Search results

The aim of this paper is to analyse the recent changes in the role played by Africa as a traditional natural resources supplier for the world economy in a multipolar context. We highlight, on the one hand, how Africa remains a prominent supplier of critical minerals needed for information and communication technologies (ICT), including platinum, vanadium, coltan, chromium, manganese, zirconium, etc., and how the boomerang effect results in Africa also importing electronic waste. On the other hand, we show how the BRICS’ growth model, based on a very intensive use of natural resources acquired through international trade, is now being fuelled by Africa too. BRICS countries (especially China and India) are making foreign direct investments in Africa using their state companies to ensure the supply of natural resources under favourable economic terms. Thus, Africa appears as a disputed territory between the old domination of the advanced capitalist countries and emerging powers like the BRICS. However, this should not mask the fact that the European Union and North America are still the dominant foreign powers in the continent. Finally, we discuss which scenarios are open to further this multipolar moment, particularly in the wake of the great crisis.

The purpose of this paper is to examine processes of Eurasian integration and the veritable ‘culture war’ between Russia and the West over it, while contributing to the theoretical paradigm of geopolitical economy. This paradigm invites us to consider the multiple manifestations of an emerging multipolar world order while scrutinising the extent to which previously popular approaches to the study of international political economy were themselves enmeshed in projects, the architects of which aspired to global hegemony.

The paper employs critical historicism, an approach in which cultural difference is seen as the sedimentation of historically constituted material and ideational processes and which eschews cultural essentialism and orientalising tropes. It is through this lens that Russian state attempts at normalising Eurasian integration processes are examined.

I demonstrate that Russian state organs and officials, as well as ‘political technologists’ attempt to de-politicise processes of Eurasian integration by appealing to both the logic of cultural/civilisational compatibility of affected parties, as well as the logic of economic integration. Such portrayals invite scrutiny; however, it is important that we also consider how Eurasian integration initiatives are the product of a post-Soviet struggle over Eurasian space but represent something more than mere neo-Soviet revisionism.

The paper demonstrates its originality by situating ongoing processes of Eurasian integration within the longer post-Soviet conjuncture and amid processes of international contestation. Moreover, it situates Russian officials and political technologists as active contributors to international debates about the emerging multipolar world order.

This introduction frames the papers in this volume with a brief critique of how and why the dominant approaches to understanding world affairs obscure our understanding of the chief developments that have marked our age, and a discussion of the resources geopolitical economy can draw on to address the resulting deficiencies of understanding. It then goes on to discuss how the papers that follow demonstrate the gains from putting the geopolitical economy framework to work. They interrogate and challenge conventional wisdom in three broad areas – the international monetary system, world trade and the requirements for successful combined development historically and today, when China’s own stunning combined development confronts other developing countries with new possibilities and constraints. The introduction closes with some necessarily brief reflections on the vast agenda for future research and discussion that remains to be tackled.

The research addresses the issue of elitism in international trade and the barriers in global markets arising from the elitist criteria for transitioning to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The research aims to identify criteria and pathways for achieving a favorable business climate for the transition to IFRS. Based on international statistics from the World Bank for 2019–2021, the authors identify the determinants of the adoption of IFRS using regression analysis. The authors performed econometric modeling of participation in international trade on global markets based on IFRS factors. As a result, the research selected criteria for a favorable business climate for transitioning to IFRS. The selected criteria are feasible for adherence by all countries and ensure the inclusivity of IFRS. The selected criteria include (in decreasing order of significance): improvement of the investment climate, development of public–private partnerships, overcoming the shadow economy, and strengthening the legal environment. The theoretical significance of the author's conclusions lies in the reevaluation of criteria for a favorable business climate for transitioning to IFRS in the context of new, multipolar globalization. The conclusions formulate a set of inclusive criteria that support free international trade and the openness of global markets. The practical significance of the results obtained in the research is that they outline a path to achieving a favorable business climate in Russia and propose a set of authorial recommendations for transitioning Russian businesses to IFRS.

Comprehensive nuclear disarmament which has been traditionally regarded as an idealistic and unachievable objective in the foreseeable future is now receiving greater attention from all quarters including major countries, statesmen and international NGOs. In fact, recent initiative for a nuclear-free world came from four well-known US political figures namely George Schultz, Henry Kissinger, Sam Nunn and William Perry. Though the process towards nuclear disarmament seems long, arduous and extremely complicated, it is, no doubt, emerging as the primary mission of the international community. In today’s world many think that a nuclear weapon free world is achievable; an optimism, probably, generated by the end of Cold War politics. However, the objective of this chapter is not to map the contours of global nuclear disarmament but to limit to a discussion on European remedies, if any, for Russian nuclear disarmament.

Despite the multitude of regional-based collaborations in higher education, regionalism theories have received relatively little attention in the literature on higher education. In view of this gap, this chapter seeks to make a case for the study of regionalism and explores how this field could enrich higher education research. This chapter discusses the context of the rise of the regional landscape vis-à-vis the acceleration of globalisation and internationalisation of higher education. It further probes into theoretical and empirical insights, elucidating in particular core regionalism concepts, theories and approaches within the more recent ‘turns’ in regionalism. Empirical cases from regions across the world are presented to help expound on the conceptual points raised.

This chapter addresses the two important themes that we believe characterise how the platform-based gig economy operates. The first of the two themes explores the shifting boundaries of the triangular business model and its place within the wider, evolving capitalist structure. The triangular business model is the foundation of the platform-based gig economy and consists of the digital platform, the producer/worker and the end consumer. The digital platform acts as the intermediary and provides a market for exchange of goods and services between the workers and the end consumers. The fluidity of the triangular relationship has left the platform-based gig economy beyond the reach of the traditional neo-liberal regulatory system leading to the blurring of employee and employer relations. The second theme is based on the exploration and application of the Marxist concept of surplus value creation and its appropriation within the gig structure. Here, the authors seek to show the exploitation of the worker as a participant in the triangular business model. Given that the worker bears the majority of the entrepreneurial risk and provides capital they ought to receive a proportion of the surplus value created from the transaction. The authors have established the increasing dominance of platforms within the triangular business model and the enhanced scope for exploitation of workers in form of poor remuneration standards due to employee status ambiguity and the appropriation of a disproportionate amount of surplus value flowing to the platform owners.

This paper identifies sweeping transformations taking place in the contemporary IB environment and discusses their impact on IB education. We focus on two overarching trends: (1) the demise of the nation-state as the relevant unit around which IB activity is organized and conducted; and (2) the demise of the stand-alone firm, with a hierarchic distribution of power and control, as the principal unit of business competition. We then discuss the range of new skills business managers will need to operate successfully in this new environment, emphasizing the need for cross-cultural awareness, entrepreneurial skills, and networking capabilities.

The multipolar configuration of the current economic context has led management scholars to reconsider the existing theoretical perspectives that explain drivers and effects of mergers and acquisitions (M&As).

The combination of structures, systems, processes and people imposed by M&A is a complex process that needs to be properly managed. This process can be divided into three phases of pre-combination, combination and post-combination. It evidences the dilemma of integrating two distinct firms and preserving their specific identities. In cross-border M&A, differences in organizational cultures increase the complexity of the integrative process and make it difficult for the companies that proceed to the merger to reach the preordained synergies, where the problem linked to the diversity of the national culture is added. A successful integration process allows to treat the elements of diversity as opportunities and not as obstacles.