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This study assessed the role of political institutions in the relationship between economic institutions and public debt in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Based on data availability, the study was done for 40 Sub-Saharan African countries from 2010 to 2019 employing generalized method of moment.

The authors documented a negative and significant relationship between economic institutions and public debt as well as a negative and significant effect of political institutions on public debt in SSA. Also, the study recorded that political institutions play a negative and significant role in the economic institutions-public debt nexus in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, a threshold of 3.691 is given when it comes to the role of political institutions in the association between government spending and public debt nexus in SSA.

The authors failed to take certain indicators of economic institutions, such as freedom to trade internationally, the size of government and legal system and property into consideration.

The authors suggest that democracy is necessary for boosting economic institutions-induced public debt reduction in SSA.

The novelty of this study is evident in two ways: first, the authors assessed the relationship between economic institutions and public debt in SSA using novel measures such as government integrity, tax burden and government spending from the Heritage Foundation instead of traditional institution measures from World Governance Indicators used by earlier studies. The authors further contribute to literature by being the first to consider the foundational role of political institutions in employing economic institutions to fight high public debt in SSA. Again, the authors included the threshold at which political institutions can cause economic institutions to have a desired impact on public debt in SSA.

Evidence shows that African countries are confronted with high levels of income inequality. Therefore, it is relevant to approach and analyze the factors contributing to these severe inequality cases. This paper addresses the issue by focusing on the role of financial regulation and military spending.

We used a sample of 30 African countries and a recent period (2009–2020), employing various instrumental variable estimation techniques to control for endogeneity.

The results confirm that economic growth aggravates income inequality due to high corruption and political instability. Results confirm that the increase in military spending increases inequality and that financial regulation weakens financial inclusion and also increases income inequality.

The study shows the need for greater control of corruption and the promotion of political stability so that economic growth and financial inclusion can effectively reduce income inequality, as well as the need for a better balance in the drafting of financial regulations and the preparation of military expenditure to safeguard other policy objectives.

The present study contributes to scarce financial, economic, and social literature considering the role of financial regulation and military spending in the persistence of income inequality in African countries. Previous studies disregarded this fact.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-04-2023-0287

This paper aims to contribute to the current debate between the mainstream and the non-mainstream literature on the effect of the growth of finance on the level of income inequality, for which the empirical evidence has also been providing mixed results.

We estimate a linear model and a non-linear model by employing a panel autoregressive distributed lag approach and relying on the dynamic fixed-effects estimator because of the existence of variables that are stationary in levels and stationary in the first differences.

Our findings confirm that finance, economic growth, educational attainment and degree of trade openness have a positive long-term effect on the level of income inequality in the European Union countries, whilst government spending has a negative impact in the short term.

Our findings imply that policy makers should rethink the functioning of the financial system in order to restore a supportive relationship between finance and income inequality and adopt public policies that are more in favour of the poor in order to constrain the growth of income inequality in the European Union countries.

To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper that, simultaneously, focuses on the European Union countries, assesses the nexus between finance and income inequality, uses three different variables as proxies for the level of income inequality (the Gini coefficient, the top 1% income share and the top 10% income share), measures the variables that are proxies for the level of income inequality in terms of pre-tax and pre-transfer values and as post-tax and post-transfer values, takes into account four different variables as proxies for the role of finance (credit, credit-to-deposit ratio, liquid liabilities and stock market capitalisation) and identifies the long-term and short-term determinants of income inequality.

This article examines the role the Australian Trade Union Training Authority (TUTA) played in international education through the provision of trade union courses and exchanges. We consider how an investigation of trade union networks contributes to a richer understanding of international education linkages.

This paper is based on research conducted for an Australian Research Council (ARC)-funded project: Trade union training: reshaping the Australian industrial landscape (ARC LP180100500). This research involved a critical analysis of 60 semi-structured oral history interviews and textual archives, including the official records held by the National Archives of Australia and papers held by the Noel Butlin Archives, the Australian Council of Trade Unions and in private collections.

TUTA was established primarily as a national union training organisation, but from its inception, it also acted as a hub for the development of regional and international labour networks. The nature of TUTA’s work placed it at the intersection of international trade union and educational domains. Although there were some points of contact with formal international programs (e.g. Japan–Australia and Kellogg Foundations, the Colombo Plan and US Department of Labour exchanges schemes), the specific contribution of TUTA is overlooked in the educational exchange literature. The role of TUTA is revealed through institutional connections and individual experiences.

Further research is required to gain a deeper understanding of the impact of TUTA from the perspective of former participants in international TUTA course and current and former trade unionists in the Asia–Pacific.

This article builds new knowledge by examining the connections forged in the Asia–Pacific region at the intersection of trade union and educational networks, an area often overlooked in the literature on educational exchange.

The European Union (EU) and Russia are considered to be trapped into security concerns in a form of spillover, in a zero sum perspective, considering each step of the other as directed against another. Such an approach seems to prevail, after attempts of engagements for decades after the Cold War. Rather history prevailed in informing perceptions and currently driving the behaviors toward each other, in other words in othering each other.

Discourse analysis

The move in Eastern Europe of both parties is perceived with suspicion from both sides, materialized through their policies, culminated in clash of interests and crash of policies between both parts, manifested by Russian aggression in Ukraine in 2014 and recently in 2022 in one side, and the EU response through massive, unprecedented sanctions against Russia. This has created a context that fosters not just keeping a status quo of clash and struggle for influence between them in the region, but also nourishes further securitization of their respective policies toward the Eastern Europe and beyond. In 2014 and more recently in 2022 Russian aggression in Ukraine, the EU and Russia appear to have the same image to each other as they had during the Cold War, or even beyond. Having this in mind, this paper will address those developments, with particular focus on attempts to avoid them, the failure to do so and how they are impacting the EU, Russia and global politics in a form of emerging new world (dis)order.

This paper is an original paper having a critical approach toward the current conflicts going on in Eastern Europe.

The purpose of the article is to outline the insights provided by Alan Fox in Man Mismanagement in relation to the rise of the New Right political economy and the spread of unitarist managerialism. The article assesses the contemporary work and employment relations implications of mismanagement arising from a “second wave” of the New Right ideology from 2010 in the UK.

Responding to the Special Issue on Alan Fox, the article focuses on Alan Fox's book Man Mismanagement, considering industrial relations developments arising between the 1st (1974b) and 2nd (1985) editions relating to the political rise of the New Right. It reviews various literature that illustrates the contemporary IR relevance of the book and Fox's insights.

The New Right’s ideology has further fragmented work, disjointed labour rights and undermined collective industrial relations institutions, and macho mismanagement praxis is even more commonplace, compared to when Fox wrote Man Mismanagement. The stripping away of the institutional architecture of IR renders the renewal of pluralist praxis, like collective bargaining and other forms of joint regulation of work, a formidable task.

The value of the article relates to the identification of dramatic historical industrial relations events and change in the UK in Alan Fox's book Man Mismanagement, most notably relating to the rise to power of the Thatcherite New Right in 1979. Originality is evidenced by the authors’ drawing on Fox's ideas and assessing the implications of the “second wave” of the New Right in the contemporary industrial relations (IR) context of the 2020s under the conceptual themes of fragmented work, disjointed labour rights and undermined collectivism.

The paper uses key themes from Fox’s writing to reflect on the wave of public sector industrial action that developed in the UK since the early 2020s: specifically the relevance of (1) radical pluralism, (2) historical context, (3) understanding the effects of high inflation and (4) (a breakdown of) trust relations.

The paper draws primarily on evidence from broad public debate but is informed by discussions held with senior union leaders both for a research project and in delivering development training.

Radical pluralism is used as a lens through which to understand declining trust in institutions of pluralist collective industrial relations in the UK public sector, arguing that current developments need to be understood in historical context. An analysis of the industrial action in the early 2020s highlights the ways that a period of high inflation can stress institutions of collective employment regulation, rendering visible the limits of conventional, pluralist industrial relations.

The paper could be extended by more detailed empirical data collection, both in the UK and other national institutional contexts.

Unions need to more consistently focus on issues of power. A stronger focus on power might identify the limitations of pluralist institutions of collective regulation and embed a commitment to building union influence to challenge those existing structures in favour of mechanisms to build workers' power more broadly.

Understanding these disputes as, at least in part, being about the limits to and undermining of trust in collective institutions that regulate work and employment allows us to better understand the forces at play and potential outcomes of these disputes.

The paper makes three key contributions: first, applying Fox’s work in a practical way to contemporary UK industrial relations; second, extending his analyses to public sector industrial relations and third, arguing that power needs to be more centrally located within union objectives in order to reshape industrial relations to radical pluralist ends.

This study explored how institutional quality influences the relationship between military spending and education in Africa.

This study used data from 43 African countries spanning the years 2000–2021. Two estimation methods were employed to address various issues: Fixed Effects with Driscoll-Kraay standard errors and the Two-Step System Generalised Method of Moments. The Fixed Effects with Driscoll-Kraay standard error method was used to obtain reliable standard errors and inferences from the estimated coefficients of the fixed effects model. Meanwhile, the problem of endogeneity between military spending and education was addressed using the Two-Step System Generalized Method of Moments (GMM).

The results indicated that military spending negatively impacts both the quality and quantity of education. However, both institutional quality and the interaction term (institutional quality*military spending) have positive effects on both measures of education, suggesting that better institutional quality mitigates the negative effect of military spending on education outcomes.

This study shows that institutional quality dampens the negative effect of military spending on education, especially the quality of education. Hence, African countries should prioritize strengthening their institutions to ensure optimal allocation and utilization of government funds for the benefit of their citizens.

This is the first study to examine the moderating role of institutional quality in the relationship between military spending and education, focusing on both the quantity and quality of education.

This paper addresses the under-explored collateral damage of economic sanctions, shedding light on the disproportionate harm endured by the most vulnerable segments of societies, which at the same time lack political influence to effect the ruling government into change. The primary objective is to review the literature on humanitarian repercussions associated with sanctions, concluding if they really are a comparably human way of international interference.

Employing a systematic literature review, adhering to the PRISMA approach, and incorporating key term definitions and clear selection criteria, this review analyses 52 studies sourced from Scopus and EconBiz.

The surveyed literature reveals profound adverse impacts of sanctions on health, economic well-being, inequality, and education. Critical gaps in the literature such as disproportional focus on extreme cases like Iran and Iraq, scarce literature on effects on education and inequality, and predominantly inadequate control groups are identified, limiting the generalizability of existing findings.

This paper is the first systematic and replicable review of the literature on the effects of sanctions using a capabilistic approach to define poverty. Highlighting gaps in the current research landscape underscores the limited generalizability of reviewed results. Providing a well-structured summary of existing literature, this work serves as a foundation for future research.

This paper examines the short-term market impact of the beginning of the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine (February 24, 2022) on the world’s largest defense firms.

The authors examine the world’s 100 largest listed defense firms at and around the beginning of the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine using an event-study methodology.

We observe a positive and statistically significant stock price reaction at and around the beginning of the military conflict. These results are consistent with the asset-pricing perspective/expected cash flow hypothesis. Consistent with the captured regulator theory, we find superior market returns for the two portfolios with a greater weight of defense sales. Superior market returns are also found for defense firms with higher R&D and capital expenditure intensity. Finally, these reactions are reinforced or mitigated by other firm-specific characteristics such as size, profitability and institutional ownership.

The effect of the war on stock markets has been relatively little examined in the financial theory. This study intends to fill this gap in the literature.