The World Bank on Mind,Behaviour and Society

This article critically analyses the use of psychological and behavioural knowledge in development policy and practice with reference to the World Development Report 2015. It examines the main proposition of the WDR 2015, highlighting the behavioural change framework and policy techniques promoted in the report. The shifts that have taken place in development policy are reviewed from a governmentality perspective which offers a critical view on the psychological and behavioural focus in contemporary development policy. The article focuses specifically on the behavioural techniques the WDR 2015 promotes to show how a certain kind of subjectivity is advanced which not only homogenizes and problematizes non‐Western knowledge systems, subjectivities and agency, but also justifies the economization of social life through development.     

文化、权力与世界历史—兼评埃里克·沃尔夫《欧洲与没有历史的人民》

本文以埃里克·沃尔夫的《欧洲与没有历史的人民》为切入点,探讨了世界历史研究中的文化、权力等问题。文章以唯物史观为理论指导,首先批评了将文化理解为固定的、单一的和以自我为中心的错误观念,指出只有将文化视为开放和互动的系统,才能真正认识世界历史中复杂的联系。同时,文章也分析了世界历史编纂中"欧洲中心主义"背后所体现的知识与权力的纠结,以及欧洲是怎样运用它在知识上的这一权力去书写以自我为中心的世界历史的。在此基础上,文章提出世界历史研究应注意地区性历史与全球性历史的结合,既要看到全球性力量所带来的巨变,也要关注各种地区性力量在这一过程中起到的作用。唯如此,才能理解世界历史中统一性与多样性的联系,而不会将之看成是"欧洲中心"的力量在其中起主导作用的过程。     

Capital, State and Space: Contesting the Borderless World

The globalization of economic activities and transnational corporations (TNCs) has led us to think that we are entering a 'borderless' world. Some prophets of globalization argue that it has led to the end of geography. To them, the state has ceased to be an institution capable of exerting influences on the activities of transnational capital, which has also become increasingly 'placeless'. This paper aims to contest the issue of the alleged end-state discourse of a 'borderless' world. It argues that, despite the accelerated processes of globalization, national boundaries still matter in the decision-making and global reach of capital. The notion of a 'borderless' world is more folklore than reality. Based on theoretical and empirical literature in international political economy and business studies, the paper offers a dialectical perspective that examines the changing relationship between capital and the state, and the embedded relationship between capital and space in the organization of the global space-economy. Together, both arguments point to the importance of understanding dynamic transformations of the global economy, before considering its globalization tendencies.