De-globalization, now a distinct possibility, would induce a significant qualitative shift in strategies, structures, and behaviors observable in international business (IB). Coming to terms with this qualitative shift would require IB research to develop a much deeper integration of politics, the key driver of de-globalization. To support such integration, this paper introduces two relevant theories of (de-)globalization from political science, liberalism and realism. Both predict de-globalization under current conditions but lead to different expectations about the future world economy: liberalism suggests a patchwork of economic linkages, while realism predicts the emergence of economic blocs around major countries. This paper discusses the resulting opportunities in three areas of IB research: political strategies and roles of multinational enterprises (MNEs), global value chains, and the role of the national context. For political strategies and roles, there is a need to explore how regular business activities and deliberate political agency of MNEs affect the political sustainability of globalization. For value chains, questions include their future reach and specialization, changes in organizational forms, and the impact of political considerations on location decisions. Research opportunities on national contexts relate to their ability to sustain globalization and their connection with economic and military power.
Effective household solid waste management remains a critical challenge in many rapidly urbanising Nigerian towns, with significant implications for environmental quality and public health. This study assessed the drivers, characteristics, and management of household solid waste in Iwo, Nigeria, with a view to understanding their sustainability implications. A stratified sampling approach was adopted, using political divisions as strata to ensure representative coverage, while systematic sampling was conducted along residential streets within each stratum. Where a household declined participation, the next accessible household was selected. Using this approach, 636 households were surveyed with structured questionnaires, and the data were analysed using descriptive statistics and factor analysis to identify key determinants of waste generation and management practices. The findings revealed that organic and food waste dominate household waste streams, averaging 1.5 rice sacks per household per week, whereas plastics, paper, and packaging materials were less prevalent. Factor analysis extracted four principal components explaining 70.1% of total variance, namely household consumption patterns (RCM = 85.3%; eigenvalue = 2.615), social events and festivities (RCM = 72.5%; eigenvalue = 1.927), seasonal variations (RCM = 81.7%; eigenvalue = 1.232), and sources of household consumables (RCM = 90.9%; eigenvalue = 1.214). Waste management practices were largely informal, with households relying on community dumping points, itinerant collectors, and limited municipal services. Economic incentives, particularly the sale of recyclables, motivated 49.1% of respondents, while environmental awareness and regulatory compliance accounted for less than 5%. In addition, spatial and infrastructural constraints, including blocked drainage channels and semi-urban expansion, exacerbated flooding and vector-borne disease risks. These findings align with the Waste Management Hierarchy Theory and the Pressure–State–Response Framework, demonstrating that household behaviours both drive and respond to environmental pressures. The study therefore underscores the need to expand formal waste management services, integrate informal actors, promote household recycling and composting, and improve drainage infrastructure to enhance environmental quality and sustainability in Iwo.
Valeria Widler, Barbara Kaminska, Andre C. R. Martins
et al.
The increasing polarization in democratic societies is an emergent outcome of political opinion dynamics. Yet, the fundamental mechanisms behind the formation of political opinions, from individual beliefs to collective consensus, remain unknown. Understanding that a causal mechanism must account for both bottom-up and top-down influences, we conceptualize political opinion dynamics as hierarchical coarse-graining, where microscale opinions integrate into a macro-scale state variable. Using the CODA (Continuous Opinions Discrete Actions) model, we simulate Bayesian opinion updating, social identity-based information integration, and migration between social identity groups to represent higher-level connectivity. This results in coarse-graining across micro, meso, and macro levels. Our findings show that higher-level connectivity shapes information integration, yielding three regimes: independent (disconnected, local convergence), parallel (fast, global convergence), and iterative (slow, stepwise convergence). In the iterative regime, low connectivity fosters transient diversity, indicating an informed consensus. In all regimes, time-scale separation leads to downward causation, where agents converge on the aggregate majority choice, driving consensus. Critically, any degree of coherent higher-level information integration can overcome misalignment via global downward causation. The results highlight how emergent properties of the causal mechanism, such as downward causation, are essential for consensus and may inform more precise investigations into polarized political discourse.