Contenu du sommaire : Émergents : le temps des désillusions

World transformations and China's new role. This paper analyses the main changes in the global economy as well as their effects on the real power of countries that have great potential power. The analysis of the evolution of effective power in the era of economic globalization deals with trade, productive, technological, monetary and financial dimensions. The main conclusions are: the relative increase of the economic power of China and the relative stability of the economic power of the United Sates after the crisis of 2008.

The Lion's Share: What's behind China's Economic Slowdown. Following the global crisis, the stimulus package of 2009-2010, with its huge expansion of credit, marked the end of « Cheap China », with the underpricing of labor, capital, land, energy and currency, and disproportionally shifted growth in favor of the public sector and real estate, the lion's share of the State-Party system. The present process of deleveraging must address the unprecedented inequities which derive from the bias in allocation of resources and the respective functions of the central and local governments.

The Internationalization of Chinese Firms: Growth, Drivers, Strategies. The internationalization of Chinese firms follows the arrival of foreign transnational corporations in China. They have greatly contributed to local firms catching up in terms of quality of products, innovation and technology appropriation. Motivations for internationalized firms are twofold: access to resources, both material (south) technology and brands (north), and the search for new markets. Internationalization is also an experiment: management of more complex systems and networks, innovation in products, management in highly competitive markets with some success, particularly in sectors requiring medium technologies, which is more difficult in markets with higher technologies.

The Dangers of the Chinese Real Estate Bubble. Since the mid-2000s, the Chinese real estate sector has undergone great expansion, but the bubble so formed is just the emerged part of deeper economic difficulties. Indeed, the control of property speculation seems very risky for the Chinese economy because this speculation reflects both the financial difficulties of the local authorities as well as more serious problems of profitability met by the production apparatus.

The Origins of the Emergence of Malaysia: the New Economic Policy, 1971-1990. Malaysia, as a multiethnic country, belongs to the Upper Middle Income Countries of Southeast Asia. From a colonial and post-colonial background, Malaysia emerged as an Asian economic Tiger during the very singular momentum of the New Economic Policy 1971-1990. This notable policy dealt with foreign investment and trade openness in order to build comparative advantage in the electronics sector. But the Malaysian New Economic Policy has been even more distinctive and successful because of Economic Planning and of the growing number of State-owned companies. Industrialization has been launched together with the objective of “restructuring Malaysian society”: the NEP intended to correct the structural imbalance between ethnic groups through affirmative action toward the Malay Muslim population. This paper goes back to the political origins of today's emerging Malaysia.

As the Rainbow Fades Away: Is South Africa an Emerging Country? South Africa's socio-economic performance does not confirm its widespread characterization as an “emerging” country. In contrast with the unconvincing argument that an imaginary rigid labour market acts as an obstacle to growth, this paper shows that structural changes, from premature deindustrialization to financialization, are the main reasons for South Africa's failed take-off, because they have reinforced the system of accumulation associated with the minerals-energy complex. The new elite associated with Black Economic Empowerment is more preoccupied with the reproduction than with the transformation of this system. This restructuring has been aided by neoliberal policies which have been adopted endogenously, continuing the orientation of the last years of apartheid.

Can the Middle Class Stimulate the Growth in Emerging Asian and Latin American Countries? One can observe a tendency to an increase in the middle class whatever the criterion of membership adopted. With a broad definition of the middle class, the vulnerable group tends to lose importance and the heterogeneity of this group increases. On the contrary, the choice of a narrow definition of the middle class limits its “catch all” character. Some economists see in this rise of the middle class an opportunity to spur economic growth in the emergent economies. Others consider that the rise of the middle class comes from growth and that a virtuous circle could exist between growth and middle class. Within the framework of a controlled globalization, these two theses are erroneous: a redistribution of incomes in favour of the most underprivileged sectors can increase growth.

Economic Growth in the French Overseas Regions: A Literature Review. An important literature has developed on the economic growth of small insular economies. In France, this literature mainly concerns its overseas' departments and territories in order to determine their long-term competitiveness and growth mechanisms. This paper aims to propose a critical literature review on small islands' economic growth, in order to propose a change of focus for further analysis.

Common citizenship in the neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires. Grassroots organizations and publicization of issues of everyday life. The paper examines the relationship between the State, grassroots organizations and social classes on a local scale by analyzing the forms of publicization of issues of everyday life. The pragmatist analysis of a middle class and a working class neighbourhood in Greater Buenos Aires enables an understanding of issues encountered by the residents and the different ways in which these problematic situations are being solved. Comparing the emergence of public problems, political cultures and collective configurations in both neighbourhoods highlights the coexistence of local public arenas that take part in the constitution of a more extensive public space in Greater Buenos Aires.

Manna, norms and suspicion, the contradictions of aid seen from below. Cash transfers in Africa exhibit many contradictions specific to development aid and humanitarian aid. The norms defined by international institutions and NGOs for accessing such “manna” are in fact not approved by local beneficiaries, who nevertheless keep quiet, while smoothly circumventing the rules. Any public good delivered by aid agencies faces such an implementation gap, all the more so since blueprint approaches are privileged, without taking into account local institutions. The context of aid-driven public policies is one of exacerbated normative pluralism and multiple inconsistencies.