PCI 2025 – Food Politics, Cryptocurrencies, Industrialization & Informational Capitalism

58 question-and-answer flashcards covering food politics, cryptocurrencies, industrialisation strategies, and informational capitalism based on the lecture notes.

What is the Green Revolution?

A post-World-War-II technological revolution in agriculture that arose from fear of food shortages. (Fumey, 2024, p.30)

Why is food considered political?

Because control over food production and distribution confers political and social power. (Fumey, 2024, p.15–18)

Which two staple foods are most important for humans?

Rice and wheat. (Fumey, 2024, p.51)

What are food systems?

Complex networks of actors and processes—production, transformation, distribution, and consumption—that shape the food supply. (Fumey, 2024, p.42–45)

What characterises 21st-century agri-food policies?

A focus on global food security, farm subsidies, and sustainability within open markets. (Fumey, 2024, p.25–29)

What is food sovereignty and why is it important?

The right of peoples to define their own agricultural and food policies, grounded in sustainable local production. (Fumey, 2024, p.88–89)

Why were cereals pivotal to the rise of civilisations?

Their storability and nutritional value supported market economies and geopolitical power structures. (Fumey, 2024, p.53)

What role does soy play in today’s food geopolitics?

It is the most widely used plant protein in Southeast Asia and a key ingredient in global animal feed. (Fumey, 2024, p.55)

Why can taste be regarded as geopolitics?

Because industrial strategies, advertising, and market control shape what people eat. (Fumey, 2024, p.69–72)

What agricultural policy model does Europe promote?

A mixed model of subsidies, common-market protection, and promotion of regional products. (Fumey, 2024, p.85–87)

Why do states view cryptocurrencies as a threat?

They hinder governmental oversight and taxation by enabling untaxed, hard-to-trace transactions. (Castells, 2024, p.86)

What is Bitcoin “mining”?

The process of validating transactions and creating new bitcoins. (Castells, 2024, p.81)

Define cryptocurrency.

A form of money that exists as bits exchanged across digital networks without physical backing or intermediaries. (Castells, 2024, p.78)

What enabled the transformation of financial markets?

Deregulation, liberalisation, and widespread use of computer networks. (Castells, 2024, p.76)

What does the text say about algorithms and privacy?

Algorithms dominate daily life and give tech firms concentrated power, threatening personal privacy. (Castells, 2024, p.72)

How does digital money differ from traditional money?

It is purely digital, lacks physical backing, and operates without banks or state guarantees. (Castells, 2024, p.78)

Why did England try to stop industrialisation in the 13 colonies?

Industrial growth could grant the colonies economic and subsequently political independence. (Gullo, 2016, p.111)

What role did the U.S. state play in early industrialisation?

It imposed tariffs, funded infrastructure, and pursued long-term industrial policies. (Gullo, 2016, p.124–125)

Which economic model triumphed in the U.S. after the Civil War?

An industrialist, protectionist model centred on a strong state and domestic production. (Gullo, 2016, p.118–120)

What event nearly ruined early U.S. industry?

A flood of cheaper European imports and British port exclusivity laws. (Gullo, 2016, p.115–116)

How did Germany become an industrial power?

Through ideological insubordination backed by active state support. (Gullo, 2016, ch.5)

What function does surveillance serve in informational capitalism?

It gathers and sells personal data as a new basis for capital accumulation. (Castells, 2000, 2012)

Who poses the greatest threat to privacy, according to Castells?

Technology corporations that commercially exploit user data. (Castells, 2001)

What do cryptocurrencies represent in global finance?

A shift toward decentralised monetary systems beyond government control. (Castells, 2000)

Which event spurred the rise of cryptocurrencies?

The 2008 global financial crisis, which eroded trust in traditional finance. (Castells, 2000)

What main barrier hinders global cryptocurrency adoption?

Regulatory resistance from governments and traditional financial actors. (Castells, 2001)

What role does the internet play in using cryptocurrencies?

It provides a decentralised blockchain network independent of any central bank. (Castells, 2001)

What was the goal of the Meiji Revolution?

To help Japan reach a new power threshold and avoid subordination. (Gullo, 2016, p.168)

What early measure did the Meiji government adopt?

Founding state-run enterprises to launch industrialisation. (Gullo, 2016, p.169)

Why is Japan’s strategy called “silent insubordination”?

It built internal strength without overtly challenging foreign powers. (Gullo, 2016, p.167)

What lesson did Japan draw from China’s 19th-century plight?

Modernise rapidly or risk colonisation. (Gullo, 2016, p.164)

What was Sun Yat-sen’s aim in founding the Kuomintang?

To unite traders, landowners, intellectuals, and peasants into one national front. (Gullo, 2016, p.189)

What core ailment did Sun Yat-sen identify in China?

Loss of national consciousness and loyalty to the nation-state. (Gullo, 2016, p.193)

What remedy did Sun Yat-sen propose for China’s poverty?

Industrial development modelled on the U.S. and Germany. (Gullo, 2016, p.196)

What form of capitalism did modern China adopt?

A state-driven national capitalism tightly controlled by the central government. (Gullo, 2016, p.198)

How does blockchain enable new digital currencies and smart contracts?

By allowing secure, automated, intermediary-free transactions on a distributed ledger. (Castells, 2024, p.84)

Why do some governments oppose cryptocurrencies?

They weaken state control over economic transactions and fiscal regulation. (Castells, 2024, p.86)

What core function does blockchain serve in cryptocurrencies?

It records and verifies transactions securely and immutably through distributed consensus. (Castells, 2024, p.80)

What was the original intention behind creating cryptocurrencies?

To free individuals from state control over money. (Castells, 2024, p.88)

How does Gullo describe the U.S. “foundational insubordination”?

Simultaneous political independence, economic protectionism, and ideological rejection of free-trade orthodoxy. (Gullo, 2022, p.69–70)

What was the first U.S. economic measure after independence, and its aim?

The 1789 Hamilton Tariff, designed to protect infant U.S. industries from British competition. (Gullo, 2022, p.72–73)

What role did the state play in U.S. industrialisation?

It was the chief driver—building infrastructure, funding education, and protecting key sectors. (Gullo, 2022, p.73–74)

How did the U.S. contradict its own model abroad?

By advocating free trade internationally while practising protectionism at home. (Gullo, 2022, p.71–72)

Why does Gullo call the U.S. the first peripheral nation to escape underdevelopment?

It combined ideological insubordination with sustained protectionism to reach great-power status. (Gullo, 2022, p.70–71)

What was Alexander Hamilton’s contribution to U.S. economic policy?

He crafted early protectionist measures and championed industrialisation for true independence. (Gullo, 2022, p.72–73)

What lesson does the U.S. case offer Latin America, per Gullo?

Political independence must be paired with economic and ideological insubordination and active state development policies. (Gullo, 2022, p.72–73)

How does Gullo define “state impulse”?

The state acting as catalyst for national power through economic, educational, and technological policies. (Gullo, 2022, p.74–75)

What critique does Gullo make of core countries’ free-trade discourse?

It serves to block industrialisation in peripheral nations, though the core never followed it when developing. (Gullo, 2022, p.71–72)

Why is ideological independence vital for national development?

Without breaking dominant thinking, a nation cannot build an autonomous project and remains subordinate. (Gullo, 2022, p.70–71)

Why did Britain’s Industrial Revolution mark a new power threshold?

It made Britain the first industrial hegemon able to dictate global rules. (Gullo, 2015, p.91)

How did Britain wield free trade as a tool of domination?

By opening foreign markets to its goods while shielding its own, crippling peripheral industries. (Gullo, 2015, p.106)

What steps did England take to block industrialisation elsewhere?

It banned exporting machinery and experts and promoted free-trade ideology. (Gullo, 2015, p.97)

What strategy did rising powers follow instead?

They ignored free-trade dogma, protected domestic industries, and used the state to build strength. (Gullo, 2015, p.98)

What is “informational capitalism” according to Castells?

An economy where capital accumulation hinges on collecting, processing, and monetising personal data via digital networks. (Castells, 2009, p.3)

What is the main revenue model of Meta and Google?

Personalised advertising that generates 98% of Meta’s and 81% of Google’s income. (Ang, 2022, p.4)

What makes TikTok’s business model distinctive?

It fuses advertising with user-generated content delivered through hyper-personalised algorithms. (Ang, 2022, p.5)

According to Gullo, what three dimensions are required for genuine independence?

Political sovereignty, economic protectionism/industrialisation, and ideological break from prevailing free-trade thought.

How do tech companies monetise user data in informational capitalism?

By converting behavioural data into targeted advertising and other data-driven services that generate revenue.