Structural adjustment programs of the IMF are often blamed for disrupting social relations by forcing austerity on vulnerable people and introducing unpopular liberalization policies. Some suggest that such interventions harm ethnic relations in developing countries because they are insensitive...

The global economic downturn has heightened concerns about intervention by global financial institutions and the maintenance of political stability. At least one, prominently-published article purports to show that signing on to an IMF structural adjustment program (SAP) increases the risk of...

Liberals argue that globalization, or growing interdependence among states, will transform societies towards more liberal values reflected in better respect for human rights. Skeptics of globalization, among them Marxists, critical theorists, and a large portion of the NGO community, see...

Some argue that the ‘natural resource curse' does not occur if countries have better institutions. Rulers with access to resource wealth, however, are unlikely to make institutional changes that might undermine their discretionary power. We examine this proposition by testing whether countries...

Scholars of armed conflict generally focus on motive and opportunity as analytical categories for narrowing down causes, much the same way as investigators of crime narrow down a list of suspects (Poe, 2004; Gartzke, 2005; Collier, 2000; Most and Starr, 1989; de Soysa, 2002). Social and individual grievances of...

Some propose that the rise of right-wing populism in many industrial democracies is due to economic insecurities stemming from globalization — the so-called “race to the bottom” argument. They suggest that greater social protection can cushion society from communal disharmony. Others...

This article tests the hypothesis that higher women’s economic and social rights in foreign countries with which a country is connected via trade and FDI spill-over into higher rights among the laggards — a phenomenon known as spatial dependence. Analyzing women’s rights over the period...

Globalization critics are concerned that increased trade openness and foreign direct investment exacerbate existing economic disadvantages of women and foster conditions for forced labor. Defenders of globalization argue instead that as countries become more open and competition intensifies,...

While democracy's effect on economic growth has come under intense empirical scrutiny, its effect on economic sustainability has been noticeably neglected. We assess the effects of regime type and democratic institutional design on economic, or "weak" sustainability. Sustainability requires that...

While many herald globalization - the increasing interconnectedness of national economies - to be associated with rising standards of living across the globe, others fear its effects on sustainability. Anti-globalization forces and environmentalists view these developments as a threat to the...