bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Takeover Protections and Asset Prices
Authors: Eisdorfer Assaf , Morellec Erwan , Zhdanov Alexei
Published: February 2024

We study the effects of takeover feasibility on asset prices and returns in a unified framework. We show theoretically that takeover protections increase equity risk, stock returns, and bond yields by removing a valuable put option to sell the firm, notably for firms approaching distress. We investigate these claims empirically and find that distressed firms experience a significant decrease in value and increase in returns and market betas after the passage of antitakeover laws, in line with our predictions. At issue bond yields are also higher when an antitakeover law is in effect. Consistent with the model, the effects of antitakeover laws on stock returns, respectively, bond yields, are greater when shareholders, respectively, bondholders, have greater bargaining power.

This paper was accepted by Lukas Schmid, finance.

Funding: E. Morellec acknowledges financial support from the Swiss Finance Institute.

Supplemental Material: The online appendix and data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.03111 .
Reliable Routing Strategies on Urban Transportation Networks
Authors: Yamín Daniel , Medaglia Andrés L. , Akkinepally Arun Prakash
Published: February 2024

The problem of finding the most reliable routing strategy on urban transportation networks refers to determining the time-adaptive routing policy that maximizes the probability of on-time arrival at a destination given an arrival time threshold. The problem is defined on a stochastic and time-dependent network that captures real-world transportation systems’ inherent uncertainty and dynamism. To solve this problem, we present a dynamic programming–based algorithm that benefits from a node-time pairs queue implementation. In addition to improving the computational running time in most cases, this implementation supports different queue disciplines, leading to different algorithmic approaches: label-correcting and label-setting methods. We prove the correctness of the algorithm and derive its worst case time complexity. We present computational experiments over real-world, large-scale transportation networks with up to [Formula: see text] nodes, showing that the algorithm is a viable alternative to existing state-of-the-art methods. It can be four times faster for relatively tight arrival time thresholds and is competitive for looser ones. We also present experiments assessing the different queue disciplines used within the algorithm, the gains of the node–time pairs queue implementation, and comparing optimal strategies obtained from reliability and travel time objectives.
Eco-logie in conflitto il «Chipko» da protesta contadina a icona ambientalista.
Authors: Riva Federica
Published: February 2024

The article explores different cultural perceptions of food in relation to the environment. ‘Farmers’ and ‘ecologists’ are often actors of contrasting eco-logics: antithetic visions of the environment, as rural landscape or wilderness, define the right or ban of people to get access to the natural resources as commons in order to produce livelihood.

Taking the Chipko andolan, movement that hugs (for the strategy of hugging trees in order to prevent them from being cut), as focus for my anthropological analysis, I consider the process of cultural transformation of the peasant protest, born in the Indian Himalayas in the 70’s, into an ecologists myth for urban and western audience.

The achieved visibility of Chipko on a global stage has become a translation of the people’s requests for the decentralization of forest management into a conservationist claim to protect trees. Beginning with my fieldwork in Tehri Garhwal (Uttarakhand), I have tried to bring the Chipko back to the Himalayan taskscape (Ingold T. 1992) to the everyday relations of the farmers with an environment which not easy to tame.

On the other hand, I analysed the rhetorical strategies used by some Chipko’s spokesmen and that has allowed the appropriation of the movement by the ecologist imaginary. The ‘local’ and the ‘global’ are at the very heart of what the movement has become; a continuous interaction between the two that has shaped the actuality of Himalayan landscape.
Address to “Glocalism” by the Mayor of Milan
Authors: Pisapia Giuliano
Published: February 2024

Speach by Giuliano Pisapia, Mayor of Milan
The city: today’s frontier zone.
Authors: Sassen Saskia
Published: February 2024

Cities are complex systems, but they are incomplete systems. All cities are becoming the same, but all cities are competing with each other. Here actors from different worlds meet, but there are no clear rules of engagement. It is in this context that the complex global city becomes a frontier space with political consequences. Here we can find new hybrid bases from which to act, spaces where the powerless can make history even when they do not get empowered.
Boko Haram and the Nigerian State: a Different Perspective
Authors: Idahosa Osaretin
Published: February 2024

There exist several religions in Nigeria. Many of them are exploited for political gains. As Samuel Huntington has predicted, given the collapse of communism, the main contention and controversy in the world would revolve around religion. The religious tension in present day Nigerian tends to fulfill the logic of the above stated position. This phenomenon has a long history in the country. Within the last couple of decades, Nigeria has witnessed a rise in the numbers of radical Islamic sects notably among them, Maitasine, Darul Islam, and Boko Haram. These sects have resorted to the use of violence in a bid to realizing their ambitions of a wider Islamization of the Nigerian Population. Three of the most prominent perspectives shared on the rise of these radical movements are: poor socio-economic infrastructures and poor governance, poverty as a major catalyst to the rapid increase in the membership of these groups and the increase and aiding of religious extremist by politicians for their selfish ambition. This study reveals that while it is true that socio-economic factors may drive the radicalization and politicization of religious sects in the country, the fear of domination and indeed the fight for supremacy is at the heart of the current insurgency in northeastern Nigeria.
Out or In The Black Blogosphere and the News Media
Authors: Robinson Cara , Cantey Nia
Published: February 2024

Alternatives to the dominant public sphere and associated dialogue are especially important for underrepresented groups. These alternatives allow for groups to create their own dialogues that can then be used to change the direction of the larger discussion. While the Internet seems to be the perfect tool for these alternative dialogues to be created, the feasibility of using the Internet to take the next step into mainstream dialogue remains unclear. The black blogosphere is one alternative information stream pushing back. This chapter examines the way in which the black blogosphere discusses news stories and offers alternatives to the mainstream discourse, and why it is crucial that these alternative public spheres are available.
A New Perspective in the Middle East A Comprehensive Approach To The Us-Iran Relations in the Region
Authors: Shokri Mehdi
Published: February 2024

This paper discusses the significance of the cooperation between the United States and Iran for the Middle East region. It will be argued that despite the political and ideological conflicts between the U.S. and Iran, reaching a “point by point” agreement would best help to resolve Middle East predicaments, especially the Islamic terrorism. To achieve this, the following pages examine the historical background of issues such as terrorism in the Middle East. This paper also focuses on two main paths to support the better U.S.-Iran cooperation, if not talking about relations at all. First, the theory of “point by point” approach helps both countries to tackle tough agendas and overcome the predicaments in the Middle East. Second, to reach the desired cooperation between these two countries, both the U.S. and Iran need to overcome their own internal constraints as well as the external constrains imposed by other countries. This paper takes an historical and theoretical approach to reveal the two countries’ common interests in the Middle East. The general thesis argues that the Middle East’s security requires the United States and Iran to develop a diplomatic and military cooperation.
Old Dilemmas Renewed Fear of Freedom vs. Freedom from Fear
Authors: Gruszczyk Aleksandra
Published: February 2024

Contemporary societies are currently subjected to very rapid and radical social changes and, as a consequence, struggle with their outcomes. The results range from the unforeseen repercussions of globally shifting political powers, through rising nationalisms, to prolonged economic, environmental, political and humanitarian crises. Critical analysis of the theories focused on the phenomena of authoritarianism, escapism, political myth, and conformity allows for outlining a comprehensive picture of the universally recognized opposition between freedom and security. From the distinction between the positive and negative freedom to the ambiguity surrounding the concept of “freedom from fear”, the fundamental dilemma is viewed from a historical perspective and illustrated with modern examples, emphasizing its current validity, insightfulness and potential in analyzing contemporary global problems. This approach allows for in-depth analyses of diversified social and political issues, such as the North African-European refugee crisis, rising nationalisms in the Western world, or a marked shift in political and social perspectives worldwide, from modern escapism to the birth of new myths of state.
Mapping the Networks in Hyperlink Movies Rethinking the Concept of Cartography through Network Narratives
Authors: Labrecque Maxime
Published: February 2024

Network narratives, hyperlink or ensemble movies are a seductive introduction to the complexity of our globalized world and our social interactions. Using two popular examples, Babel and Love Actually, I explore the uses and the limits of the social network, respectively through a global and deterritorialised network and a local one that reveals kinship. Using the dynamic of networks to represent the characters’ interactions, these types of films nonetheless need boundaries. In the context of globalization, hyperlink movies are the mirror of a new geography but cannot show the complexity and the extent of it all since they are restricted by their own limits, being a narrative medium with a specific length. Hyperlink movies therefore present an interesting compromise, using a popular narrative technique to showcase a complex phenomenon.
Beyond Globalization: Reflections on Glocalism
Authors: Dallmayr Fred
Published: February 2024

The old adage states that humankind moves “one step forward” before it moves “two steps backward”, suggesting that there is no such thing as a linear evolution. This is particularly true when applied to our present time, the “age of globalization”. In the case of globalism, “two steps back” are needed in order to assess more soberly the present historical trajectory, and capture the “internal dialectic” of globalism. In fact, what we are witnessing today in many parts of the world is a backlash to globalism, manifest in an upsurge of traditional nationalism, if not chauvinism and ethnocentrism. The core issue is a difficult relation between nearness and distance, between the concretely singular and the general/universal which the term “globalism” seeks to capture but, of course, cannot explain. My reflections in the following seek to explore and shed some light on this relation. In a first step, I venture into philosophical (and theological) terrain in an effort to discern the meaning of human situatedness in a place, a space, or a “world”. Next, I discuss the inevitable tensions or conflicts between nearness and distance, that is, the inner “dialectic” between the local and the global. Finally, I translate the local/global syndrome into the correlation of “earth and world”, “roots and routes”, familiar loyalties and unfamiliar peregrinations.
Does Glocal Political Power Already Exist?
Authors: Ornaghi Lorenzo
Published: February 2024

Large periods of history are usually characterized by equally important moments of change in scientific knowledge and, in particular, in the understanding of political power. We still need to study in depth whether the former provokes (almost of out necessity) the latter, or whether they are “great” because they are favored by the innovation of the paradigms of knowledge. The passage from medieval universalism to the particularism of the modern age represents an extremely interesting analogy when compared to the transformations that are now underway. The example of John of Salisbury’s Policratus, the starting point of this article, is illuminating in our comprehension of the relevance of the interweaving between the persistence of the ancient forms of recognition of power and the search for new forms. The existence of glocal realities is already a fact. Even if it is relatively easy to recognize these realities (a business, a university, a humanitarian association, not a few of the same “parts” which constitute the traditional organization of the State), it is more difficult to define the specific characteristics of the power at their disposal. Moving from the widening gap between “actual” power and “potential” power, the article examines the motives for which the classical definitions of power are always becoming more insufficient in understanding the role now emerging from glocal realities. And, in particular, by looking at how the “command-obedience” relationship is changing also as a consequence of communication networks and information technology, the article analyzes that specific “contamination” within global elements and local elements, which seems to be the main base of glocal political power.
Geographical Proximity is not Enough: How Culture Shaped Placement, Spatiality, and the Outcomes of the Arab Spring’s Uprising
Authors: Venger Olesya
Published: February 2024

This paper investigates the phenomenon of the Arab Spring against the background of cultural traditions and attitudes that sustained these protests and carried them across borders of more than twenty countries in the Middle East in a move of cultural contagion of conflict (Gelfand et al. 2012). Tracing the placement and spatiality of the Arab Spring uprisings, their media and ideascapes (Appadurai 1990), this paper draws upon theoretical frameworks of Homi Bhabha’s (2004) third space, Margaret Kuhn’s (2003) radical space, and Geert Hofstede’s (2014) cultural indicators. Given the information about self-immolations as the events that stirred the uprisings in the Arab Spring’s countries in 2010-2012, it explores how patterns of contagion of conflict have been operating through specific cultural conditions during successful protests that led to the change of regime as opposed to failed protests that did not. The paper offers a cultural profile of the Arab Spring countries, discussing its implications for the countries’ governance regarding the existence of inter-networked places of protests, significance of their cultural traditions, and their linkage to success or failure of the protests.
European Citizenship as Rights Claiming
Authors: Archibugi Daniele , Benli Ali Emre
Published: February 2024

European citizenship, which was once seen as the symbol of European integration, is increasingly perceived as an obstacle to self-government and a threat to national welfare. As European ruling classes fail to provide an adequate response to the tensions that arise from the wider trends of globalization, anti-political movements are gaining support. A significant part of European citizenry is aligning with parties that preach the restoration of national borders and the reinstatement of cultural identity as the source of sovereign power embodied in the nation state.Does the way forward reside in dissolving the European project or reducing the power held by European institutions? In this article, we suggest the opposite. We need to begin by recognizing the significance of European integration as an evolving political experience of immense magnitude.We need to emphasize that Europe today provides citizens with unique means to claim social, political and economic rights by going beyond the borders of their states, create alliances, invoke different conventions and treaties, and debate and contest dominant perspectives in front of diverse audiences. Ultimately, we need to utilize aEuropean citizenship that reinstates political power to citizens towards fostering fresh sentiments for a new form of integration.
Hispanics in the U.S. Rethinking the Spanish Cultural Politics
Authors: Olmos Ignacio
Published: February 2024

In the coming decades, the United States will become host to the largest Spanish mother tongue (“Spanish native speakers”) community in the world. Spanish language instruction will consequently play a key role in the formation of a new US society based on plurilingualism. This form of linguistic integration must be based not only on an education system that surmounts the customary insularity of the English language, but also on the recognition and strengthening of the common cultural identity among Spanish-speaking countries. Finally, a final appendix deals with the problem of strategic positioning of language and of linguistic institutes in the world: the need for the latter to learn from their host societies, building a solid intercultural dialogue with them as well as the importance of maintaining full independence from the control of political authorities.
Culture and Politics in the Age of Globalization Some Suggestions from Two Italian Philosophers
Authors: Cadeddu Davide
Published: February 2024

Over the past few decades, the global phenomenology of political power has changed. Unlike what happened in the past, increasingly the practical applications of scientific discoveries are no longer immediately or exclusively used by the legally formalized political power. They are consumed and disseminated throughout civil society escaping from the old logic of the legitimate power or judicial power and generating a new political power, which could be defined as “glocal”. All these new dynamics can be better understood through the lenses offered by past philosophical dialogues on the same topics and in this case we can enrich our perspective from a discussion, which was developed in mid-twentieth century Italy. In 1950, the formal establishment of the Société Européenne de Culture took place in Venice with the hope of building a bridge between West and East political Europe. Through constant reflection on the general development of European society, this cultural institution tried to focus on priorities regarding theory and practice, in order to foster cultural positions that could take ethical-political responsibilities regarding understanding, collaboration and peace. This commitment was theoretically founded on the concept of “politics of culture”, formulated by Umberto Campagnolo and expressed in a session of the General Assembly in November 1951 and later in January of 1952, Norberto Bobbio gave notice of it in the “Rivista di Filosofia” (“Journal of Philosophy”), sharing the principles expressed by Campagnolo. The theoretical dialogue between the two philosophers intensified at the beginning of the 60s, when it became clear that the common civil commitment sprang from a different conception of philosophy and politics.
Transnational Hybridity Argentine Film Representation of Chinese(ness)
Authors: Pierpauli Gladys , Turzi Mariano
Published: February 2024

Argentine movie Chinese Take Out constitutes both a cultural representation and a signifying practice. As a filmic representation, it allows visual encoding of current eco- nomic and political experience. It depicts cultural stereotyping of Asian (Chinese, specifically), from a Latin American perspective. The film also exemplifies how Asian popular culture is re-interpreted and re-appropriated across national borders in Latin America. The article’s main claim is that the relationship between the two main characters (an Argentine and a Chinese) is symbolic and reflective of the multifaceted character of the international relation between both countries/regions.
Datafication and the Development of Global Digital Civilizations
Authors: Jamali Rooham
Published: February 2024

New emerging technologies and the continuous process of digitisation around the globe means a new model of civilization is emerging where society is “digitized” or “datafied”. This paper analyses to what extent we have undergone the process of digitisation and datafication through understanding concepts of the surveillance society, spectacle society, our digital footprints and the amount of data gathered by government agencies, individuals and companies and its utilisation; and how this process has led to the development of a “global digital civilization”. Disparity between levels of digitisation in different regions in a globalised world are addressed to determine if certain regions contend hegemony over others within digital realms. To further understand how globalisation itself is perceived in a digitised world, a software called “Mention” was used to collate data in relation to the terms “globalization”, “global” and “globalisation” on digital platforms such as Twitter, blogs, news, websites and forums over a month’s time period. Online rhetoric in relation to this term and the locations from which data was mostly surfacing in higher amounts has greatly added to the findings.
Nationalism, Populism and Global Social Media
Authors: Adriani Roberto
Published: February 2024

The paper aims to investigate if and how social media platforms made users change their political opinions, particularly regarding the hot topic: nationalism vs. globalism. Social networks allow people to talk to each other all over the world, creating a non-stop global conversation. These kinds of media are global by nature and we are used to seeing them as one of the many consequences of globalization. In spite of this feature a paradoxical effect has occurred, as today social media are the privileged platforms for nationalist organizations, promoting the idea of the nation (or the return to) as the best way to fight globalisation. The paper, through a narrative approach, investigates nationalism on social media and its possible effects. The paper assesses scientific articles from international literature in English. The review also covers journalistic articles, reporting data, insights or simple news regarding the subject. In this case, the paper includes only articles coming from mainstream publications. Trying to pursue this objective, the review excludes articles not clearly reporting the name of the publication, author and date. In addition to this, all these articles are checked, making sure they have been cited or linked by other mainstream media.
Narratives of Secular Nationalism in Salman Rushdie’s “Midnight’s Children” and “The Moor’s Last Sigh”
Authors: Sinha Swatee , Roy Anjali Gera
Published: February 2024

Nationalism as a theoretical category is a widely disputed and elusive concept. This is due to the fact that the formulation of the nation-space across widely scattered geographies has now to take into account an altered dynamics of interaction and exchange. The relevance of literary language as an aesthetic register to corroborate the nation as “a powerful historical idea” and the need to formulate suitable analogies reveal the inadequacy of mapping the project through territorial credentials alone. The socio-cultural currency of the idea of the nation as a geographical continuum inserts itself into the pedagogical language of narration. The nation as an entity is not coterminous with its political cartography, in spite of the persistent efforts of all nationalist discourses to contain the narrative of the nation within an identifiable trajectory. To make a detour, to bypass and circumvent certain institutional codifications and create an audible register of displaced voices, is to interrupt the process of seamless narration and alter its constitutional chemistry. The nation as a barbed wire territory secured from the human contamination of the “other” – through paperwork, legal permits and manning of entry points – already hints at its fragile contours. The incongruent coupling of culture and polity, the increased involvement of armed forces along various corridors of cultural transaction, the enactment of geopolitics on a global scale, the susceptibility of culture to the tropes of power – all call into question the authenticity of the rhetoric of nationalism and its efficacy in healing differences and mending fractures. There is an increasing need to re-conceptualize the nation as a tentative space marked by an internal mobility of its constituents, where it is possible to articulate differences while dispensing with the abrasive rhetoric of fundamentalism. The nation thus becomes a fluid space of confluence and convergence, “a gestative political structure” gesturing towards a more inclusive space – perhaps exploring the possibilities that globalization has to offer in terms of pluralist cultural connotations.
Women Against Women Women’s Participation in Nigerian Politics
Authors: Maigari A. M. , Yelwa M. M. , Abdullahi A.
Published: February 2024

This paper examines women’s participation in politics and their performance in electoral contests. Nigeria embraced democracy in 1999 after 16 years of consecutive military rule. Among the features of democracy, there is universal suffrage which ensures participation of all eligible citizens in the process of electing a leader. This paper adopts a qualitative method using data collected from In-Depth Interviews and Key Informant Interviews in some selected states in Nigeria. The findings of the study reveal that there is an increase in the number of women who participated in political party rallies, campaigns and registered as a voter but the percentage of women who won elected political offices and political appointments are not commensurate with their level of participation. The study establishes that despite the number of registered female voters in the general elections, they lack identity consciousness to vote for female candidates to reduce the gap between male and female representation in government. The preference of male candidates over female candidates could be attributed to religious, cultural, economic and psychological factors. The paper concludes that the absence of identity consciousness among women has aggravated the marginalized condition of women in government. Therefore, the reasons for the low participation of women in democratic governance in Nigeria – apart from cultural, financial and religious factors – are emotional factors and a lack of identity consciousness.
Desiring Production a Cross-Cultural Pathology of Desire in Salman Rushdie’s “Fury” and “The Ground Beneath her Feet”
Authors: Sinha Swatee , Roy Anjali Gera
Published: February 2024

The present essay through a close investigation of Salman Rushdie’s The Ground Beneath Her Feet (1999) and Fury (2002) looks into the challenges posed by global capitalism at the turn of the 21st century. The resilience of civilizations, in particular their cultural vocabulary and ethnic compositions, is explored in the face of the homogenizing drive of capitalist enterprise. The encounters between various ethnicities and cultures create liminal spaces of exchange where social innovation plays a critical role in shaping cross-cultural dialogues. Exchange takes place in terms of cultural values. Using the cultural dialectics of desire as a navigational compass the essay seeks to understand civilization(s) as a set of complex encounters. The multiplicity of civilizing processes at play on the global plane are scanned through the critical lens of “desire”, which is given a psycho-social orientation. The endless possibilities of neural networking opened up by globalization is born out of a legacy of conflict and interdependence. Two contrary trends emerge simultaneously; on the one hand there is an increasing tendency towards economic monopolization and Americanization and on the other hand there are decentralized and despatialized flows conducive to the growth of a hybrid cultural economy. Globalization at the turn of the century thus emerges as an economic and a cultural enterprise embracing plurality. The essay through the trope of desire explores the plural dynamics of globalization in the interaction, interdependence and contact between civilizations and cultures. It seeks to retrieve desire from the domain of market logistics and activate its ontological potential in terms of subjective empowerment and a critical aesthetics of change.
Towards Gender Equality a Comparative Analysis of Gender Attitudes in Africa
Authors: Masenu Felicia
Published: February 2024

Gender attitudes and its factors continue to be debated in an era where gender equality remains a priority to countries in the world. Modernization theorists have assumed a predictable positive pattern of the influence of economic development on gender attitudes, thereby arguing that higher levels of economic development such as GDP per Capita, increases support for gender equality across countries. Whereas this has been proven in European and Western countries, it is difficult to generalize the results to African countries as the phenomenon is understudied on the continent. Using data from the 5th round of the Afrobarometer survey and multiple regression/multi-level analysis, this study investigated the influence of economic development, in addition to other socio-cultural factors, on gender attitudes in 34 African countries. The study revealed that a) among countries in Africa, economic development, in this case GDP per Capita, does not significantly influence attitudes towards gender equality; b) people’s ethnic background influences their attitudes towards gender equality; and c) Gender attitudes are strongly influenced by education, employment status and religious denomination.
From the Effects of Globalization on Women to Women’s Agency in Globalization
Authors: Ruspini Elisabetta
Published: February 2024

The article reviews current literature about the effects and challenges of globalization on the lives of women worldwide. While, on the one hand, globalization has increased opportunities for women, on the other hand its capacity to significantly reduce gender inequalities remains unmet. Moreover, globalization affects women differently in different parts of the world and some women (poor/marginalized women in affluent nations; women of the Global South) are more vulnerable than others. The paper further reflects on how global feminism is discussing globalization and addressing the challenges associated with its multi-dimensional nature, and on the role of transnational feminist movements in advancing women’s rights and gender equality issues beyond the nation-state.
Co-Existence of Civilizations in the Global Era
Authors: Köchler Hans
Published: February 2024

In the most general terms, “civilization” relates to the unique constitution of a “life-world”, defined by a coherent “worldview” (Weltanschauung) on the basis of continuity. This includes a community’s religious beliefs and metaphysical views, its social organization, value system, esthetical perceptions, etc. These factors also determine specific notions of dignity and societal behavior. Civilization in this multidimensional sense may comprise a variety of different cultures as sub-sections, mainly on the basis of different languages. In today’s global environment, the constant encounter and interaction between different – often incompatible – worldviews and value systems has an entirely new potential for conflict – with one humanity, whose members are constantly aware of their living in one “global village,” but with more than one, indeed a multitude, of competing global civilizations. Culture-driven conflicts – or conflicts where antagonists use culture as a tool of legitimation – are much more difficult to resolve or contain compared to conflicts where diverging (economic) interests are clearly defined and not hidden behind “ideals”. Values are not a field for realpolitik whereas interests are negotiable. The rapid development of technology, in tandem with the global pursuit of economic interests, has made interaction (encounter) with the “other” a structural fact of society. One of the major challenges of our time will be whether civilizations can agree on a set of meta-values on the basis of mutuality (such as tolerance, non-interference, etc.). Only this will enable them to avoid confrontation at the level of values of the first order (“material” values). This could also open the field for a new dialogue of civilizations in the spirit of Enlightenment, transcending the traditional missionary paradigm. Such a “meta-dialogue of civilizations” would also fit into a new approach of realpolitik towards issues of cultural identity.
Globalization and World Order Some Notes
Authors: Mozaffari Mehdi
Published: February 2024

Globalization conceived as the maximum compression of time and space “pulls away” from the nation-state while, at the same time, also “pushes down”. In other words, under the process of globalization, the system of local and parochial identity and loyalty is gradually supplemented with the system of multi-identity and multi-loyalty. The axial question concerns the compatibility/non-compatibility of the current unprecedented global system with a world made up of a plurality of civilizations – where civilization is defined as a junction between a world vision and a historical formation. In other words, can the world become economically global without having any substantial impact on civilizations?
From Colonialism to Globalisation How History Has Shaped Unequal Power Relations Between Post-Colonial Countries
Authors: Lodigiani Irene
Published: February 2024

This paper examines the ways globalising initiatives have been used to mirror neo-colonial practices and foster unequal power relationships between countries in the Global North and Global South. By taking a historical perspective, this paper points to the ways inequality is structured over time and highlights how many globalising mechanisms such as the spread of free markets, foreign lending, and the myth of development theory have favoured growing inequalities. To clarify how globalisation creates neo-colonial relations in modernity, two examples shall be used: the Green Revolution in India and the effects of the Newmont mining corporation in Peru.
Indo-US Convergence in the Indo-Pacific China’s Containment and Lingering Constraints
Authors: Abraham Josukutty C.
Published: February 2024

The interests of India and the United States (US) converge on multiple aspects in the Indo-Pacific. These interests range from economics to geopolitics to regional stability. India’s Look East Policy, rechristened as Act East Policy, in addition to economic, cultural and commercial goals, includes strategic interests to expand India’s influence in East Asia and to the larger Indo-Pacific. The US, challenged by the rise of China, has initiated a quadrilateral grouping of democracies (QUAD) and the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) strategy with the objective of reasserting American primacy in the Indo-Pacific. The US-India Joint Strategic Vision for the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean Region signed in 2015 and the Indo-Pacific Strategy Report 2019 emphasize the indispensability of the partnership between the US and India in the Indo-Pacific. The policies of the US and India towards the Indo-Pacific converge on ensuring peace, stability, maritime security, freedom of navigation, the fight against terrorism, peaceful settlement of disputes and ensuring connectivity of land, sea, and air transportation. Though not stated bluntly, containing the growing Chinese influence by mobilizing countries in the region figures prominently in the strategic schemes of both India and the US. As the most important strategic region in world politics, India, the US and China have vital economic and security interests at stake. By relying on a realist approach, the paper probes the main drivers and constraints of the Indo-US strategic partnership in the Indo-Pacific. The paper outlines and analyses the context of the Indo-US collaboration in the Indo-Pacific, their shared views and concerns, its anti-China mode and the constraints of the partnership. This study adopts qualitative methods and uses interpretative and analytical tools to explain the case.
Locally Universal: Universal Basic Income Policies in the Post-Pandemic World-Order
Authors: Lucchesi Moraes Julio , Freire Carlos
Published: February 2024

Rampant disparities within the capital/labor share, increased pressure on climatically vulnerable communities and mass international migration due to economic hardship or violence. All that without mentioning the ever-haunting specter of automation-induced unemployment and, finally, the outbreak of a world-reaching pandemic: these are some of the ongoing cataclysmic trends that are making an everincreasing number of academics, policymakers and multilateral organizations revisit the adoption of Universal Basic Income (UBI) models. The idea of furnishing guaranteed, unconditional and universal basic income for people within an assigned geographical locality – and potentially the entire globe – has ebbed and flown from the pages of authors of all walks of the political spectrum for over two centuries. It appears, though, that such an idea is regaining momentum at this point in history, a somewhat unexpected moment, given the worldwide rise of nationalistic and illiberalism worldviews. The ambition of this proposal is not to promote an exhaustive comparative assessment of competing proposals currently taking place – or being aspired at – around the world. Instead, this working paper stands as an introductory effort to be followed by a more robust case study of existing schemes, which should bind them under the theories of Multipolarity. This proposal launches the cornerstone of a debate assessing the concrete costs and political coordination challenges that are likely to arise in a scenario of massive and ideally genuine universal effort to start or scale-up existing UBI initiatives through the deployment of digital financing techniques, including its most disruptive variations such as cryptocurrencies.
Resonance as a Constraining Factor in the Glocalization of Religion
Authors: Dessì Ugo
Published: February 2024

In this paper I approach the phenomenon of resonance in the glocalization of religion from a pragmatist perspective with the aim to contribute to the understanding of these still largely overlooked dynamics. Building on my theory on the global repositioning of religion through insights and suggestions coming from sociology (notably the work of Terence McDonnell and his colleagues) and other disciplines such as anthropology and semiotics, I contend that cultural objects circulating in the global cultural network can become relevant to religious actors and trigger a resonance because they are useful to solve specific religious problems. With reference to the greening of religion in Japan and some aspects of Japanese religions’ activities in South Africa and Cuba, I suggest that the solution to such problems, which starts from the realization of some congruences between global ideas/practices and locally shared religious categories, requires both cognitive work and emotional conditions. Moreover, I illustrate how this process implies changes in the structure of a given religious system, takes different shapes for different religious actors, and intertwines significantly with power issues.
New Glocal Forms of Financial Participation
Authors: Hyman Jeff
Published: February 2024

Invited to peek into the mysterious and arcane academic glocal universe, I became intrigued by the range and depth of disciplines, theoretical perspectives and topics which the subject can embrace. Nonetheless, my impression is that, as ever in the economic world, power relations rest at the centre of globalisation-localisation and attendant debates. And so, it is with participation, which can be analysed at different levels and through different prisms, but my interests in these debates rest on the specific but essential question of organisational participation. Its elemental nature has taken on greater significance as the world faces existentialist crises as a consequence of unrestrained commercial activity made through decisions which directly affect working people and their communities, but over which they exercise little control.
Sharing the Past: Reflections on “The Archive” as a Site of Exchange and Dialogue of Bodies of Knowledge
Authors: Estruch Dolores , Rodríguez Lorena B.
Published: February 2024

In recent decades, and on the basis of what is called the “archival turn”, different theoretical and methodological reflections have been made about the archives, their origins, configurations and uses. On the one hand, other types of archives have begun to receive attention. Thus, outside imperial, state or official repositories, the analysis of family or personal records, as well as that of peasant and indigenous communities, have been brought into focus in studies which intensify the oppositions between the public and the private spheres, orality and writing, paper documents and other types of material media. Taking these contributions as the starting point, and within the framework of our own research studies about indigenous peoples, we set forth from the dilemma we face when reflecting upon the dialogues and tensions generated around the construction of the past, when those who engage in dialogue and dispute are actors with dissimilar experiences, interests and power (indigenous people, academicians, state agents). On the basis of the idea put forth by Fabian about a theory – and praxis of – coevalness, understood as a condition for the existence of a dialogic encounter between people and societies, and accepting this author’s invitation to “share our pasts”, the aim of this article is to provide some methodological notes on the place of the “archive” as a possible point of intersection and dialogues. Therefore, our main objective is to rethink/question the “archive”, considering it, as Stoler does, not only as a site of knowledge retrieval, but essentially as a place of knowledge production.
Robert H. Barlow Through The Archive to Reveal, Reconstruct and Reify the Historical Traces of a Silenced Life
Authors: Battcock Clementina
Published: February 2024

During the last years, Mexican academies and institutions focused their activities in preserving and studying the valuable sources of the history of the Country, kept mainly in its archives. Scholars from different places got interested in organize and catalogue all these heterogeneous sources. This article raises the possibility of reconstructing the figure of Robert H. Barlow from the documents contained in five institutional archives in Mexico: the Historical Archive “José Raúl Hellmer Pickman” of the National School of Anthropology and History, the Historical Archive of the Institute of Historical Research of UNAM, the archive of the Mexican Society of Anthropology, the General Archive of the Nation and the National Newspaper Archive of Mexico. Such a task implies considerable challenges since the archive, understood as a privileged instrument of historical memory, confronts us with intricate dynamics of selection, transmission or omission of information, problems that have already been raised by Jacques Derrida, and others, in his book Archive fever. In this sense, the study of Barlow’s figure through documentary repositories allows us to glimpse two vital mdimensions of the American-born researcher: the “academic Barlow” and the “human Barlow”.
The Glocal World of Historical Archives
Authors: BATTCOCK CLEMENTINA , DE GIUSEPPE MASSIMO , ESTRUCH DOLORES
Published: February 2024

In 2021, we commemorate 500 years since the fall of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan and the subsequent foundation of Mexico City by the Spanish. That event had a huge impact on world history, not only in terms of redefining Atlantic connections but also by setting in motion a complex series of glocalization processes. In this editorial that introduces a monographic issue on the “glocal world of historical archives”, we take a cue from that event in our effort to analyze the underground networks and the sometimes-mysterious intertwining that connect apparently distant documentary sources. We propose that the historical experience and the practical use of archives are not minor problems in a glocal approach: thinking about the glocal (and changing) complexity of archives as the core theme of historical research. This concerns all hermeneutic and holistic views of social investigation that must discuss the configuration of archives as another crucial element of the contemporary age, in search of the secret connections between past, present, and future.
Decolonizing Cross-Cultural Research a Case for National Heterogeneity and the Configured Culture Framework
Authors: Osiri J. Kalu , Francis Jenesha , John Emile O. , Taylor Joseph
Published: February 2024

Scholars have noted that national culture is heterogeneous (i.e., composed of multiple subcultures) and changes over time. Yet, a system that captures and represents the heterogeneity and change in culture has not been advanced in literature. Attempts have been made to demonstrate the occasion of these important aspects of culture, but none offered a way to capture them in research reporting. Currently, researchers report culture values or cultural dimensions in terms of national scores inadvertently reducing national cultures to monolithic and static phenomena. In this paper, we advance a framework, dubbed the Configured Culture Framework, upon which we relied to propose that: a) the heterogeneity of culture should be captured by reporting the relative standard deviation (or coefficient of variation, rσ) of subcultures within a nation, b) change in culture should be captured by the percent change of the culture per period (%Δ), and c) an average of the subcultures should be used as the country’s culture. The authors were motivated by the diversity of cultures found within each country of the world, a fact, which is most pronounced in Africa.
The Role of Multilateral Development Banks in Humanitarian Action and Sustainable Development
Authors: Pelamo Nora , Ramos Cláudia
Published: February 2024

Of all international organisations, Multilateral Development Banks (MDB) are not the most well-known nor the most scrutinised neither by the academy nor the public. However, they play a major role as financial institutions for the purpose of development. The article, drawing on the broader field of Humanitarian Aid and Aid for Development discusses the role of those agencies, particularly with reference to the connections between the humanitarian and the development dimensions, and within this later case, assessing their efforts in order to tackle poverty and to abide by sustainability concerns. The conclusion highlights some of the main findings, mainly with reference to two cases, the European Development Bank (EIB) and the New Development Bank (NDB).