COMP POLI HOMEWORK NOTES WILSON PGS 30 40 SOCIETY AND POLITICS Divisions between rich and poor growing greater all the time Political Economy When economic structures and performance affect the state and the state shapes the economy through its policies A complex interrelationship The economic accountability of the state in the eyes of its citizens remains strong even as globalization reduces the ability of any single state even a large and economically powerful one to determine its own fate Socialism aka free enterprise system the economy is based on the private ownership Countries must follow international economic trends even when they don t want to Economic failure nearly always contributes to the weakening of the political regime s legitimacy In democratic countries economic problems often lead voters to oust the governing party Capitalism of all property industry and commerce means of production Calls for the government to intervene in both good and bad times When the economy falters the government should spend more and lower taxes even if it meant deficits in order to prod the economy Industrial policies foster technological research and investment in enterprises deemed to be important for future economic competition An economy based on the collective ownership of nearly all property and have aspects of both private and public sectors of enterprises Mixed Economies Keynesianism Post war consensus was that most countries should have mixed economies US didn t buy it By 1980s started to move away from mixed economies due to financial issues high inflation Keynesianism didn t work too well because politicians didn t want to anger the public by raising taxes In most countries liberal and conservative mean the opposite Thus Reagan esque policies were neoliberal The 19th century notion of free enterprise and parliamentary democracy Liberalism Neoliberalism was big after 1980 with Reagan and Thatcher Public sector stuff was privatized Inspired by failing USSR World Bank IMF etc spread free trade to less developed countries Actually despite neoliberalism not that many welfare programs were cut back While neoliberal ideas are dominant they do not reflect a broad public or elite consensus The process of economic development is an ongoing one as tech resources state policies and people s attitudes values constantly reshape the economic system developed countries and the periphery of undeveloped countries Not necessarily a link between development and type of government Economies of countries that are stagnating or deteriorating A world economic system has developed through core Nondeveloping States Dependency Approach
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