polecon 101 short answer

Compare and contrast how Walt W. Rostow and Immanuel Wallerstein view the structure of global economic development and underdevelopment.

Rostow takes a "Modernist" approach, arguing that development is a single, linear path that all countries must pass through (Stages of Growth), and that underdevelopment is caused by internal backwardness. Wallerstein, taking a "Structuralist" approach, completely rejects this linear model. He argues there is only one World System divided into the Core, Semi-Periphery, and Periphery. Underdevelopment is not an internal failure, but is structurally produced because the wealthy Core extracts cheap labor and raw materials from the Periphery

Explain Timothy Mitchell’s argument in Carbon Democracy regarding how the historical transition from coal to oil fundamentally altered the democratic power of the working class.

Mitchell argues that the extraction and transport of coal required massive networks of human labor, which gave workers the democratic power to strike, sabotage, and shut down the energy system to demand political rights. The switch to oil destroyed this power because oil relies on high-cost mechanical technologies and pipelines rather than massive armies of human workers, making it much harder for workers to disrupt the energy supply

According to Jennifer Clapp & Ryan Isakson, financialization operates across three primary dimensions in the agrifood sector. Identify and briefly explain these three dimensions

1) Agriculture as a New Arena for Wealth Accumulation: Speculators and finance capital treat food like a casino, trading commodity derivatives and grabbing land for profit. 2) Reshaped Agrifood Firms: Large asset management firms take over food companies, forcing massive consolidation and ruthless cost-externalization to maximize "shareholder value". 3) Financialization of Everyday Life: Everyday citizens are forced to rely on finance (like credit card debt or financialized debit cards for food assistance) just to feed themselves

Describe Greta Krippner’s argument about the political origins of financialization. How does she explain the role of the state in creating the rise of finance?

Krippner argues that financialization was not a deliberate, master-planned project by elites. Instead, it was an inadvertent result of the US state trying to solve a series of domestic political and fiscal crises in the 1970s. By deregulating finance and relying on global capital markets to fund government deficits, the state essentially tapped into financial markets as a mechanism to delay and hide difficult political choices about who should bear the burden of a shrinking economy

Explain Stanley Aronowitz's critique of modern labor unions. According to Aronowitz, why have dominant unions failed, and why does he argue that labor must be viewed as a "political" issue rather than just an "economic" one?

Aronowitz argues that modern unions have failed because they traded their ultimate weapon—the strike (direct action)—for bureaucratic "no-strike clauses" and arbitration. They became purely defensive, relied too heavily on the Democratic Party, and focused solely on "cash" (wages) rather than actual workplace control. He argues labor must be viewed as political because viewing it merely as "economics" prevents workers from using their "Radical Imagination" to actively change the social arrangements of the workplace and challenge corporate power.

According to Arturo Escobar, development is not an objective reality but rather a "discourse." Explain what he means by this and briefly outline his "Three Axes" of development.

By calling development a "discourse," Escobar means it is a system of representation tied to power that produces "reality" through language and practice. His Three Axes are: 1) Forms of Knowledge (the concepts and theories that define development), 2) System of Power (the institutions that regulate its practice), and 3) Forms of Subjectivity (how individuals are trained to view themselves as either 'developed' or 'underdeveloped'). He concludes we do not need an alternative form of development, but an alternative to development itself

Describe Jamie Peck's concept of "Neoliberalization." How does he differentiate between the "Roll-Back" and "Roll-Out" phases of this process?

Peck argues that neoliberalism is not a pure, fixed utopian system, but rather "neoliberalization"—a messy, contradictory, and hybridized process of politically assisted market rule. "Roll-Back" neoliberalism (the 1980s) was characterized by the active dismantling of the welfare state, crushing labor relations, and aggressive deregulation. "Roll-Out" neoliberalism (the 1990s onward) was a response to the failures of the Roll-Back era, characterized by intrusive, authoritarian state interventions to manage the social instability the initial roll-back caused

Explain Jason Hickel's critique of "Growthism" and the "Good News Narrative" of global poverty. What alternative framework does he propose for the future?

Hickel argues that "Growthism" is a toxic ideology prioritizing endless GDP growth, which benefits a wealthy few at the expense of global ecological stability. He attacks the "Good News Narrative" of poverty reduction as a deceptive undercount used by powerful governments to justify the current exploitative economic order and hide the plunder of the Global South. As a solution, he advocates for "Degrowth"—reducing material and energy extraction to balance with nature, while heavily redistributing wealth to fund universal public goods rather than focusing on endless growth.

In their analysis of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, how do Saree Makdisi and Andreas Hackl explain the use of land and labor as mechanisms of settler colonial control?

Makdisi argues that Israel's settler-colonial project is driven by a "Demographic Problem": they want Palestinian land without the Palestinian people. To solve this, they employ a "Logic of Elimination," using physical transfer, walls, and apartheid structures to expropriate land and maintain an ethno-nationalist state. Hackl builds on this by arguing that Palestinian labor is used as a mechanism of political control. Expropriating land forces Palestinians into a captive labor pool; because they rely on the colonial state for employment and permits to survive, it demands "political docility," effectively stripping them of their capacity to resist colonialism

Describe Nick Cullather's critique of the "Green Revolution." Why does he argue that treating global hunger purely as a technological problem was used as a deliberate "avoidance mechanism"?

Cullather argues that the 1968 Green Revolution mistakenly defined global hunger as an "apolitical" or natural biological lack of calories. Wealthy global powers used agricultural technology as an "avoidance mechanism" to shield themselves from historical responsibility. By using a simplistic "recipe-box view of history" (applying a one-size-fits-all technological fix to complex social issues), elites completely bypassed the political root causes of hunger—like poverty and unequal land distribution—thereby robbing marginalized people of the democratic right to choose their own futures.

Explain Deepak Lal's concept of the "Dirigiste Dogma." Why does he argue that the demise of Development Economics is a good thing?

Lal completely rejects traditional Development Economics because it relies on the "Dirigiste Dogma"—the belief that the government must actively intervene to manage the economy and supplant the price mechanism. Lal argues that this state intervention (dirigisme) is actually the root cause of the Third World's most serious economic problems. He champions neoliberal, free-market reforms instead, arguing that the demise of state-led Development Economics is a good thing.

Contrast how Robert Reich and Tony Judt approach the problems of modern capitalism. Why does Judt argue that approaches like Reich's result in a "discursive disability"?

Reich (a Classic Liberal) argues that "Supercapitalism" has overrun democracy, but his solution relies entirely on an economic lens, effectively just asking individuals to act as "better citizens" out of enlightened self-interest. Judt (an Embedded Liberal) heavily critiques this, arguing that by reducing humans to selfish "Economic Men," we suffer from a "discursive disability"—meaning society forgets how to talk about morality, justice, or fairness. Judt argues we must replace this economic calculus with a moral narrative and a return to a Social Democracy where the state actively manages the economy.

According to Wendy Brown, how does "Neoliberal Rationality" transform the public university, and why does she argue that this transformation ultimately puts democracy in peril?

Brown argues that neoliberalism forces society to view individuals purely as "Self-as-Capital". Because of this, public higher education is no longer seen as a public good for creating equality, but merely as a personal financial investment. This transforms universities into corporations that focus on "satisfying customers" and devalue undergraduate teaching. Brown warns this destroys homo politicus (the political citizen); without an educated public capable of understanding complex problems, citizens lose the ability and desire to participate in collective self-rule, putting democracy in peril

Outline Walden Bello’s "Credible Alternative" to the globalist capitalist project. Briefly explain his three pillars for the future: Subordinating Markets, Deglobalization, and Food Sovereignty.

Bello argues that we cannot fix the current crisis of "Capitalist Overstretch" with Keynesianism; we must build a completely new system. His three pillars are: 1) Subordinating Markets: Prioritizing social welfare and cooperation over ruthless market competition. 2) Deglobalization: Prioritizing local communities, protecting local economies, redistributing wealth, and actively de-emphasizing economic growth. 3) Food Sovereignty: Prioritizing national food self-sufficiency and supporting small-scale, ecological peasant agriculture over massive industrial farming.