Pub Date : 2022-09-26DOI: 10.1177/22338659221120970
Vanessa Alexandra Boese, Matthew Charles Wilson
Contestation and participation are commonly viewed as two main constituent dimensions of electoral democracy. How exactly have these two dimensions been conceptualized and measured in the literature? Are they empirically observable and do they matter for democratic development and stability? This article answers the first of these questions and considers their implications for the second by reviewing the literature on these two dimensions. We discuss three issues that affect conclusions about dimensions of democracy and their relevance for understanding democratic development: First, conceptual ambiguities—substantive overlap between the two concepts—obscure the meanings of each of the two dimensions. Such ambiguities led to a second issue, which is a concept-measurement mismatch. The conceptual contributions were never really met with an empirical equivalent that would allow us to properly measure the two dimensions. Scholars continue to invoke theoretical understandings from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, but represent them using measures that were not explicitly concerned with measuring them, which presents the third issue of concept reification. As a result of these three issues, inferences about how democracy has developed and its relevance for democratic stability or for transitions to democratic rule is potentially obscured. Based on these issues, we provide three suggestions for future research concerning the concepts of contestation and participation.
{"title":"Contestation and participation: Concepts, measurement, and inference","authors":"Vanessa Alexandra Boese, Matthew Charles Wilson","doi":"10.1177/22338659221120970","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/22338659221120970","url":null,"abstract":"Contestation and participation are commonly viewed as two main constituent dimensions of electoral democracy. How exactly have these two dimensions been conceptualized and measured in the literature? Are they empirically observable and do they matter for democratic development and stability? This article answers the first of these questions and considers their implications for the second by reviewing the literature on these two dimensions. We discuss three issues that affect conclusions about dimensions of democracy and their relevance for understanding democratic development: First, conceptual ambiguities—substantive overlap between the two concepts—obscure the meanings of each of the two dimensions. Such ambiguities led to a second issue, which is a concept-measurement mismatch. The conceptual contributions were never really met with an empirical equivalent that would allow us to properly measure the two dimensions. Scholars continue to invoke theoretical understandings from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, but represent them using measures that were not explicitly concerned with measuring them, which presents the third issue of concept reification. As a result of these three issues, inferences about how democracy has developed and its relevance for democratic stability or for transitions to democratic rule is potentially obscured. Based on these issues, we provide three suggestions for future research concerning the concepts of contestation and participation.","PeriodicalId":44499,"journal":{"name":"International Area Studies Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74716349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-09-01DOI: 10.1177/22338659221112997
Jeong-Woo Lee
Does electoral competition affect expenditures on the provision of public goods in electoral autocracies? Previous studies firmly agree that multiparty elections are critical to autocratic survival. Accordingly, studies argue that multiparty elections lead to an increase in health expenditure in electoral autocracies. In addition to the literature, less explored is the effect of electoral competition on the expenditure. If oppositions can run elections with a higher level of electoral competition and threaten the dictator's winning over elections, would autocrats provide more public goods to citizens? This paper raises a pessimistic view on this question and argues that the impact of electoral competition does not affect government health expenditure. Empirical findings with 291 cases of 70 electoral autocracies from 2000 to 2018 and an illustrative case study of Armenia demonstrate that autocrats are less likely to provide health and education expenditures to citizens even though they face higher competition during elections.
{"title":"Electoral competition and government health expenditure in electoral autocracies: A pessimistic view","authors":"Jeong-Woo Lee","doi":"10.1177/22338659221112997","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/22338659221112997","url":null,"abstract":"Does electoral competition affect expenditures on the provision of public goods in electoral autocracies? Previous studies firmly agree that multiparty elections are critical to autocratic survival. Accordingly, studies argue that multiparty elections lead to an increase in health expenditure in electoral autocracies. In addition to the literature, less explored is the effect of electoral competition on the expenditure. If oppositions can run elections with a higher level of electoral competition and threaten the dictator's winning over elections, would autocrats provide more public goods to citizens? This paper raises a pessimistic view on this question and argues that the impact of electoral competition does not affect government health expenditure. Empirical findings with 291 cases of 70 electoral autocracies from 2000 to 2018 and an illustrative case study of Armenia demonstrate that autocrats are less likely to provide health and education expenditures to citizens even though they face higher competition during elections.","PeriodicalId":44499,"journal":{"name":"International Area Studies Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"86860653","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-25DOI: 10.1177/22338659221120074
Crispen Chirume
Debt levels in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have been rising over the years as countries undertake infrastructure projects and the increased use of bilateral and private credit. Although on aggregate the debt levels are within SADC recommendations on macroeconomic convergence, there are growing fears that a number of countries in the region might default and indeed some are already in default. The frequent occurrence of debt crisis is a cause for concern. This research is an attempt to determine the significant predictors from a small set of variables commonly touted as important in debt crisis prediction. The research considered the output gap, real exchange rate, external debt ratios, commodity shocks and quality of governance as potential predictors. The factor variables being of particular interest Empirical findings on these potential predictors is somehow mixed, which partly is accounted for by the differences in model specifications from author to author. The research employed the event study and fixed effects logistic regression for modelling the probability of default of public debt. Results of the model illustrate that governance indicators and commodity price shocks (global level) were not statistically significant predictors of debt crisis as commonly suggested by theory. However the external debt, output and the real foreign exchange rate were all significant. Real output was shown to be one of the most important predictors of debt crisis. The estimated probability model fared relatively better than a random model.
{"title":"Prediction of debt crisis in Southern African Development Community (SADC)","authors":"Crispen Chirume","doi":"10.1177/22338659221120074","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/22338659221120074","url":null,"abstract":"Debt levels in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) have been rising over the years as countries undertake infrastructure projects and the increased use of bilateral and private credit. Although on aggregate the debt levels are within SADC recommendations on macroeconomic convergence, there are growing fears that a number of countries in the region might default and indeed some are already in default. The frequent occurrence of debt crisis is a cause for concern. This research is an attempt to determine the significant predictors from a small set of variables commonly touted as important in debt crisis prediction. The research considered the output gap, real exchange rate, external debt ratios, commodity shocks and quality of governance as potential predictors. The factor variables being of particular interest Empirical findings on these potential predictors is somehow mixed, which partly is accounted for by the differences in model specifications from author to author. The research employed the event study and fixed effects logistic regression for modelling the probability of default of public debt. Results of the model illustrate that governance indicators and commodity price shocks (global level) were not statistically significant predictors of debt crisis as commonly suggested by theory. However the external debt, output and the real foreign exchange rate were all significant. Real output was shown to be one of the most important predictors of debt crisis. The estimated probability model fared relatively better than a random model.","PeriodicalId":44499,"journal":{"name":"International Area Studies Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80519680","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-25DOI: 10.1177/22338659221120974
Ali Mohsenifar, M. Dousti, F. Zare, G. Géczi
Political tensions and conflicts have been accompanying modern sports for a long time. The objective of this study was to determine the political reasons for not hosting football matches between Iranian and Saudi football teams. To address the research objective, a mixed-method approach was used. First, in the qualitative part, the political reasons for not hosting the matches identified through the content analysis and interviews were reviewed and evaluated by Delphi Group (25 people) in the second and third stages. Secondly, in the qualitative section of the study, the questionnaire was also used to rank the reasons. The research findings showed that tensions between Tehran and Riyadh increased after the Saudi Embassy attack in Tehran and Mashhad (January 2016) and the execution of Sheikh Nimr, a Shia sheikh opposed to the Saudi government. Saudi Arabia has requested that the Asian Champions League matches against Iranian opponents be held on neutral grounds in order to ensure the safety of its players. It is therefore recommended that sports managers and politicians in Iran reduce the political tensions between the two countries. In addition, they need to strive toward creating peace, friendship, and security between the two countries.
{"title":"Study of Iran–Saudi Arabia Sports Relations","authors":"Ali Mohsenifar, M. Dousti, F. Zare, G. Géczi","doi":"10.1177/22338659221120974","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/22338659221120974","url":null,"abstract":"Political tensions and conflicts have been accompanying modern sports for a long time. The objective of this study was to determine the political reasons for not hosting football matches between Iranian and Saudi football teams. To address the research objective, a mixed-method approach was used. First, in the qualitative part, the political reasons for not hosting the matches identified through the content analysis and interviews were reviewed and evaluated by Delphi Group (25 people) in the second and third stages. Secondly, in the qualitative section of the study, the questionnaire was also used to rank the reasons. The research findings showed that tensions between Tehran and Riyadh increased after the Saudi Embassy attack in Tehran and Mashhad (January 2016) and the execution of Sheikh Nimr, a Shia sheikh opposed to the Saudi government. Saudi Arabia has requested that the Asian Champions League matches against Iranian opponents be held on neutral grounds in order to ensure the safety of its players. It is therefore recommended that sports managers and politicians in Iran reduce the political tensions between the two countries. In addition, they need to strive toward creating peace, friendship, and security between the two countries.","PeriodicalId":44499,"journal":{"name":"International Area Studies Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-08-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"88272364","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-22DOI: 10.1177/22338659221120972
Andi Yakub, A. Armunanto, Haryanto
The rise of sole candidates in various local head elections in Indonesia has been the subject of many scholarly critical analyses. Most of the analyses perceive the phenomenon as a symptom of incumbency advantages, weak electoral systems, and poor institutionalization of political parties. This article proposes a new argument with the family-based elite perspective controlling the sole candidates’ emergence process. We compared two regions in South Sulawesi province, explaining the political family networks that dominate the political competition by limiting candidature. The sole candidate elections can be understood by looking at family-based elite networks scattered in business networks, bureaucracy, political parties, aristocrats, and grassroots mass organizations. The families use an oligarchic elite network at the national level or a plural elite network at the grassroots level. The two types of family institutions are centralized and dispersed structures: Makassar has an oligarchy, while Gowa has relatively equal elite power. The family network’s power has closed or hijacked the electoral political competition, establishing control over local elections by creating monopolistic political networks. Political family control is essential in understanding the rise of sole candidate elections in political practices.
{"title":"Under family control: The trend of sole candidate elections in Indonesia","authors":"Andi Yakub, A. Armunanto, Haryanto","doi":"10.1177/22338659221120972","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/22338659221120972","url":null,"abstract":"The rise of sole candidates in various local head elections in Indonesia has been the subject of many scholarly critical analyses. Most of the analyses perceive the phenomenon as a symptom of incumbency advantages, weak electoral systems, and poor institutionalization of political parties. This article proposes a new argument with the family-based elite perspective controlling the sole candidates’ emergence process. We compared two regions in South Sulawesi province, explaining the political family networks that dominate the political competition by limiting candidature. The sole candidate elections can be understood by looking at family-based elite networks scattered in business networks, bureaucracy, political parties, aristocrats, and grassroots mass organizations. The families use an oligarchic elite network at the national level or a plural elite network at the grassroots level. The two types of family institutions are centralized and dispersed structures: Makassar has an oligarchy, while Gowa has relatively equal elite power. The family network’s power has closed or hijacked the electoral political competition, establishing control over local elections by creating monopolistic political networks. Political family control is essential in understanding the rise of sole candidate elections in political practices.","PeriodicalId":44499,"journal":{"name":"International Area Studies Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"74065167","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-22DOI: 10.1177/22338659221120976
Daniel S. Leon
The political science literature often points to populism as the cause of democratic backsliding. The literature purports that populism undermines democracy's liberal component, meaning the horizontal checks and balances on executive power by legislatures and courts and the vertical checks and balances by civil society, such as a free press and social movements. Populists promote political polarization to build sustainable ruling coalitions during and between elections that legitimize and support the illiberal policies above. However, this debate often ignores the economic tools that populists in power possess, such as capturing direct and indirect international rents to finance clientelist mechanisms to co-opt political support. This paper contributes to the rich literature on how economic rent conditions the negative relationship between populism and liberalism by disaggregating the moderating effects of direct and indirect international rents through panel regression models in 18 Latin American countries from 1991 to 2019. I find that direct international rents, such as natural resource rents, moderated a deepening in processes of democratic backsliding. Contrastingly, indirect international rents, such as remittances, moderately mitigated democratic backsliding.
{"title":"Do international rents bolster democratic backsliding under populist governments? Evidence from Latin America","authors":"Daniel S. Leon","doi":"10.1177/22338659221120976","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/22338659221120976","url":null,"abstract":"The political science literature often points to populism as the cause of democratic backsliding. The literature purports that populism undermines democracy's liberal component, meaning the horizontal checks and balances on executive power by legislatures and courts and the vertical checks and balances by civil society, such as a free press and social movements. Populists promote political polarization to build sustainable ruling coalitions during and between elections that legitimize and support the illiberal policies above. However, this debate often ignores the economic tools that populists in power possess, such as capturing direct and indirect international rents to finance clientelist mechanisms to co-opt political support. This paper contributes to the rich literature on how economic rent conditions the negative relationship between populism and liberalism by disaggregating the moderating effects of direct and indirect international rents through panel regression models in 18 Latin American countries from 1991 to 2019. I find that direct international rents, such as natural resource rents, moderated a deepening in processes of democratic backsliding. Contrastingly, indirect international rents, such as remittances, moderately mitigated democratic backsliding.","PeriodicalId":44499,"journal":{"name":"International Area Studies Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"85374539","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-22DOI: 10.1177/22338659221120067
Wolfgang Muno, C. Pfeiffer
In this paper, we seek to explore whether populism, when in power, is guided by a particular logic of governance that can be derived from the logic of populism itself. To this end, we develop an ideal type of populist governance and apply it to case studies of India, the United States, Venezuela, and Hungary. Methodologically, the cross-regional comparison with a Most Different Systems Design is carried out through a structured, focused comparison. We conclude that populism in power has a tendency toward autocracy that is inherent in populist governance logic. This may manifest itself “only” in democratic backsliding or regression, that is, in a deterioration of the quality of democracy, but it can also lead to autocratization.
{"title":"Populism in power—A comparative analysis of populist governance","authors":"Wolfgang Muno, C. Pfeiffer","doi":"10.1177/22338659221120067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/22338659221120067","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, we seek to explore whether populism, when in power, is guided by a particular logic of governance that can be derived from the logic of populism itself. To this end, we develop an ideal type of populist governance and apply it to case studies of India, the United States, Venezuela, and Hungary. Methodologically, the cross-regional comparison with a Most Different Systems Design is carried out through a structured, focused comparison. We conclude that populism in power has a tendency toward autocracy that is inherent in populist governance logic. This may manifest itself “only” in democratic backsliding or regression, that is, in a deterioration of the quality of democracy, but it can also lead to autocratization.","PeriodicalId":44499,"journal":{"name":"International Area Studies Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"73803660","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-22DOI: 10.1177/22338659221120973
Kambiz Abdi, Jami A. Fullerton, Mohammad Deheshti, Reza Kavand, Hamidreza Monibi, M. Talebpour
Although studies around Sport Diplomacy (SD) are expanding rapidly, there is no specific agreement on the outcomes of SD initiatives. The purpose of this study is to identify the conceivable diplomatic outcomes of SD from the perspective of international public diplomacy and sport experts. Researchers used a fuzzy Delphi method, which is an advanced version of the qualitative Delphi method that employs statistics to determine the distance between the levels of consensus within the expert panel. Thirty online surveys were completed by the experts, who were selected through targeted sampling. The statistical population included public diplomacy and sports scholars, and the researchers identified about 200 individuals who qualified for the sampling population because of their academic studies in the fields of public, cultural, and sport diplomacy. After running two rounds of fuzzy Delphi, the SD outcomes were classified into two categories of explicit/specific outcomes and implicit/general outcomes. The results showed that the outcomes of “cross-cultural communication,” “mutual understanding,” “trust building,” “nation branding,” “country reputation,” “attraction,” and “co-option” were the most possible explicit/specific outcomes of SD initiatives undertaken by countries’ ministries of foreign affairs and related agencies. “Sport industry development,” “sport tourism development,” and “socio-economic development” were the most possible outcomes of the implicit/general efforts of SD initiatives undertaken by the sport federations, private sector, NGOs, and other institutions outside the formal diplomacy system. Co-option-A term derived from Nye's theory of soft power as the ultimate goal/outcome of SD endeavors is manifested in “Peace Building (Conflict Conciliation)” between hostile states/nations and “Peace Development” between friendly states/nations.
{"title":"Identifying the conceivable diplomatic outcomes of Sport Diplomacy initiatives","authors":"Kambiz Abdi, Jami A. Fullerton, Mohammad Deheshti, Reza Kavand, Hamidreza Monibi, M. Talebpour","doi":"10.1177/22338659221120973","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/22338659221120973","url":null,"abstract":"Although studies around Sport Diplomacy (SD) are expanding rapidly, there is no specific agreement on the outcomes of SD initiatives. The purpose of this study is to identify the conceivable diplomatic outcomes of SD from the perspective of international public diplomacy and sport experts. Researchers used a fuzzy Delphi method, which is an advanced version of the qualitative Delphi method that employs statistics to determine the distance between the levels of consensus within the expert panel. Thirty online surveys were completed by the experts, who were selected through targeted sampling. The statistical population included public diplomacy and sports scholars, and the researchers identified about 200 individuals who qualified for the sampling population because of their academic studies in the fields of public, cultural, and sport diplomacy. After running two rounds of fuzzy Delphi, the SD outcomes were classified into two categories of explicit/specific outcomes and implicit/general outcomes. The results showed that the outcomes of “cross-cultural communication,” “mutual understanding,” “trust building,” “nation branding,” “country reputation,” “attraction,” and “co-option” were the most possible explicit/specific outcomes of SD initiatives undertaken by countries’ ministries of foreign affairs and related agencies. “Sport industry development,” “sport tourism development,” and “socio-economic development” were the most possible outcomes of the implicit/general efforts of SD initiatives undertaken by the sport federations, private sector, NGOs, and other institutions outside the formal diplomacy system. Co-option-A term derived from Nye's theory of soft power as the ultimate goal/outcome of SD endeavors is manifested in “Peace Building (Conflict Conciliation)” between hostile states/nations and “Peace Development” between friendly states/nations.","PeriodicalId":44499,"journal":{"name":"International Area Studies Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-08-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80294232","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-15DOI: 10.1177/22338659221120056
Rodrick Molonga Elekeleme, Minjun Hong
This study tested whether the Sino-African economic partnership, represented by the share of Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI), affected the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in Africa. Therefore, we zeroed in on 41 countries and ran a panel analysis, covering the period ranging from 2003 to 2018, to examine whether the effect of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita on carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) emissions per capita was moderated by the share of Chinese FDI stock. We found an overall inverted U-shaped relationship between GDP per capita with CO2 and CH4 emissions per capita. We also found that the impact of the GDP per capita on pollutants emissions per capita was contingent upon the level of the share of Chinese FDI. We estimated the turning points of GDP per capita and found that the share of Chinese FDI stock was making the turning point of CO2 per capita move left and made the data shift from the inverted U-shaped to U-shaped, and the EKC hypothesis was rejected when the share of Chinese FDI increased. On the contrary, the share of Chinese FDI stock was making the turning point of CH4 per capita move left, and still maintained the inverted U-shaped, and the EKC hypothesis was supported regardless of the magnitude of the share of Chinese FDI. These findings highlight the varying effect of the Sino-African economic ties on the environment depending on the types of pollutants. This conclusion suggests the attainment of economic growth simultaneously with the improvement of environmental quality if the Sino-African economic ties effectively help increase the GDP per capita of African countries, and become environmentally friendly driven. Controlling the type of cooperation on which the Sino-African economic partnership is grounded will be the most determinant factor in lessening the degradation of the environment in Africa.
{"title":"Testing the environmental Kuznets curve hypothesis in Africa: A focus on the moderating effect of Sino-African economic cooperation","authors":"Rodrick Molonga Elekeleme, Minjun Hong","doi":"10.1177/22338659221120056","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/22338659221120056","url":null,"abstract":"This study tested whether the Sino-African economic partnership, represented by the share of Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI), affected the validity of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in Africa. Therefore, we zeroed in on 41 countries and ran a panel analysis, covering the period ranging from 2003 to 2018, to examine whether the effect of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita on carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) emissions per capita was moderated by the share of Chinese FDI stock. We found an overall inverted U-shaped relationship between GDP per capita with CO2 and CH4 emissions per capita. We also found that the impact of the GDP per capita on pollutants emissions per capita was contingent upon the level of the share of Chinese FDI. We estimated the turning points of GDP per capita and found that the share of Chinese FDI stock was making the turning point of CO2 per capita move left and made the data shift from the inverted U-shaped to U-shaped, and the EKC hypothesis was rejected when the share of Chinese FDI increased. On the contrary, the share of Chinese FDI stock was making the turning point of CH4 per capita move left, and still maintained the inverted U-shaped, and the EKC hypothesis was supported regardless of the magnitude of the share of Chinese FDI. These findings highlight the varying effect of the Sino-African economic ties on the environment depending on the types of pollutants. This conclusion suggests the attainment of economic growth simultaneously with the improvement of environmental quality if the Sino-African economic ties effectively help increase the GDP per capita of African countries, and become environmentally friendly driven. Controlling the type of cooperation on which the Sino-African economic partnership is grounded will be the most determinant factor in lessening the degradation of the environment in Africa.","PeriodicalId":44499,"journal":{"name":"International Area Studies Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-08-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"72810375","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2022-08-15DOI: 10.1177/22338659221120065
Håvard Stamnes Søyland, Marcelo Moriconi
Drawing on official documents and empirical examples, this article analyses Qatar's sports strategy to gain attraction and generate soft power globally. The paper shows how the country based has efficiently used sport as a mean for modernisation, diplomacy and soft power, through a strategy based in the participation of national and foreign actors and institutions. While Qatar's sports diplomacy has been very ambitious, the newfound global attention has led to an increased scrutiny regarding national internal policies. This has resulted in massive criticism regarding corruption allegations and several reports of labour abuses towards the migrant workers in the country. In consequence, critics consider Qatar as an example of sportswashing, which is understood as a deliberate use of sports soft power in seeking to alter a tarnished global reputation. We claim that the Qatari strategy, even having a bit of both, can be used to generate a positive context for social development and we describe how the county has managed to engage foreign actors and institutions to counter external denounces. The context created by successful sports diplomacy strategies and evidence-based external critics might generate an adequate ecosystem to promote substantial cultural and political changes, respect for human rights and individual freedom. In this context, western countries, sport institutions and external actors play (or not) a crucial legitimator role, and so does money.
{"title":"Qatar's multi-actors sports strategy: Diplomacy, critics and legitimisation","authors":"Håvard Stamnes Søyland, Marcelo Moriconi","doi":"10.1177/22338659221120065","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/22338659221120065","url":null,"abstract":"Drawing on official documents and empirical examples, this article analyses Qatar's sports strategy to gain attraction and generate soft power globally. The paper shows how the country based has efficiently used sport as a mean for modernisation, diplomacy and soft power, through a strategy based in the participation of national and foreign actors and institutions. While Qatar's sports diplomacy has been very ambitious, the newfound global attention has led to an increased scrutiny regarding national internal policies. This has resulted in massive criticism regarding corruption allegations and several reports of labour abuses towards the migrant workers in the country. In consequence, critics consider Qatar as an example of sportswashing, which is understood as a deliberate use of sports soft power in seeking to alter a tarnished global reputation. We claim that the Qatari strategy, even having a bit of both, can be used to generate a positive context for social development and we describe how the county has managed to engage foreign actors and institutions to counter external denounces. The context created by successful sports diplomacy strategies and evidence-based external critics might generate an adequate ecosystem to promote substantial cultural and political changes, respect for human rights and individual freedom. In this context, western countries, sport institutions and external actors play (or not) a crucial legitimator role, and so does money.","PeriodicalId":44499,"journal":{"name":"International Area Studies Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.7,"publicationDate":"2022-08-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"83728072","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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