The Inheritance of Hardt and Negri to Marx’s Thought: From the Critique of Political Economy to Biopolitical Critique

In the Empire Series,Hardt and Negri attempt to develop biopolitical critique to contemporary capitalist society.Hardt and Negri develop their own biopolitical critique based on their understanding of Foucauldian biopolitics.In the meantime,many arguments of biopolitical critique come precisely from Marx’s critique of political economy.Identifying biopolitical production as the hegemonic paradigm of contemporary capitalist production,Hardt and Negri accomplish the transition from the critique of political economy to biopolitical critique.However,such assertion does not mean a major rupture in the relation between the critique of political economy and biopolitical critique.On the contrary,it only implies an intertwined relationship between them.Moreover,if regarding Foucault’s discussion about political economy and biopolitics as a medium,then the conclusion can be made:There are overlaps between biopolitical critique and the critique of political economy,and the source of biopolitical critique can also be traced directly back to Marx.

Political Economy Factors Shaping News Culture of Hyperlocal News Website www.ippodhu.com

In contemporary media ecosystem, media content is not only produced by employees rather it is also produced by its users in the form of curating stories, writing feedback, engaging in online discussions and at the same time disseminating the content through their personal online profiles. Keeping these views in mind, this paper critically examines the political economy of Ippodhu (Tamil Nadu based news website), a hyperlocal news application, in terms of digital labour, audience as participatory commodities and audience as producers, which Alvin Toffler terms as prosumer. Further, this paper explores how social media, analytics, or other analytical tools create value or anti-value for Ippodhu. The qualitative data obtained through in-depth interview reveals that readers/audiences of Ippodhu are commodified in two ways, first they consume the content of the website by spending their time, which will be sold to the advertisers and secondly by creating free content either in the writing stories, uploading photographs or even in the form of comment which will be consumed by other readers/audiences which result in the chain of production of values.

British Political Economy in Post-EU Era and China-UK Relations

Although Theresa May the new British Prime Minister had followed Cameron to stand for staying in the EU,after taking office,she has openly stated on several occasions that she will respect the public opinions of the country and carry out a foreign policy of implementing Brexit according to the result of the referendum.In so doing,she has even made Boris Johnson,a controversy lead

National Governance Capacity from the View of Comparative Political Economy-Based on the Fight Against COVID-19

At the beginning of 2020,COVID-19 has blocked the pace of the world economic development.In the process of fighting the epidemic,different countries have formulated different policies and showed different effects from fighting it.After the end of COVID-19,the rapid social and economic recovery as well as their development require scientific and effective governance from all countries.From the perspective of comparative political economy theory,taking the COVID-19 epidemic as an example,this article points out the advantages and deficiencies of the national governance capacity,as well as seek ways to improve the national governance capacity.

Political Economy of the Asia-Pacific Free Trade Area: A Dilemma for China

The Asia-Pacific Free Trade Area （FTAAP） has become a topic of focus since the proposal was first raised in 2004. The present paper considers China＇s policy towards the FTAAP from apolitical economy perspective by probing the gains, impediments and concerns for China, and makes judgments based on several possible scenarios. The author argues that from an economic perspective, China would benefit from joining the FTAAP both in a static and a dynamic manner because both its main trade partners and trade barriers in export markets are concentrated in the Asia-Pacific region. However, whether the Chinese Government is likely to support the initiative is largely dependent on certain crucial political and diplomatic elements, including the APEC approach, US-Chinese relations, quality of treaty, sensitive sectors, competitive proposal of alternative and membership of Chinese Taipei. Therefore, if the Chinese Government cannot ratify the ideology and terms of the initiative, or issues that are central to China＇s interests are not addressed, the FTAAP will only remain a proposal possessing economic possibility in the long run, without political feasibility in the near term.

Reform of Labor Policy in China: A Perspective of Political Economy

Ⅰ. IotroductionLike other related institutional arrangments in China,labor policy under the planned economic system re-sulted in two kinds of inefficiency. First, the inherentlack of labor supervision and lack of an incentivemechanism in the micro-management system led to lowtechnical efficiency. Second, the distorted allocation of

Political Economy of US Trade Policy towards China

The trade relationship between China and the USA has become increasingly important to the economies of both countries. The recent trade conflicts and friction between China and the USA constitute obstacles in the way of US-Chinese bilateral trade relationship development, which is of considerable concern to both countries. Through an in-depth analysis of the political process of US trade policy towards China, the present paper identifies the important determinants of US trade policy towards China. The influence of US trade policy on the trade relationship between the USA and China is assessed and implications for the trade relationship between the USA and China are discussed.

Creating a New Chinese Discourse on Political Economy: The Innovative Development of China's Private Sector Theory

Ever since China implemented its reform and opening up policy in the late 1970s,it has engaged in theoretical and practice-based innovations in the development of its private sector.China has experienced four evolutionary stages of private sector development and theoretical innovation:from proposing that the private sector was “subsidiary and complementary to the socialist public sector,” to elevating it to the heights of China’s “basic economic system”;from adhering to the principle of “the two unwaverings,” i.e.,unwaveringly consolidating and developing the public sector on the one hand,and unwaveringly encouraging,supporting,and guiding the development of the non-public sector on the other;and thence to further stating explicitly that “private enterprises and private sector entrepreneurs are one of us;they are socialist.” New theories of private sector development have been created in response to the inherent requirements of the primary stage of socialism,to the choice of the correct path to common prosperity,and to the human behavioral rationality and the laws governing people’s interest claims.The private sector is an important achievement of the development of the socialist market economy;an important force promoting the development of the socialist market economy;and an important actor in the building of the modern economic system.Creating new theories of private sector development has opened up a new realm for Marxist political economy.

The political economy of city diplomacy

City diplomacy is a major trend in the soft power development.As cities face daily political issues deriving from globalisation(such as mass tourism,migration,climate change,and commodifi-cation of culture),they demand for,rather than contesting with a nationstate,an operational reinterpretation of sovereignty ori-ented to solve problems.Political economy approach is a useful method to understand the role of global cities where the nation state has many deficiencies.The global city establishes rules to influence international legal development and practice,even with-out a traditional legal basis(such as sovereignty,monopoly on violence,and legal exclusivity).As these‘superstar cities’grow,other cities are losing opportunities to develop and take advan-tage of globalisation.The risk of inter-urban inequality feeds populism.Cities will become the middle power in global political organisations in the future,and political economy will shed light on how power and values operate at the urban level.

Value Circulation,Economic Structure,and the New Development Paradigm:A Theoretical Framework of Political Economy and International Comparison

This study constructs a theoretical framework for understanding the new development paradigm based on value circulation and the reproduction theory of Marx.According to these theories,the essence of economic circulation is value circulation,the core of which is mutual matching among the structures of technological,distribution,demand,and production.We adopted a three-sector reproduction model with fixed capital to understand different development paradigms under various combinations of the four aforementioned structures.On this basis,we use the 1957-2017 input-output table to construct the three-sector tables and explain the logic of China’s economic structure change and the characteristics of the resulting circulation patterns.We also compared the economic structures and circulation patterns of the United States and Japan with those of China to shed light on China’s choice of future economic circulation patterns and the new development paradigms.

Hungry and Angry Society: Implications for Sustainable Development in Nigeria

Hunger is a physiological need,but the production and consumption of adequate and balanced food is a function of social forces.At every point,social,political,and economic processes intervene,for better or(more common)for worse.Food is one fundamental need of human beings for survival.But in Nigeria there is widespread food shortage and hunger.Development scholars have put forward reasons why poverty,hunger persists in the country,from the platitudes about population growth,inadequate implementation of agricultural policies,and neglect of agriculture,bad leadership,corruption,and the issue of distribution.Nigeria is richly blessed with arable land and citizens eager to unlock its food potentials.Unfortunately,this is far from being realized as the country depends on foreign countries for food,a situation that is tragic and sad.She spends about$10 billion a year importing food and agricultural products,the majority of which are wheat,rice,poultry,fish,and consumer-oriented foods.The pressure on the exchange rate results in devaluation-triggered inflation and food costs that fly up beyond the grasp of people at the bottom of the ladder as it is now is one of the negative repercussions of high food importation bills.Examining the effects of hunger is one of this paper’s key concerns and goals,and anger crisis for achieving sustainable development in the country using the Frustration-Aggression Theory,The Relative Deprivation and Political Economy Approach as guide.

Sustainability and virtual water:The lessons of history

This article aims to show that virtual water has historically been an adaptation strategy that enabled some arid regions to develop a prosperous economy without putting pressure on their scarce water resources.Virtual water is referred to as the total amount of water that is consumed to produce goods and services.As an example,in arid central Iran,the deficiency in agricultural revenues was offset by more investment in local industries that enjoyed a perennial capacity to employ more workers.The revenues of local industries weaned the population from irrigated agriculture,since most of their raw materials and also food stuff were imported from other regions,bringing a remarkable amount of virtual water.This virtual water not only sustained the region’s inhabitants,but also set the stage for a powerful polity in the face of a rapid population growth between the 13th and 15th centuries AD.The resultant surplus products entailed a vast and safe network of roads,provided by both entrepreneurs and government.Therefore,it became possible to import more feedstock such as cocoons from water-abundant regions and then export silk textiles with considerable value-added.This article concludes that a similar model of virtual water can remedy the ongoing water crisis in central Iran,where groundwater reserves are overexploited,and many rural and urban centers are teetering on the edge of socio-ecological collapse.History holds an urgent lesson on sustainability for our today’s policy that stubbornly peruses agriculture and other high-water-demand sectors in an arid region whose development has always been dependent on virtual water.

From public to private solid waste management:Stakeholders’perspectives on private-public solid waste management in Lobatse,Botswana

Upon the realization that urban areas can only achieve sustainable solid waste management systems through an interplay of partnerships and stakeholders,developing countries have geared themselves towards the privatization of waste management services in efforts to reduce costs and improve efficiency.Lobatse,a town located in the south of Botswana,faces the increasing challenges of poor waste management due to the lack of finances and resources available to the Lobatse Town Council,which hinders efforts towards a sustainable waste management system.This has negative implications for public health and the environment,as a result of solid waste pollution from littering and the illegal dumping of waste.This work examines the current state of solid waste management and its challenges in Lobatse,within the context of the interplay between public and private solid waste management.The study aims to perform a social exploration of the efficiency of waste management services,considering the political economy and households’perceptions towards these services.Key stakeholders were interviewed and a social survey of 222 households was conducted to generate primary data.The findings indicate that the involvement of the private sector yielded positive outcomes,as it increased the solid waste collection frequency and improved the quality of the waste management service.Most of the stakeholders were in favor of privatization,and the households were satisfied and willing to contribute towards the cost recovery of solid waste management.It is,therefore,recommended to promote and establish a private-public-community partnership in the town to improve the quality of the waste management system.

The Role of the European Union in Socio-economic Integration of Immigrants Residing in Azerbaijan: Current Problems, Tendencies, and Perspectives

The chosen study mainly concerns on the migration issue,which has become a phenomenon in the European Union’s political economy in the contemporary era,within the recent years,which identifies the role of migrants in Azerbaijani labor market and other areas of economic integration involving the current trends,challenges,and perspectives in the political or socio-economic fields.The long-brewing Civil War in Syria created a large-scale trajectory of migrants,resulting in a massive influx of refugees from Turkey to Greece and then to Germany.Recently,the issue of migration is now transforming into a phenomenon among the member states of the European Union prompting them to take immediate action and make crucial decisions in the country’s political economy.As a result,modern migration can play a pivotal role both for the EU and for Azerbaijan in the direction of flow of people,capital and services,remittances,improving socio-economic well-being and the cheap labor force in the international labor market.The key criterion of the study is to identify specific ways in which persons or migrants who are involved in the migration process can be able to also contribute to the sustainable economic development of the region by positively influencing IDPs on the local population,labor market activities,and overall political and economic activity.The main idea behind the research is to investigate the economic integration of immigrants in Azerbaijan through its original theoretical and empirical study of migration that plays an important role in the EU’s political economy.The research aims to better regulate labor migration processes in Azerbaijan with the help of the European Union and to optimize the impact on labor productivity in the country by providing economic integration of migrants in the local labor market.The main focus of this study is to identify the role of the European Union in the economic integration of immigrants in Azerbaijan,the legal migration and migration process,based on the Joint Declaration on Resettlement Partnership launched between the EU and Azerbaijan.

The Comparative Study on the Management Mode of the Street Vending in Hong Kong and Singapore

Street vending,one of the crucial livelihoods of poorer sections,persists in all cities;meanwhile,it brings increased social costs,like traffic congestion and public health,which becomes one of the main challenges of urban public space management.Adopted by the desk-and-computer research method,this paper would analyze the management measures of hawkers in Hong Kong and Singapore from a comparative perspective.It,therefore,suggests that city administrations need to safeguard the rights of hawkers and adopt a more people-oriented management style,so as to pursue a more inclusive urban ecology.

A Political Economics Analysis of Data Participation in Capitalism

Nowadays,as the development of science and technology promotes the continuous change of the force of production,data is becoming an increasingly important production factor that is deeply involved in the process of production,circulation,distribution and consumption in capitalist society.This study aims to explore the application of data in capitalist production and its implications.We analyzes the data from the labor process and the process of producing surplus value,from which it is concluded that the application of data in the general production process does not deviate from the category of the“Labor Theory of Value”.In addition,we distinguish the performance of data in the four links of surplus value production,realization,distribution and redistribution,thereby illustrating the positive role of data in the capitalist economy.We also identify changes in the value composition caused by data.

Everything is Primitive Accumulation?

This paper explores the Marxist concept of primitive accumulation and its relationship to capitalist development. Primitive accumulation occurs as a historical process before the complete emergence of capitalism as the dominant mode of production. Primitive accumulation is distinguished from other forms of exploitation employed by capitalist societies to spread capitalism into non-capitalist regions. An exploration of different interpretations of primitive accumulation within Marxist theory highlights the transition from primary accumulation to capitalist accumulation in specific contexts. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the multifaceted nature of primitive accumulation and its significance in the development of capitalism. It argues that many uses of primitive accumulation in the present context are erroneous.

China’s New Silk Route Initiative:Political and Economic Implications for the Middle East and Southeast Asia

The liberal economic policies which have been developed in China in the 1980s have significantly produced a“new demographic”reality with an increasing proportion of about 350 to 400-million strong Chinese middle class.This new reality is starting to affect the conduct and direction of China’s foreign policy particularly toward countries in Middle East and Southeast Asian regions,which hold considerable amount of energy resources,such as crude oil and gas.The“One Belt One Road”initiative(OBOR),proposed by Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2013,signals the reinvigoration of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Route as a necessary measure to meet future Chinese demand for energy and open markets for its surplus products.Over the last two years,various Middle East countries,such as Iran,Saudi Arabia,United Arab Emirates,Turkey,Israel have watched China in cultural and political arenas.China’s economic needs have triggered this development.The same year,China’s president visited Indonesia and pledged a$40 billion fund to develop infrastructures along the route.With the new silk route proposal,China would be able to guarantee not only the stable energy supply from the Middle East but also access the markets of Southeast Asian countries.However,diverse views arising from this proposal questioned China’s real intentions.Has China’s proposal been designed to reorder Asia and contain US pivot to Asia?Does it signal the enlargement of China’s regional influence using its economic might?What does this policy say about ASEAN member countries,particularly the Philippines?This article however argues that China’s regional and international expansion is a natural byproduct of its economic weight;it also argues that the Middle East and maritime Southeast Asian countries can expect maximum economic and political gains from joining the“One Belt One Road”initiative.

US-China Relations:Nationalism,the Trade War,and COVID-19

The trade war between the USA and China has shocked many across the world.A disruption to the interdependence of the two largest economies seemed unfathomable.However,in an effort to thwart China’s economic practices and boost the US economy,President Trump’s administration levied tariffs on Chinese imports shortly after taking office,moving US foreign economic policy from liberalism,practiced for decades,to protectionism.China has retaliated,and the trade war continues today.With conceptual insights from the nationalism literature,we explore the nationalist roots of the trade war from both the US and Chinese perspectives.In the USA,the Trump administration’s plan to achieve energy autonomy,decrease reliance on foreign resources,and reinvigorate the manufacturing sector has led to protectionist policies,the othering of China,and hence the trade war.Although reluctant to enter the conflict,China has rebuffed the USA,resisting and counterattacking US actions,owing to a long-felt sense of persecution in the global space and an eagerness to participate fully,and lead in some issue areas,in international affairs.The conflict continues into the COVID-19 era,marked by US scapegoating of China and hits to economic performance.Until both sides are convinced they have achieved their goals,or the USA undergoes an administration change,the conflict will likely continue.

The Developmental Sources of South Korean Neoliberalism

How do South Korea's developmental legacies influence its contemporary political economy?The discourse surrounding this question has tended to diverge over the extent to which South Korea's state-led developmental model has been supplanted by a market-led,neoliberal mode of political-economic organization Though this debate has indeed fostered many important individual contributions,it has also yielded a muddled and ambiguous theoretical landscape.To clarify this cluttered terrain,this paper draws from recent advances in the study of neoliberalism to establish critical points of consonance between statist perspectives on Korean development and neoliberalism To this end,it identifies key threads of continuity binding South Korea's developmental past with its neoliberal present.The paper finds that critical aspects of the developmental state's interaction with society,from coercion to ideological suasion furnished elemental building blocks to those actively constructing a South Korean neoliberalism Thus,exploring these historical contours producesa fresh means for apprehending the interactions of enduring statist developmental legacies with contemporary neoliberal reforms,both theoretically and empirically.As such,this study yields an improved set of conceptual tools for grasping the complex empirical phenomena shaping the interplay of neoliberalism,developmentalism,and democracy within contemporary South Korea.