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Phenomenal WorldPhenomenal World is a publication focused on political economy. We publish rigorous and innovative writing on economics, history, policy, and politics.Phenomenal World Phenomenal  World About Most Read Sources Series Events enPTes Search for: Menu en PTes February 27, 2025 Analysis The Canal Zone Panama’s transit-oriented development model remains subjugated to imperial interests Camilo Lopez , Danilo Rivera Trump’s vows to “take back” the Canal are part of a broader push to return to the heyday of American expansionism, throughout which Panama served as a key neocolonial outpost. Over the past two decades, Panamanian control of the canal has solidified the consensus around the country’s transit-oriented developmental model, but it has failed to… Read the full article Longform March 13, 2025 Analysis Mercenary State The apartheid-era roots of South Africa’s powerful military and security complex Ilham Rawoot One of the greatest remnants of South Africa’s apartheid state is a vast securitization complex. South African militarization is now “exported” through a privatized network of military services and weapons sales for a host of different clients, including states, multinational… March 11, 2025 Analysis The Real Economy Methodological imperialism and the science of wealth Jonathan Levy No discipline in the humanities or social sciences today has a convincing theory of the economy. Long preoccupied with honing methods, the core of the discipline of economics has abandoned investigation into what the economy really is. Preoccupied with either… March 7, 2025 Analysis Concentration Spiral The growing power of Colombia’s banks Sofia Ocampo , Cristian Medina, Andrés Mojica In Colombia, economic and political power is concentrated in the hands of a few major economic players. From 2000 to 2022, thirteen conglomerates have risen to dominate the sector, shaping profitability, access to credit, and pricing. These conglomerates not only contain… February 27, 2025 Interviews Inflation in the World-System An interview with Margarita Fajardo on CEPAL Sammy Feldblum Across the world, parties governing amid the post-pandemic rise in prices have found themselves punished at the ballot box. While typified solutions revolve around fiscal discipline, many critics are returning to dependency theory to argue that inflation must be understood… February 21, 2025 Analysis Controlling Capital Inflation targeting and external vulnerabilities in the Brazilian economy Fernando Rugitsky Central banks are back in the spotlight. After more than three decades of low inflation in rich countries, the rise in prices observed between 2021 and 2023 forced academic discussions into the public sphere. Such debates are not restricted to… February 18, 2025 Reviews Democratic Decarbonization? Sandeep Vaheesan’s new book maps the structures of power that business holds over the US electricity grid Ben Kodres-O’Brien Electricity, it has become widely recognized, is the key to surviving the twenty-first century. Not only is it required for air-conditioning during worsening heatwaves, it also is one of the only ways we already know to produce large amounts of… February 11, 2025 Interviews Party Bus An interview with André Singer on the right, party politics, and Brazil’s position in the world Hugo Fanton While the world’s attention was focused on the United States presidential election that would deliver Donald Trump a decisive victory and a second Presidency, Brazil’s municipal elections in October were signalling the political balance for the coming years within the… February 6, 2025 Interviews Recycled Liberalism An interview with Marta Castilho on the EU–Mercosur trade agreement Maria Fernanda Sikorski Since 1999, the European Union (EU) and Mercosur have been negotiating a bi-regional partnership agreement comprising three pillars: trade, cooperation, and political dialogue. A quarter century later, in December 2024, the parties announced the conclusion of negotiations during the Mercosur… February 5, 2025 Analysis After the Diamond Rush South Africa and the internationalization of mineral extraction Duncan Money For over 150 years, mining has constituted a core feature of the South African economy. The seemingly inexhaustible bounty of the earth made the country the wealthiest in the continent and financed one of the most all-encompassing systems of racial… January 30, 2025 Analysis State and Development Contemporary industrial policy and challenges for the Brazilian economy Carlos Aguiar de Medeiros The world economy has seen a resurgence of industrial policy in recent decades. National development programs are at the center of a variety of polarizing geopolitical axes: carbon emissions, world manufacturing shares, and integration into rival trade and investment blocs.… Shortform February 28, 2025 Analysis Europe Enters Its Metal Era What kind of Europe survives a fractured transatlantic military alliance? Kate Mackenzie , Tim Sahay This month, Trump entered into formal talks with Russia—without Kyiv’s consent—to settle the war in Ukraine, largely on Putin’s terms. And on Friday, speaking with Zelensky in the Oval Office, he and his Vice President JD Vance performed as imperial… February 22, 2025 Analysis How to DOGE USAID The Wall Street Consensus under Trump Daniela Gabor We often hear that the new Trump administration inaugurates the age of technofeudalism. But the gutting of USAID represents a continuity from the Biden years. DOGE is turbo-charging the lesser known but increasingly dominant agenda within development finance: “mobilizing private… February 13, 2025 Analysis Oil in the Imperial Periphery Brunei’s unlikely path to independence Naosuke Mukoyama The majority of the nearly two hundred sovereign states that exist today were born through decolonization following the end of the Second World War. With the colonial metropole fearing the emergence of unstable and unviable states, smaller territories were often… February 6, 2025 Analysis Slashing the State Argentina under Milei’s chainsaw Pablo Pryluka Unlike on economic issues, where Milei’s agenda made swift concessions to macrismo, his cultural and ideological crusade only escalated once in power. January 31, 2025 Analysis Polycrisis 2025 Diplomacy, finance, and extraction in the year ahead Kate Mackenzie , Tim Sahay, Lara Merling The United States will be a source of chaos and volatility for the next several years. The first month of 2025 has set the scene. Events so far have included imperial gangsterism against both a poor Latin American country (Colombia)… December 18, 2024 Analysis Transfer and Transition Technology transfer and green industrial transformation Benjamin Bradlow , Alexandros Kentikelenis Over the past years of escalating trade disputes between China and the US, the latter has repeatedly highlighted a practice it considers anathema: technology transfers that US companies need to offer to their Chinese collaborators if they want to do… December 18, 2024 Analysis America First? Escalation and reverberations in the trade war Kate Mackenzie , Lara Merling The reelection of Donald Trump to the presidency has sent shockwaves around the world. And just hours after results came in, the ruling three-party German coalition government, which had been teetering for months, collapsed. The survival of dominant political coalitions in… October 16, 2024 Analysis Breaking Up Google Antitrust, competition, and the intricacies of monopoly Cecilia Rikap In late August, Judge Amit P. Mehta of US District Court for the District of Columbia found Google guilty of maintaining an illegal monopoly in online search. Google had paid billions to device manufacturers and browser developers—including Apple, Samsung and… October 11, 2024 Analysis Marshall Plans New green industrial diplomacy? Kate Mackenzie , Tim Sahay At September’s UN General Assembly in New York, Brazil’s President Lula described the international financial system as a “Marshall Plan in reverse” in which the poorest countries finance the richest. Driving the point home, Lula thundered, “African countries borrow at… October 9, 2024 Analysis Adaptation in the Sanctioned Economy Domestic manufacturing, overcapacity, and the limits of Iran’s economic resilience Esfandyar Batmanghelidj , Barzin Jafartash The oil boom of the late 2000s created significant headwinds for Iranian manufacturers. As the value of oil exports surged, the Iranian rial appreciated, real wages rose, and foreign goods flooded the Iranian market. Middle-class families relished in their newfound… Read all articles From the Archives 3 articles The Trump administration’s drastic shift on the US’s approach to the war in Ukraine has unleashed a reckoning about European power—its internal fissures and path dependencies, its security guarantee from the United States, and its freedom of movement on the world diplomatic stage. Three pieces from the archive mine enduring political fractures regarding Europe and its place in the twenty-first century. February 6, 2025 Interviews Recycled Liberalism An interview with Marta Castilho on the EU–Mercosur trade agreement Maria Fernanda Sikorski Editor’s Note: Amidst talk of a new protectionism, trade volumes and their regulation continue to expand and shape new political configurations. In December 2024, the EU and Mercosur concluded a decades-long negotiation process on a bi-regional trade agreement. In an interview, Marta Castilho discusses the agreement’s potential consequences for European markets and South American industry. Read the full article March 25, 2023 Reviews No Alternative? On Fritz Bartel’s The Triumph of Broken Promises Max Krahé Editor’s Note: Historian Fritz Bartel argues that the success of the North Atlantic capitalist world in the ending of the Cold War was contingent on their superior ability to break democratic promises and rewrite their social contracts. Reviewing Bartel’s book, Max Krahe asks: what kind of politics will emerge as the era of broken promises enters its own period of disintegration? Read the full article June 29, 2023 Analysis Carbon Budget versus Fiscal Budget What’s at stake in the fiscal rules debate? Kate Mackenzie , Tim Sahay Editor’s Note: Any shift in Europe’s coordination and military expenditures would mark a sea change from the unequal and austere status quo of the continent’s fiscal politics. Kate Mackenzie and Tim Sahay explain the persistent paralysis from the point of view of climate coordination. Read the full article Subscribe to Phenomenal World Sources, a weekly digest of recommended readings across the social sciences. See the full Sources archive. *Indicates required Email Address* First Name Last Name How did you hear about us? PW Sources (Saturday digest of recommended readings) ‘PW Updates (New post alerts)’ The Polycrisis (Climate and Political Economy with Kate Mackenzie and Tim Sahay) Series The Polycrisis 53 articles The Politics of the Price Level 5 articles Social Democracy 14 articles Millennial Student Debt 6 articles Market Microstructures 9 articles Series are collections of works published by Phenomenal World on a single subject or area of research. Series are commissioned to analyze particular issues or historical moments, and are either ongoing projects or collected as one-time volumes. Browse all Featured Series 53 articles The Polycrisis The Polycrisis is a newsletter and a series of essays and panels exploring intersecting crises with a particular emphasis on the political economy of climate change and global North/South dynamics. It is edited by Tim Sahay and Kate Mackenzie. Follow The Polycrisis on Twitter here.  Europe Enters Its Metal Era What kind of Europe survives a fractured transatlantic military alliance? Kate Mackenzie , Tim Sahay This month, Trump entered into formal talks with Russia—without Kyiv’s consent—to settle the war in Ukraine, largely on Putin’s terms. And on Friday, speaking with Zelensky in the Oval Office, he and his Vice President JD Vance performed as imperial… Polycrisis 2025 Diplomacy, finance, and extraction in the year ahead Kate Mackenzie , Tim Sahay, Lara Merling The United States will be a source of chaos and volatility for the next several years. The first month of 2025 has set the scene. Events so far have included imperial gangsterism against both a poor Latin American country (Colombia)… See the full series Sign-up for PW Sources to get recommended readings and new post alerts First Name Last Name Email Address* PW Sources (Saturday digest of recommended readings) 'PW Updates (New post alerts)' The Polycrisis (Climate and Political Economy with Kate Mackenzie and Tim Sahay) * indicates required × Navigation Homepage About Series Sources All Articles Most Read Events Privacy Policy Contact Jain Family Institute All rights reserved. 568 Broadway, Suite 601 New York, NY, 10012 jfi@jainfamilyinstitute.org Privacy Policy Cookie Policy Subscribe Subscribe to Phenomenal World Sources, a weekly digest of compelling research across the social sciences. Design & Development by Partner & Partnersenusen-US1770213121https://phenomenalworld.org

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