Critical Political Economy - Robert Cox

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來自 Universiteit Leiden 的課程

Political Economy of Institutions and Development

150 個評分

Universiteit Leiden

Political Economy of Institutions and Development

150 個評分

This course is part of the SDG initiative <http://www.sdginitiative.org/> addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals, specifically for the following SDGs [1, 8, 10 and 16]. We hope you will join in our efforts to reach the SDG’s in small but measurable and actionable ways, cooperating with Development Done Differently. Expand your impact. You can create a better world. In today’s world, politics and economics are interconnected, but what is the nature of this connectivity? What are the power relationships that shape the world economy today and create new challenges for international institutions facing globalization? What makes some countries wealthier than others? Do we face cultural diversity or fragmentation? Does the type of governance effect economic development and social change or is it the other way around? How do we measure it and how trustworthy is the data? These issues and many more will be examined in this course along with a wide library of sources and a biting criticism.

從本節課中

Extra Material

Not for the test - but very good for your general knowledge!

The Invisible Hand - Adam Smith4:12

Utilitarianism - Jeremy Bentham3:17

Relative Backwardness - Alexander Gerschenkron3:55

Classical Liberalism - Friedrich August von Hayek3:49

Keynesianism - John Maynard Keynes3:44

Critical Political Economy - Robert Cox4:08

The Take Off - Walt W. Rostow3:43

Marxism - Karl Marx4:20

Small States - Peter Katzenstein4:17

World Systems Theory - Immanuel Wallerstein3:52

New Institutional Economics- Ronald Coase3:46

Economic Structuralism- Raúl Prebisch3:41

與講師見面

Richard Thomas Griffiths
Prof. dr.
Faculty of Humanities

Robert Cox graduated in history from McGill University.

From 1946 to 1971, he worked with the International Labour Organization in

Geneva, but then returned to academia.

His time in the ILO had convinced him of the restricted thought process in

bureaucracy and had given him a pessimism about obtaining change from large

international organizations.

It was in this transition period between the ILO and University life that Cox

began to formulate his ideas around the thinking of radical left-wing writers.

From 1977 to his retirement,

he was professor of political science at York University, Toronto.

In 1981, Cox published his seminal article, Social Forces, States, and

World Orders, in which he pleaded for a realignment of political economy.

He rejected the purely state centric approach by arguing that states were

themselves part of the greater world order of productive forces.

But there were also social and cultural constructions.

Indeed, there were hegemonic social and

cultural constructions by the leading elites.

In this respect, Cox distanced himself from Marxist ideology

by emphasizing both structure and agency.

Structure, the socioeconomic condition of society, and

agency, individual human action either separately or in groups.

He then turned to call for a more critical approach to political economy

as opposed to what he saw as a predominant problem solving approach.

Now let's see how he contrasts the two approaches.

Problem solvers take the world as they find it, and work within its frameworks,

whereas critical theorists stand outside the order, and ask how it came about.

Problem solvers try to use he available institutions to solve problems,

whereas critical theories questions the power relations represented by them and

analyse around the line change.

Problem solvers deal with problems individually and therefore have

a fragmented approach while critical theorists look at the system as a whole.

Problems solvers are ahistorical.

They regard the system as immutable, at least in the short term,

whereas critical theorist see the past as part of the dynamism of change

extending to the present.

And in so far as problem solvers use theories,

they only use those that fit comfortably within the existing order,

whereas critical theorists posit alternative and more desirable scenarios.

Finally, the problem solvers are conservative

to the extent that they actually help serve and perpetuate the existing order,

whereas critical theorists provide a guide to an alternative world order.

Now the problem is not that these two brooches do not exist, but

that they are portrayed as incompatible opposites.

It's unhelpful to suggest that problem solvers, or

practical policy makers are unaware of, or

necessarily uncritical of the power balances underlying the system.

And it's also rather extreme to portray those who restrict themselves

to system level criticism as by implication, the only forces for change.

Let me give just one example.

Jan Pronk was one of the most left-wing politicians who ever held the development

aid portfolio in the Netherlands, or, indeed, anywhere else.

In the 1970s, he was a fervent advocate for a New World Order,

which would restructure the prestructions and

price relationships between the first and the third world.

Yet he also engaged in issues for

the best distribution of dust development aid and how best to use it as leverage for

things like family planning and human right's issues.

So, while waiting for the world to change,

you can still actually try to do something useful.

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