This essay concludes the symposium by considering Howard J. Wiarda’s topical scholarship on grand... more This essay concludes the symposium by considering Howard J. Wiarda’s topical scholarship on grand theory, corporatism, democratization, and development, in addition to his regional scholarship, which focused on Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian politics but also touched on every other major region of the world, including U.S. politics and foreign policy making. We seek to makes sense of the tensions in Wiarda’s work, especially between his critiques of theoretical determinism and ethnocentrism on the one hand and his continual emphasis on cultural and corporatist explanations of comparative politics, on the other. We argue that he made significant contributions to the field through his service as a public intellectual, mobilization of multiple theoretical perspectives, use of inductive methods, provocative interpretations of comparative politics throughout the world, and accessibility to students and policy makers.
The Bolivarian process in Venezuela provides scholars two immediate and ongoing challenges. First... more The Bolivarian process in Venezuela provides scholars two immediate and ongoing challenges. First, unlike many other efforts to democratize, it is a case that is deliberately nonliberal. Second, its emphasis on the popular will has often been in tension with the outsized role of the leadership of Hugo Chávez and the use of state resources to advance interests shared unevenly in a heterogeneous coalition. In other words, scholarly explanations find support for both bottom-up and top-down explanations. These challenges are especially important given the decline of oil prices, the shift from Chávez to Maduro, and the intensification of political conflict in the past three years. The four books reviewed here offer valuable contributions to these questions and provide insight into the current political crisis in Venezuela.
China, The United States, and the Future of Latin America, 2017
US-Venezuelan relations display both confrontation and cooperation. Chinese relations with Venezu... more US-Venezuelan relations display both confrontation and cooperation. Chinese relations with Venezuela are a most likely case for rebellion against the global governance system over which the US presides. This chapter makes a structuralist argument, arguing that the way that the three countries are positioned within global and regional governance structures conditions the underlying character of their relations with each other. Simply put, the US, China, and Venezuela have very different interests and capabilities and their structural positions in South America explain why the increased Chinese presence in Venezuela is neither a threat to the US nor does it substantially aid Venezuelan intentions toward multi-polarizing the region or world. To make this argument, the chapter assumes that US foreign policy toward Venezuela is informed by its position as regional hegemon, Chinese foreign policy toward Venezuela is informed by its position as an extra-regional commercial state, and Venez...
Gotham is a fallen city. The city is not only violent but criminality is so entrenched that Gotha... more Gotham is a fallen city. The city is not only violent but criminality is so entrenched that Gotham’s problems are political, not simply criminal. In the 80 years since Bob Kane’s creation of Batman, Gotham has not improved. No matter how many times Batman upends a criminal enterprise, interrupts a one-off act of violence, or defeats super-villains bent on world domination, Gotham does not change. So how effective is Batman, really? Why does Batman limit himself to stopping crime, rather than seizing the state and running it properly (a la Lenin)? Curiously enough, Niccolo Machiavelli, often caricatured as a theorist of the unethical use of violence, can help explain this.
É recorrente o debate sobre governos de esquerda na América Latina. O presente artigo argumenta q... more É recorrente o debate sobre governos de esquerda na América Latina. O presente artigo argumenta que a distinção entre alguns regimes de esquerda na referida região é sintomática e passível de crítica na literatura acadêmica. Nesse sentido, o autor resgata as tipologias de Juan Linz, Larry Diamond e Peter Smith e Melissa Ziegler, bem como apresenta uma tipologia alternativa. Conforme essa tipologia, os governos de esquerda do Brasil, Chile e Venezuela podem ser caracterizados, respectivamente, como uma democracia liberal consolidada, uma república ligeiramente…
During the global economic crisis of the 1980s, dependency theory lost considerable academic weig... more During the global economic crisis of the 1980s, dependency theory lost considerable academic weight, while neoclassical models of economic growth gained currency. This shift was aided in the developing world by comparisons of the economic trajectories of East ...
El objetivo de este artículo es responder una pregunta básica que no sólo se hacen los brasileros... more El objetivo de este artículo es responder una pregunta básica que no sólo se hacen los brasileros, sino también personas en otros países en desarrollo en los cuales se sobrevaluaron las agendas de reforma liberales, la pregunta es: ¿por qué China ha crecido tan ...
Ferrari-Filho, Fernando;Spanakos, Anthony WHY ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE HAS DIFFERED BETWEEN BRAZIL AN... more Ferrari-Filho, Fernando;Spanakos, Anthony WHY ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE HAS DIFFERED BETWEEN BRAZIL AND CHINA? A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BRAZILIAN AND CHINESE MACROECONOMIC POLICY Revista Venezolana de Análisis de Coyuntura, Vol. XV, ...
Partisan theories of political economy expect that bondholders will panic with the election of a ... more Partisan theories of political economy expect that bondholders will panic with the election of a left-wing presidential candidate. The latter seems to be what happened in Brazil in the 2002 presidential elections. However, quantitative analysis of perceptions of sovereign credit risk in Argentine, Brazilian, Mexican, and Venezuelan presidential elections from 1994 until 2007 shows no real evidence of a link between partisanship and perceptions of risk, even if the left-right divide is further broken down into left, center-left, center-right, right. Instead, international and domestic economic fundamentals have a stronger influence on risk evaluations. Qualitative analysis of the individual presidential elections shows the importance of policy uncertainty in explaining why certain electoral periods seemed more critical than others and how bondholders select between multiple equilibria. This research helps shift political analysis away from partisanship and more in the direction of po...
This essay concludes the symposium by considering Howard J. Wiarda’s topical scholarship on grand... more This essay concludes the symposium by considering Howard J. Wiarda’s topical scholarship on grand theory, corporatism, democratization, and development, in addition to his regional scholarship, which focused on Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian politics but also touched on every other major region of the world, including U.S. politics and foreign policy making. We seek to makes sense of the tensions in Wiarda’s work, especially between his critiques of theoretical determinism and ethnocentrism on the one hand and his continual emphasis on cultural and corporatist explanations of comparative politics, on the other. We argue that he made significant contributions to the field through his service as a public intellectual, mobilization of multiple theoretical perspectives, use of inductive methods, provocative interpretations of comparative politics throughout the world, and accessibility to students and policy makers.
The Bolivarian process in Venezuela provides scholars two immediate and ongoing challenges. First... more The Bolivarian process in Venezuela provides scholars two immediate and ongoing challenges. First, unlike many other efforts to democratize, it is a case that is deliberately nonliberal. Second, its emphasis on the popular will has often been in tension with the outsized role of the leadership of Hugo Chávez and the use of state resources to advance interests shared unevenly in a heterogeneous coalition. In other words, scholarly explanations find support for both bottom-up and top-down explanations. These challenges are especially important given the decline of oil prices, the shift from Chávez to Maduro, and the intensification of political conflict in the past three years. The four books reviewed here offer valuable contributions to these questions and provide insight into the current political crisis in Venezuela.
China, The United States, and the Future of Latin America, 2017
US-Venezuelan relations display both confrontation and cooperation. Chinese relations with Venezu... more US-Venezuelan relations display both confrontation and cooperation. Chinese relations with Venezuela are a most likely case for rebellion against the global governance system over which the US presides. This chapter makes a structuralist argument, arguing that the way that the three countries are positioned within global and regional governance structures conditions the underlying character of their relations with each other. Simply put, the US, China, and Venezuela have very different interests and capabilities and their structural positions in South America explain why the increased Chinese presence in Venezuela is neither a threat to the US nor does it substantially aid Venezuelan intentions toward multi-polarizing the region or world. To make this argument, the chapter assumes that US foreign policy toward Venezuela is informed by its position as regional hegemon, Chinese foreign policy toward Venezuela is informed by its position as an extra-regional commercial state, and Venez...
Gotham is a fallen city. The city is not only violent but criminality is so entrenched that Gotha... more Gotham is a fallen city. The city is not only violent but criminality is so entrenched that Gotham’s problems are political, not simply criminal. In the 80 years since Bob Kane’s creation of Batman, Gotham has not improved. No matter how many times Batman upends a criminal enterprise, interrupts a one-off act of violence, or defeats super-villains bent on world domination, Gotham does not change. So how effective is Batman, really? Why does Batman limit himself to stopping crime, rather than seizing the state and running it properly (a la Lenin)? Curiously enough, Niccolo Machiavelli, often caricatured as a theorist of the unethical use of violence, can help explain this.
É recorrente o debate sobre governos de esquerda na América Latina. O presente artigo argumenta q... more É recorrente o debate sobre governos de esquerda na América Latina. O presente artigo argumenta que a distinção entre alguns regimes de esquerda na referida região é sintomática e passível de crítica na literatura acadêmica. Nesse sentido, o autor resgata as tipologias de Juan Linz, Larry Diamond e Peter Smith e Melissa Ziegler, bem como apresenta uma tipologia alternativa. Conforme essa tipologia, os governos de esquerda do Brasil, Chile e Venezuela podem ser caracterizados, respectivamente, como uma democracia liberal consolidada, uma república ligeiramente…
During the global economic crisis of the 1980s, dependency theory lost considerable academic weig... more During the global economic crisis of the 1980s, dependency theory lost considerable academic weight, while neoclassical models of economic growth gained currency. This shift was aided in the developing world by comparisons of the economic trajectories of East ...
El objetivo de este artículo es responder una pregunta básica que no sólo se hacen los brasileros... more El objetivo de este artículo es responder una pregunta básica que no sólo se hacen los brasileros, sino también personas en otros países en desarrollo en los cuales se sobrevaluaron las agendas de reforma liberales, la pregunta es: ¿por qué China ha crecido tan ...
Ferrari-Filho, Fernando;Spanakos, Anthony WHY ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE HAS DIFFERED BETWEEN BRAZIL AN... more Ferrari-Filho, Fernando;Spanakos, Anthony WHY ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE HAS DIFFERED BETWEEN BRAZIL AND CHINA? A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF BRAZILIAN AND CHINESE MACROECONOMIC POLICY Revista Venezolana de Análisis de Coyuntura, Vol. XV, ...
Partisan theories of political economy expect that bondholders will panic with the election of a ... more Partisan theories of political economy expect that bondholders will panic with the election of a left-wing presidential candidate. The latter seems to be what happened in Brazil in the 2002 presidential elections. However, quantitative analysis of perceptions of sovereign credit risk in Argentine, Brazilian, Mexican, and Venezuelan presidential elections from 1994 until 2007 shows no real evidence of a link between partisanship and perceptions of risk, even if the left-right divide is further broken down into left, center-left, center-right, right. Instead, international and domestic economic fundamentals have a stronger influence on risk evaluations. Qualitative analysis of the individual presidential elections shows the importance of policy uncertainty in explaining why certain electoral periods seemed more critical than others and how bondholders select between multiple equilibria. This research helps shift political analysis away from partisanship and more in the direction of po...
Scholars are divided over whether the emancipatory politics promised by new social movements can ... more Scholars are divided over whether the emancipatory politics promised by new social movements can be attained within civil society or whether seizure of the state apparatus is necessary. The Bolivarian Revolution led by President Hugo Chávez presents a crucial case for examining this question. Chávez’s use of the state apparatus has been fundamental in broadening the concept of citizenship, but this extension of citizenship has occurred alongside the deliberate exclusion of others. This has not only limited its appeal as a citizenship project but created counterpublics that challenge the functioning of the government and its very legitimacy. Analysis of Bolivarianism in terms of micropublics shows both how otherwise disparate micropublics fuse together and why their union remains contingent and dependent on the figure of Chávez, its most significant producer.
Comic book heroes often have their origins in noir depictions of failed or failing states. The da... more Comic book heroes often have their origins in noir depictions of failed or failing states. The danger involved and the seeming anarchy that necessitates superheroes recall Hobbes\u27s description of a state of nature and Leviathan as resolution. But comic book heroes generally inhabit states that are better identified by the Hobbes-inspired Carl Schmitt. Indeed, this articles argues that while the Hell\u27s Kitchen of Daredevil comics has some characteristics of a state of nature, it is better characterized by the protracted crisis of state that Schmitt sees in liberal democracies. Hobbes and Schmitt elucidate the crisis that generates the need for a superhero but fail to explain why the superhero does not simply take over the city. This is better explained by American concepts of heroism which emphasize redemption and walking away from power (Lawrence and Jewett 2002)
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