Columbia International Affairs Online

CIAO DATE: 2/08

Journal of International Relations and Development

Volume 8, Issue 1 (March 2005)

Articles

• Explaining organizational outcomes: the International Monetary Fund and capital account liberalization

  Ralf J Leiteritz

  This article traces the discourse on capital account liberalization in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) during the 1990s. Based on constructivist insights, I argue that rationalist–materialist theories of international organizations neglect the social dynamics of behaviour and change. The empirical focus is on the transformation of IMF policy and discourse towards emphasizing the liberalization of international capital movements. External factors do not explain the rise of the discourse within the IMF. For that, I refer to the role of organizational culture as the crucial variable. However, the attempt to institutionalize capital account liberalization at the global level failed in the wake of the Asian financial crisis. In the second part, I explore the political decision-making process in the Fund's Board of Executive Directors in order to shed light on the different interpretations of the crisis. I find that, far from imposing a single reading of the causes and effects of the crisis, different interpretations were advanced and contested in the deliberations of the Board. Communicative action explains why the Asian crisis constituted the 'kiss of death' for the formal institutionalization of the norm of an open capital account at the international level.

• Capitalist expansion and the imperialism–globalization debate: contemporary Marxist explanations

  Ray Kiely

  This article examines contemporary Marxist debates concerning the expansion of international capitalism. Marx's legacy concerning the progressiveness of capitalism but the specificity of the 'English transition' and the inequalities of the international division of labour are briefly outlined, before moving on to an examination of how these two contrasting legacies have been developed. The first development related to theories of imperialism, which have recently enjoyed a resurgence in the context of the unilateralist policies of the Bush administration in the United States (US). These views are then contrasted to theories of capitalist globalization, associated in different ways with theories of transnational capitalism, post-imperialism and Empire. The article criticizes both approaches — theories of imperialism neglect the significance of independence for post-colonial states and the interdependence of 'free trade', while theories of globalization neglect the continued significance of nation-states and the US in particular, and exaggerate the 'transnationality' of capital. An alternative approach is then outlined which attempts to provide a historically grounded theory of uneven development, based on the global concentration of capital and current dominance of financial capital, and the local specificity of capitalist development, as well as the continued importance of the nation-state, and one state in particular.

• Ambivalent consequences of social exclusion for real-existing democracy in Latin America: the example of the Argentine crisis

  Jonas Wolff

  When analyzing the relationship between democracy and social exclusion in Latin America, the perspective prevails that emphasizes the contradictory nature of 'formal democracies' characterized by both deep social inequality and political and economic marginalization. However, when taking into account the astonishing durability of democracy in most Latin American countries it is time to shift the focus to incorporate the surprising compatibility of real-existing Latin democracy with a highly exclusive social structure. Although confronted with grave economic, social and political crises, countries like Ecuador, Argentina and Bolivia have (so far) maintained their, howsoever precarious, democratic regimes. Drawing on the recent experience of the surprisingly quick restabilization seen in Argentina following its deep crisis in 2001/2002, the article argues that it is the specific result of Latin America's 'double transformation' (combining political liberalization and neo-liberal restructuring), which explains the central features of de- as well as re-stabilization. The combination of political democratization involving processes of economic crisis and their neo-liberal 'resolution' has socio-economic consequences that are, firstly, socio-politically destabilizing. Secondly, they hollow out democratic participation and representation by undermining the capacity for collective action on the part of broad sectors of society. Thirdly, however, it is this second implication — since it is the capacity for politically mobilizing precisely those harmed by the neo-liberal reforms and economic crises, which is being limited — that simultaneously operates in a politically stabilizing way.

Book Reviews

• European Approaches to International Relations Theory: A House with Many Mansions

  Holger Stritzel

  Routledge, London and New York, 206pp.
  ISBN: 0415332656.
  Jörg Friedrichs

• Afghanistan: The Labyrinth of Violence

  Vesna Bolka

  Polity Press, Cambridge, 2004, 188pp.
  ISBN: 0-7456- 3115-0.
  Amalendu Misra

• Human Rights and Military Intervention

  Veronika Bílková

  Ashgate, Aldershot, 2002, 296pp.
  ISBN: 0-7546-0867-0.
  Alexander Moseley and Richard Norman (eds.)

• The Role of Human Rights in Foreign Policy

  Victor D Bojkov

  Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2004, 165pp.
  ISBN: 1-4039-0464-2
  Peter R. Baehr and Monique Castermans-Holleman (eds)

• Limiting Institutions? The Challenge of Eurasian Security Governance

  Radek Khol

  Manchester University Press, Manchester and New York, 2003, 290pp.
  ISBN: 0-7190-6605-0.
  James Sperling, Sean Kay and S. Victor Papacosma (eds)

• Intervention for Human Rights in Europe

  Štěpánka Zemanová

  Palgrave, Basingstoke and New York, 2002, 286pp.
  ISBN: 0-333-79424-9.
  Janne Haaland Matláry