KÜRESEL POLİTİK EKONOMİ - Deneme Sınavı - 7

The important point here is that mercantilism that emerged by the influence of Machiavelli between the 15th and 18th centuries dominated the international arena. In this period, when the economy and politics were handled separately, the issues such as state, state sovereignty, protectionist policies, limitation of imports and encouragement of exports, and the fact that states did not interfere in each other’s internal affairs have come to the fore and spread to Continental Europe.

Adam Smith, with his work “Wealth of Nations”, opposed mercantilist thought. He advocated the self-regulating market, foreseeing the reduction of the role of the state in the market and highlighted the concepts of division of labor, labor efficiency, capital accumulation, private property, and free trade. In this period where economics and politics were discussed together, significant changes were experienced in economic, cultural and political life with the adoption of these concepts by economists and politicians.

From this point of view, we can list the main approaches to help us explain IPE as Mercantilism/Realism, Liberalism and Marxism, and alternative approaches as Constructivism and Feminism. There are some concepts associated with these five theories. In the Realist approach, nation states, power, survival, security, and anarchy; in the Liberal approach, the individual, capital flows, open market, and invisible hand; in the Marxist approach, class, interest, exploitation, bourgeois, and proletariat; in the Constructivist approach, idea, norm, discourse, belief, and structure-maker relationship; and in the Feminist approach, concepts such as gender equality, sexist exploitation, and the end to oppression come to the fore (Al, 2015: 147-148). Since the theories of IPE are included as a separate section in the second part of this book, the theories here are explained in a short and concise way.

In the Realist approach, nation states, power, survival, security, and anarchy; in the Liberal approach, the individual, capital flows, open market, and invisible hand; in the Marxist approach, class, interest, exploitation, bourgeois, and proletariat; in the Constructivist approach, idea, norm, discourse, belief, and structure-maker relationship; and in the Feminist approach, concepts such as gender equality, sexist exploitation, and the end to oppression come to the fore.

According to liberals, national wealth depends on production and economic development. In this theory which adds the concept of “invisible hand” to the literature, the duty of the state; on the one hand, to give the markets as much freedom as possible (minimum level of state intervention) and on the other hand to prevent the dangers that may come into the market with international rules and regulations. Thus, the formation of the market can be achieved in a free and competitive environment.

Invisible hand: In the market mechanism, each decision-making unit acts to maximize the self-interest instead of the benefit of society, hence the excess of demand or supply is eliminated and the market is balanced.

Due to the Pastor Brunson Incident experienced past year, Turkey has its share of the threats and sanctions from the United States. Before discussing the background of the issue and the US efforts to direct Turkey to act as it wants through economic sanctions, it is necessary to briefly analyze the Pastor Brunson Incident between the two countries. Andrew Craig Brunson, the American Pastor of the Resurrection Church in Izmir, who had been living in Izmir for many years, was taken into custody in October 2016 following the July 15, 2016 coup attempt. However, he was arrested in December 2016 on charges of being a member of the Fethullah Gulen Community while he was waiting to be returned at the repatriation centre in the Bornova district of Izmir. The pastor, whose cases continue from December 2016 to July 2018, tried on charges such as membership of the terrorist organization, trying to end the Republic of Turkey, and providing secret information that should remain confidential for political and military espionage, rejected the charges, and, after nearly two years of imprisonment, his imprisonment was turned into a house arrest in July 2018.

Whereas Globalization from above refers
to the fact that the process is created and
controlled by centralized and powerful
groups and imposed on less powerful groups,
Globalization from above is a process mainly
imposed on individual actors in both
the North and the South, and benefiting
mostly a small number of powerful states,
multinational corporations and wealthy
individuals.

Views about globalization are generally divided
between the globalists and Sceptics. Unlike
globalists who generally contend that globalization
is a real phenomenon although it might not be allencompassing, the sceptics contend that instead of
talking about one process of globalization, there are
many globalizations and factors such as the active
exclusion of an important part of the globalization
process, existing national and regional barriers
significantly reduce and if not prevent global flows
(Therborn, 2000).

In the classical period, economics and politics were not divided at all as separate disciplines. During the classical time, the intersection of economy and politics was the ‘political economy’ and it was quite interdisciplinary and open to even other disciplines as well. For example, Adam Smith, who is often considered to be the father of the modern economy, was both a philosopher and an economist.

Retrospectively speaking, state and market or economy and politics were, however, not so separated from each other for a very long time. In this sense, the historical evolution of IPE can be classified into three sub-periods, under which general approaches to the discipline shifted fundamentally:

classical period;

the long negligence period;

     3. the rise of IPE.

In the classical period, economics and politics were not divided at all as separate disciplines. During the classical time, the intersection of economy and politics was the ‘political economy’ and it was quite interdisciplinary and open to even other disciplines as well.

Variant of IPE Theories
Classical Approaches in International Political Economy

Physiocrats •

Mercantilism •

Economic Nationalism •

Liberalism- Neo Liberalism •

Marxism

Emerging approaches in International Political Economy

Physiocrats were the proponents of the new ideas of economic freedom in France. The term came from the ancient Greek word, “physiocracy,” meaning “rule by nature.” They also liked to call themselves the economists (Ebeling, 2016). During the time of physiocrats’ rein, France was trembled by the economic and social disorder, which eventually lead to French Revolution in the later phases. In such circumstances, physiocracy was a reaction to both industrial revolution and mercantilism. Physiocrats were striving for return to pre-industrial era (Beer, 2014, 13) and were interested in reforming France. Their reform program consisted of advancing several political reforms to remove all existing tariffs, taxes, subsidies, restrictions and regulations and to introduce a single nationwide tax on agriculture.

Bullionism was the earliest phase of mercantilism, and it was derived from the experience of an acute shortage of gold and silver bullion in Europe in the fifteenth and the sixteenth centuries. Bullionist policies were designed to attract a flow of gold and silver into a country to service the rapidly expanding volume of trade and to keep them there by prohibiting their export. These restrictions lasted from the late Middle Ages into the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

Thomas Mun (1571-1641) was the most influential mercantilist writer and his book “England’s Treasure by Foreign Trade” was one of the most significant mercantilist texts. Mun believed that other than trade there were no alternative to make a country wealthy and powerful. The very title of his book in this sense very much revealing his belief in trade.

Developmental State

The concept of the developmental state is used to refer to the phenomenon of the rapid growth of several countries in East Asia in the late twentieth century. These so called ‘Asian Tigers’ relied on state-led macroeconomic planning and extensive regulation. Chalmers Johnson, who pioneered the term for the first time, defined the capitalist developmental state as a state that is focused on economic development and takes necessary policy measures to accomplish that objective.

Liberals basically argue that there is no need for state to bring together buyer and seller, set prices and quantities, or spur investment and production.

Moravcsik’s neoliberal account looks at domestic policy making and preferences (societal inputs) as an important factor affecting international political and economic decision making.

Critical Theory vs Problem Solving Theories Robert Cox argued that “theory is always for someone and for some purpose.” According to him, there can be found two categories of theories in international relations: i) critical theories; ii) problem solving theories. Main differences between these two types is that while critical theories aim at changing the established order for good by showing other possible alternatives, the problem solving theories mainly tries to legitimize the established order by finding the solutions to problems. In his own word “Problem-solving takes the world as it finds it, with the prevailing social and power relationships and the institutions into which they are organised, as the given framework for action. The general aim of problem-solving is to make these relationships and institutions work smoothly by dealing effectively with particular sources of trouble. Critical theory in contrast does not take institutions and social and power relations for granted but calls them into question by concerning itself with their origins and how and whether they might be in the process of changing. ... Critical theory is directed to the social and political complex as a whole rather than to the separate parts” (Cox, 1981).

Globalists Vs Sceptics.
Globalists
• Globalization is real and unique
• Globalization is an evolving process reducing continuously the pace of nation-state
• Optimistic view of the outcome of globalization
• increasingly important role played by transnational and multilateral corporations and theemergence
of a new global division of labour
• Multilateralism as the dominant mode of governance
• multi-layered global governance
Sceptics
• Many globalization and persistence of national and regional barriers
• revival of the role of nation-state in world politics
• Pessimistic view of the outcome of globalization
• multilateral corporations remain attached to their national countries
• Intergovernmentalism as the dominant mode of governance
• International order of nation-states and international governance

Globalists Vs Sceptics.
Globalists
• Globalization is real and unique
• Globalization is an evolving process reducing continuously the pace of nation-state
• Optimistic view of the outcome of globalization
• increasingly important role played by transnational and multilateral corporations and theemergence
of a new global division of labour
• Multilateralism as the dominant mode of governance
• multi-layered global governance
Sceptics
• Many globalization and persistence of national and regional barriers
• revival of the role of nation-state in world politics
• Pessimistic view of the outcome of globalization
• multilateral corporations remain attached to their national countries
• Intergovernmentalism as the dominant mode of governance
• International order of nation-states and international governance