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Possible topics for final article in B391 include:

Role of the State in Political Economy (United States and United Kingdom)

In the 20th century, these times of struggle came to the United States starting around the 1930s. On Monday October 28, 1929, also known now as Black Monday, the United States stock market experienced the greatest drop in the market since the late 1860s, creating a unrecoverable market for nearly 10 years. This great drop in the market, though arguably could have been for a number of different reasons, was largely due to the conservative, minimal government involvement, economic policies put in place during Herbert Hoover’s presidency; policies that would very soon be completely turned around if not abandoned. This time in American history is known today as The Great Depression, a time that set the stage for many historical events and presidents soon to come and a time that would begin the movement and topic of the role of the state in economic affairs across the globe. In 1933, right in the peak of the financial crisis in the United States, Americans elected their 32nd president, Franklin D. Roosevelt. Because the country was in such great financial unrest, Roosevelt made one of his first acts as President; he shut down the United States banking system in response to the Banking Crisis of 1933. He explained his reason for doing this as creating a, “nation-wide bank holiday,” with the intention of this time and holiday period to allow time for the government to mend the economic and financial status of the nation. In doing this, one of FDR’s steps or goals within the process was to ask congress to expand his power as president in order for him to ensure the crisis would be eased and mended. Following this act as president and head of the state, Roosevelt continued expanding his power as president, and the power of the United States government in turn, throughout his time as president. Following his response to the Banking Crisis of 1933, Roosevelt enacted a series of programs, known as the New Deal. These programs were FDR’s experimental attempt to remedy the financial and economic crisis and status of the United States at the time and they were somewhat controversial in nature because they encouraged the expansion of federal power. In fact, the Supreme Court shut down some aspects of the New Deal practices for the reason of the practices and programs being too much of an expansion of presidential and federal power. Similar situations occurred all throughout FDR’s presidency, marking him one of the most historic presidents in regards to presidential power in the United States. The point being here in this paragraph is that due to national and global events that accorded during the 20th century, American leaders, specifically Franklin D. Roosevelt, found that the expansion of the role of the state in economic affairs was the key to success and reconstruction.

Across the Atlantic ocean, in the United Kingdom, British leaders were beginning to have similar sentiments toward economic reconstruction and increasing the role of the state in the economy. In the time of the 1930s, as stated above, the United States went through a traumatizing and influential economic crash resulting in an expansion of federal government, and it was an event that nations were watching all across the world. The United Kingdom had been experiencing very similar economic and welfare struggles in their nation and for their people from the 1920s and up until the 1930s. Seeing the improvements the United States had made in the economic sphere due to a growth in the role of the state and federal government involvement, the United Kingdom decided to act; a reaction and movement streamlined by the new British Labor Party. Soon though, after the United States came out of their Great Depression and Britain began to attempt to maintain their struggles, World War II broke out. It swept through the globe from 1939 to 1945, leaving in its path a great deal of economically broken countries; one being the United Kingdom. In this time though, Britain rallied its government and economic forces in order to support the war effort. In this effort, the country found itself performing more efficiently than it had all throughout the 1920 to the 1930s. This movement and effort served to disprove the laissez-faire economic beliefs and ideals of previous British economists like Adam Smith, and gave way to the British Labor Party economists and politicians in their effort to rebuild the British government and economic policies. In doing this, the United Kingdom, by enforcing and expanding the role of the state, grew its economic system, economic policies, and its welfare state. The UK succeeded in doing this by having the work of the United States and Franklin D. Roosevelt and the British Labor Party leading the way for the nation.

On a more recent scale, the role of the state in the economies of both the United Kingdom and the United States have come back around, from about the 1960s to today, to what it they were before the Great Depression and World War II. As Antonio Martino explains in his article on economic policy and lessons, the role of the state and the power of the state has been a commanding force in the history of the world. This commanding force of national leaders and expanded government across the globe though led to a great deal of uncertainty and skepticism. On the United States side of this history, from the early 1960s and into the 1980s, there was a great deal of this kind of skepticism growing amongst the American people. Scandals and a controversial war, like the Vietnam War and the Watergate scandal, created for a government distrusting population. Because of this grown skepticism and distrust, the American people began to really push back on the idea of an expanded government and presidential power, and they began to lean toward the side of laissez-faire economics, which also became known as “Reaganomics” in the 1980s during Ronald Reagan’s term as the 40th president of the United States. Though the United States has gone through five presidents since Reagan’s time, this sort of economic policy can still be seen in, and debated over in, the American economic and political sphere.

In the United Kingdom today, the role of the state saw a very similar history over the course of the later years of the 20th century. Post World War II economics called for a great deal of government involvement, but very quickly after that, starting around the 1960s Keynsian ideals led the way for a more laissez-faire economic policies. Thatcherism took stride in the 1970s. Margaret Thatcher, the Great Britain Prime Minister in the late 1970s, had firm beliefs that free-market and minimal government involvement in the economy was the way to go about economic policy. The role of the state began to pull back and lessen. Today, the role of the state in economics for the United Kingdom is a topic that is heavily debated, like it is in the United States. This is seen in an article that addressed the need for modern day Britain to makes stride and decisions about what they wanted as nation in terms of state involvement.

T325 Article:

Adding to "Japanese pop culture" page

Marketing and Packaging Techniques

A great theme seen across these three Asian countries and their rise in pop culture globalization is their way of packaging their individual cultural images. This common theme seen in these countries is the role of the government in the packaging the pop culture. Each of these countries packaged their culture in their image in a way to show the nations as “soft powers.” “Soft power,” a term described by Iwabuchi in a piece called Pop-culture Diplomacy in Japan: soft power, nation branding and the question of ‘international cultural exchange’, described a way of marketing and packaging a nation as a nation of commerce and “pop culture diplomacy;” This is as opposed to a nation that markets itself as a militarily focused and driven country/nation. One of the first places this can be seen is in Japan. In the attempt at cultural globalization, Japan found themselves having to change their image as a nation to some extent. Because of its actions in World War II, invading other Asian nations and militarily commanding the Asian culture, the Japanese found themselves having to rebuild their national image; moving away from a national image of military dominance and into an image of cultural diplomacy. Initiated by the Japanese government, the creation of the “soft power” image emerged, and Japan began to sell its pop culture as its new non-military image in order to promote its own culture and reestablish healthy and peaceful diplomacy with other nations.