond trade receives much attention either in the Angolan scholarship or the thematic literature on the mining sector more generally. The gap in the literature is significant, for diamond companies produce far more than revenue and profits: for some one hundred years, the diamond sector has governed, policed, defended, and controlled the strategic, diamond-rich provinces of Lunda Sul and Lunda Norte. This thesis explores the historical trajectory of the diamond sector in the Lundas. It concentrates on the powerfully symbiotic relationship between the diamond sector and the state from the colonial period to the present time. Drawing on a wide range of untapped official documents as well as interviews, it argues that the diamond sector has functioned historically as the conduit through which the state projects its power and secures its interests in a strategic but hostile territory. The thesis further shows how the politics of resource control both define the state’s strategies towards the diamond sector and perpetuate the entrenched system of privatised governance that has existed in the Lundas for more than a century. The thesis builds upon both the historical and contemporary literature on the mining sector and the literature on state formation. It challenges the conventional notion that the persistent power of private companies in Africa is the result of state weakness or state absence, underlining instead how state leaders instrumentalise and empower companies according to their changing priorities. It also considers the implications of this case study more broadly through a cross-case analysis of mining politics elsewhere in Africa. In the process, this study provides an original approach to state–mining sector relations that is of relevance to scholars working on the politics and political economy of state-making and of resources extraction in Africa.

Mémoire numérisé par la Division de la gestion de documents et des archives de l'Université de Montréal.

The local food movement has become a prominent force in the U.S. food market, as represented by the explosive expansion of direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketplaces across the country. Concurrent with the expansion of these DTC marketplaces has been the development of the social ideal of localism: a political and ethical paradigm that valorizes artisanal production and smallness, vilifies globalization, and seeks to recapture a sense of place and community that has been lost under the alienating conditions of capitalism’s gigantism. Supporters of localism understand the movement to be a substantial political and economic threat to global capitalism, and ascribe distinct, counter-hegemonic attributes to localized consumption and production. However, critics argue that localism lacks the political imagination and economic power to meaningfully challenge global capitalism, and that it merely represents an elite form of petite bourgeois consumption. While scholars have debated this issue feverishly, there is a dearth of empirical cases measuring whether or not actual local consumers understand their local consumption within the political and ethical frame of localism, leaving much of the discussion in the realm of esoteric theorizing. This study seeks to uncover whether or not local consumers interpret their local consumption habits within localism’s moral framework by using an original survey instrument to gather primary data, and conducting an exploratory quantitative inquiry.

Does ethnic fragmentation negatively affect social expenditure? In this thesis, I examine why this research question, only partially tackled by the political economy literature, is also central for the social policy field. Using a sample of 156 countries, and controlling for variables that social policy theory postulate as essential to explain welfare provision, I offer evidence that higher levels of ethnic fragmentation lead to lower levels of social expenditure. On that basis, I present a theoretical framework that explores how this relationship can be explained. Ethnic fragmentation is presented as a variable that complicates the development of social solidarity and the notions of shared identity, and shifts social mobilisation from issues of economic redistribution towards ethno-cultural recognition. I also conduct a second series of statistical analysis that show that there is evidence to support the previous propositions. Additionally, using a different confirmatory test, I explore the correspondence between the levels of de-commodification that 18 welfare states provide, and the principles of blood descent (jus sanguinis) or civic ties (jus solis) that their respective national laws favour. The findings show that the welfare regimes with the most de-commodifying provision tend to favour ethno-cultural principles. Finally, I emphasize that the probable effects of ethnic fragmentation in an increasingly multicultural world, with its tendencies to put social integration and differentiation issues back on the agenda, are not a prediction of erosion of the welfare state, but an important element to take into account in the creation and robustness of shared identities and notions of common belonging when designing social policy.

Sur la base d'investigations empiriques dans deux villes ordinaires de pays émergents –Vitória au Brésil et Coimbatore en Inde- nous expliquons pourquoi la gestion des déchets municipaux au Sud ne peut pas exclure les acteurs dits « informels » sous peine d'aboutir à des fiascos. Ce constat est désormais unanimement reconnu, sans qu'en soient pour autant explicitées les raisons. Nous partons de l'observation empirique de conflits d'appropriation, qui apparaissent lors de l'introduction de schémas municipaux de collecte sélective et transcendent la dichotomie entre gros opérateurs privés et petits wastepickers. Ces heurts nous amènent à formuler la question centrale suivante : à qui appartiennent les déchets, res derelictae, objets précisément définis par leur abandon ? C'est ici que réside l'apport de notre recherche : en confrontant la théorie économique à une approche d'aménagement urbain, nous démontrons que le gisement de déchets urbains correspond à un bien (ou un ‘mal') public impur : rival, mais non excluable. Cette caractéristique est due autant aux ruptures de charge du service d'évacuation, qu'à la valeur marchande d'un nombre croissant de matériaux -à condition qu'ils soient captés à la source. Enfin, en abordant la question à une échelle plus macro, nous affirmons que le négoce local de revente des déchets secs est directement influencé par les cours des matières premières vierges, ou secondaires (lorsque de tels marchés existent). Cette prégnance de l'économie globale sur un service urbain local permet de repérer des stratégies émergentes d'extraction minière urbaine qui aboutissent à poser avec une acuité renouvelée la question de la légitimité des appropriations / Grounded on empirical investigations in two ordinary cities of emerging countries – Vitória in Brazil and Coimbatore in India – we argue that solid waste management in Southern cities cannot be conceived excluding the so-called “informal” actors at the risk of fiasco. Such an assessment is nowadays broadly acknowledged, yet its reasons are not always made explicit. We start from the empirical observation of appropriation conflicts, which arise with the introduction of municipal selective collection schemes and which transcend the “Big private operator versus small wastepickers” dichotomy. These clashes lead us to formulate the following central question: to whom do solid wastes –this res derelictae- belong to, taking into account that their very definition lies in abandonment. That is what our research aims at: confronting economic theory to an urban planning approach we show that the urban solid waste deposit corresponds to an impure public good (or evil!), a blurred object characterized by rivalry and non-exclusion. This is particularly due to transhipments in the evacuation service, as well as to the commodity value of a growing number of items – on condition that they should be recovered at source. Finally, taking a zoom-out in order to apprehend this issue through a global lens, we argue that the local dry waste sales business is directly determined by raw material prices fluctuations. The global economy impact on a local urban service leads us to acknowledge urban mining strategies which renew the appropriations' legitimacy question

L’ouverture de l’économie colombienne, décidée en 1990, fut présentée comme un promoteur de croissance et développement sur la base des exportations (et des Investissements Directs Etrangers). Cette thèse soutient que l’ouverture n’a pas été décidée afin de favoriser la croissance et le développement et que ces deux phénomènes n’ont pas été à la hauteur de ce qui était anticipé. Ce résultat est fondé sur une analyse en termes d’Economie Politique Internationale : les relations de pouvoir peuvent être utiles pour répondre à des questions d’ordre économique. Le premier chapitre montre que les caractéristiques structurelles de l’économie colombienne rendaient son ouverture impropre à générer croissance et développement sur la base des exportations. Cette proposition s’appuie sur l’analyse de la compétitivité sectorielle et des carences institutionnelles de l’économie colombienne, ainsi que sur l’accroissement potentiel des inégalités spatiales de développement suite à l’ouverture. Le deuxième chapitre s’attache alors à mettre en évidence que l’ouverture répond à des objectifs propres aux Etats-Unis. Ces objectifs sont à dominante économique (typiquement la création des débouchés extérieurs et l’accès à des matières premières) ou politique (lutte contre les guérillas d’inspiration communiste dans le cadre de la politique étrangère américaine). Le deuxième chapitre expose une série des moyens à la disposition des Etats-Unis afin d’obtenir l’ouverture du gouvernement colombien de l’époque. Ces moyens vont de la coercition (par exemple la menace de sanction) à la légitimation (favoriser l’élection d’un gouvernement pro-ouverture). Le troisième chapitre montre que l’ouverture n’a pas instauré un régime de croissance fondé sur les exportations. Au contraire, elle a instauré un régime instable fondé sur une dynamique spéculative sur les actifs immobiliers à partir des flux de capitaux étrangers venant nourrir l’achat de ces actifs à crédit. Lorsque ces capitaux finissent tôt ou tard par manquer, de tels achats sont pénalisés et viennent interrompre la dynamique. Celle-ci ne peut plus tirer la croissance via des effets d’entrainement du secteur de la construction sur le reste de l’économie. Mais pris au piège de la relation de pouvoir exercée par les Etats-Unis, le gouvernement colombien n’a pas cherché à stabiliser la conjoncture. Il a dû privilégier les dépenses en équipement militaire américain pour lutter contre les guérillas colombiennes. L’intensification subséquente du conflit armé a accentué la violence au sein du territoire. Il en résulta la destruction d’infrastructures, ainsi qu’une migration de travailleurs qualifiés. La récession en a été d’autant plus accentuée. Ainsi l’ouverture débouche-t-elle sur la pire crise économique du XXème siècle en Colombie, avec une récession de -5% en 1999. Le quatrième chapitre enquête sur les changements des structures de production et d’échange suite à l’ouverture, pour ainsi montrer que ces changements n’ont que peu favorisé le développement. La Colombie tend à négliger sa spécialisation internationale historique dans le café et la plupart des cultures transitoires (blé, riz, orge, sorgo, coton, etc.) pour privilégier d’autres cultures dont les effets positifs sur le développement sont moindres. Bien que les hydrocarbures et d’autres matières brutes bénéficient d’un certain potentiel d’exportation, le développement des territoires où l’extraction a lieu reste faible. Se pose en outre un problème de soutenabilité de l’extraction. Enfin, si l’industrie manufacturière a pu croitre au rythme du régime de croissance, elle le doit à la protection dont elle bénéficie encore dans le cadre du traitement différentiel des pays en développement à l’Organisation Mondiale du Commerce et moins aux opportunités d’exportation données par l’ouverture. Le jour où ce traitement sera diminué voire supprimé, toute une partie de l’économie colombienne est menacée. / The opening of the Colombian economy, decided in 1990, was supposed to promote a new model of growth and development based on exports (and Foreign Direct Investment). This dissertation argues that the opening was not made in order to promote growth and development, and that these two phenomena did not live up to what was expected. This result is based on an International Political Economy approach: taking into account power relationships may give a better explanation of economic phenomena. The first chapter shows that the structural characteristics of the Colombian economy made its opening unable to generate growth and development. This assertion is based on the analysis of the lack of competitiveness and of the institutional flaws of the Colombian economy, as well as on the potential increase in the spatial inequalities of development resulting from the opening. The second chapter thus highlights that the opening aimed at achieving some objectives peculiar to the United States. These objectives are made of economic considerations (typically the access to foreign markets and to raw materials) as well as political ones (dealing with the threats caused by Marxist guerrilla groups within the framework of the American foreign policy). This second chapter explains a series of means at the disposal of the United States to obtain the opening. These means go from coercion (such as sanction threats) to legitimation (to give rise to a Colombian pro-opening government). The third chapter shows that the opening did not lead to an export-led growth. On the contrary, it led to an unstable growth regime. The latter is based on the foreign capital flows. The latter feed the purchase of real estate assets by credit. The housing sector is thus stimulated, which in turn stimulates other economic activities, within the framework of spill-over effects. However, when foreign capital flows lack, real-estate asset purchases are penalized, thus preventing the expansion of the housing sector and eventually of aggregate production itself (spill-over effects no longer work). However, given the power relationship exercised by the United States, the Colombian government had to purchase American military equipment massively, in order to fight against the Colombian guerrillas. By doing so, the economic policy could not stabilize the economy at that time. Besides, the subsequent intensification of the conflict increased the violence within the Colombian territory, thus leading to the migration of skilled workers and to the destruction of infrastructures. The recession had thus been exacerbated. This scenario occurred a few years after 1990, resulting in the worst economic crisis of the 20th century in Colombia with a -5 % recession in 1999. The fourth chapter questions the changes followed by the production and exchange structures because of the opening, to show that these changes did not really contribute to development. Colombia tends to neglect its historic international specialization in coffee and other cultures like wheat, rice, barley, sorghum or cotton, to privilege other cultures whose positive effects on development are lower. As regards the industries of extraction of raw materials (in particular hydrocarbons), they are oriented toward exportation but they promote few development. In addition, the Colombian productive system may lack of this type of input in the future. Finally, if the manufacturing industry was able to increase at the rate of the growth regime, it owes it to the protection still remaining with the differential treatment for developing countries in the World Trade Organization, and less to the export opportunities given by the opening. When this treatment will be eliminated or at least decreased, a whole part of the Colombian economy will be threatened.

Based on the political economy of the media perspective, this paper explores the media coverage of wealth and inheritance taxation over the early 21st century (2000 to 2018) based on a large-scale corpus of seven German daily and weekly newspapers. Germany is a useful case study, being one of the most unequal countries in the Eurozone area in terms of wealth inequality. Drawing on text mining methods and corpus linguistics, it shows that wealth and inheritance taxation is a relatively infrequent topic over the entire period, with the exception of a few intense months of increased reporting. On the occasions that the media do report on the topic of wealth and inheritance taxation, it is mainly covered in terms of a political debate. This debate centres on the politics of a possible reform process and the connected difficulties of finding compromise between different actors, rather than focussing on the potential economic impact. Furthermore, this paper explores the power of agents (both on the organisational and individual level) as the primary definers of social reality. It shows that market-liberal and conservative organisations and economists dominate the news over social-democratic and left-wing ones. Overall, the findings indicate a hostile news coverage concerning the introduction of wealth taxation and the increase of inheritance tax. / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Student Number : 0420292V - MA research report - School of International Relations - Faculty of Humanities / The transformation of the political economy after the Cold War, and particularly the introduction of the knowledge economy and the successful liberation of a group of developing countries, has made a considerable impact on the trading patterns in the global economy. It has also revolutionised the processes of manufacturing, production and consumption. These economic changes have had significant consequences for the countries of the developing world, making the possibility of coalition-building between the countries of the Southern core more feasible, and in this way bringing about fundamental alterations in the political economy of the international system. However, the economic co-operation that takes place in the South is uneven and advances the interests of semi-peripheral states such as India, South Africa and Brazil, giving rise to new patterns of collaboration.

[pt] Esta dissertação é um estudo acerca dos efeitos do comércio internacional sobre o bem-estar interno dos países. O trabalho parte da evidência de que há países com estruturas econômicas similares, inclusive um alto grau de abertura econômica, que, no entanto, têm um desempenho muito diferente em seu IDH, utilizado como taxa representativa do bem-estar . São examinados os casos de Chile e Venezuela nos anos 90 e chega-se à conclusão de que, embora em países com uma alta exposição ao comércio exterior este seja em grande parte responsável pela evolução das economias nacionais, a forma como ele se reflete no bem-estar depende da intervenção do Estado, por meio da implementação de políticas públicas. A pesquisa é feita em um enquadramento teórico de Economia Política Internacional (EPI). A proposta de Susan Strange de analisar as questões da EPI em função de diferentes estruturas de poder é aplicada ao nível nacional, e os efeitos do comércio internacional sobre o IDH são examinados como os de uma estrutura do comércio particularmente influente sobre uma estrutura do bem-estar. / [en] This thesis is a study of the effects of international trade on social welfare within countries. The analysis starts from the evidence that there are countries with similar economic structures, including a high level of economic openness which, however, have a very different performance on their HDI, taken as a proxy for their welfare. The cases of Chile and Venezuela in the 1990s are examined. The conclusion is that, although trade, in countries highly exposed to it, is to a great extent responsible for the evolution of national economies as a whole, the way it affects welfare depends on the intervention of the state, through the implementation of policies. The research is done within an International Political Economy (IPE) framework. Susan Strange's proposition of analyzing the questions of IPE as the work of different power structures is applied at the national level, and the effects of international trade on HDI are examined as those of a particularly strong trade structure on a welfare structure.