The discipline of global political economy interrogates prevailing institutions, norms and patterns of authority at the global level. There is an urgent need for a critical approach to global political economy where surrounding power relations and resistance within the current capitalist framework are highlighted.
The expansion of the discipline of global political economy over the last few decades has been substantial. Since Susan Strange’s insights and expositions from the 1970s of the inseparability between politics and economics, a series of crises have erupted around the globe in ways that were potentially both expected and perhaps not expected, but as she emphasised, the structures around us are real, power relations are real and social struggle is real.
The world in 2022 faces a series of complex challenges that the discipline of global political economy is well equipped to approach, analyse and subvert. While every generation considers its time to be a historical turn, the start of a new era, every generation is accurate, as history has sprung so many surprises. However, there are some areas within history that repeat themselves, in particular, economic, social and now health crises, and patterns of resistance are emerging, which are distinctly identifiable. In 2022, we entered the third decade of the ‘new century’ (if it is still entirely accurate to call it such after 20 years). Yet, we are still making sense of a global financial crisis that destroyed the economies of entire countries and the lives of countless people who lost their homes and livelihoods, from the streets of Detroit to those of Athens. The last few years have forced us to focus our analyses of capitalism beyond the confines of Eurocentric, White-centric and male-centric lenses. From the development of global women’s strikes to the Black Lives Matter movements, many voices have not simply requested to be heard; they have changed the terms of the debates.
Prior to our current series of crises, trauma and upheaval, we witnessed a series of other episodic economic and social crises. The 1998 Asian Financial Crisis and subsequent crises in Argentina and Turkey have devastated the livelihoods and stability of entire swathes of populations in several countries. This, in turn, has led to significant lines of questioning around whether the ‘democratisation’ that had accompanied their rapidly accelerated industrialisation phases was only a masked pursuit of Westernisation and evidence of the early failures of globalisation and unfettered financialisation. As we watch Russia attack Ukraine, we recall the ‘end of history’ after the fall of the Berlin Wall that allegedly ended the Cold War. Recollections of the South American Pink Tide are revived as Lula’s election is imminent and as Venezuela experiences social unrest and divisive governance. Technological changes influencing the scope for government information dissemination impacting elections; supply chain management and workplace surveillance; and citizen resistance and campaigning are reflective of the Bush election and of the Arab Spring. The COVID-19 crisis introduces many health and geopolitical questions that reflect SARS and swine flu regional crises, which now require a global outlook. The rising power of China and the war imposed by Russia forces us to think again about the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa) categories and what this means for global political economy research today. The study of the global political economy is, in a sense, the study and understanding of these recurrent and periodic crises and is now perhaps more important as a discipline than ever.
As we launch our new journal Global Political Economy, many of us are increasingly raising our voices to highlight the gaps in existing global political economy scholarship. This new journal does not exist simply to fill those gaps. What have often been considered ‘gaps’ – the Global South, gender relations, labour, race, colonialism or the exploitation of nature – are central organising features of Global Political Economy. The journal is not about gatekeeping the discipline, rather it is about opening the sluice gates and providing a rigorous platform for scholars to share their research; one that is committed to diversity and inclusivity, not from a politically correct slogan, but from a demonstration that this journal has been created to show that a different way of doing research and of sharing and disseminating it is not only possible but our raison d’être.
It is not a coincidence that the journal is brought to life by two women – two scholars with research agendas focused on the global political economy of labour, trade unions, resistance and social movements, and technology and digitalisation. Our first Associate Editorial board is diverse in relation to seniority, origin, geographical reach and gender of its members. In this way, we can demonstrate explicitly that we are deeply committed to diversity and representation. All of us are honoured and proud to be the ones leading the journal in this initial period. While acknowledging the work of the many who have made this project possible, we hope that our leadership will bring the journal towards becoming a reference for all those scholars researching within the discipline of global political economy.
The first issue of Global Political Economy is available to read online now and includes a fascinating set of research articles and a series of debates and commentary pieces which address some of the most important issues today, from the ecological imperial crisis to platform work and digitalisation, economic theory, the Anthropocene, authoritarianism, dissent, the ascendant far-right and more.
Phoebe V. Moore is Professor of Management and the Futures of Work at the University of Essex Business School (Colchester, UK) and Senior Fellow at the International Labour Organization (UN, Geneva).
Mònica Clua-Losada is Full Professor in Global Political Economy at the Department of Political Science at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. She is also an executive board member of the Johns Hopkins University–Universitat Pompeu Fabra Public Policy Center in Barcelona, and member of the International Advisory Board of the Critical Political Economy Research Network (CPERN).
Pheobe and Mònica are Co-Editors in Chief of Global Political Economy, published by Bristol University Press.
Access the launch issue of Global Political Economy for free until 31 October here.
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