?
Возможности трансплантации политических институтов при торговле технологиями: результаты сетевого анализа в сравнительной перспективе
The study aims to analyze the network structure of trade relations in 38 countries and is based on data from the World Trade Organization. The popular concept of digitalization drives the focus of the study on technology trade. Comparative logic is implemented by analyzing networks for two time periods: 2013 and 2019. The analysis of trade networks of countries allows resolving the existing contradiction about the impact of international trade on the institutions’ transplantation. On the one hand, it argues that international trade enhances the transplantation of institutions and leads to democratization. On the other, it claims that authoritarian regimes can apply and develop technologies without exposing their own regime to change threats. As a result, it was established that the autocracies occupied positions similar to those of democracies in both periods. The Russian Federation occupies a leading position in the network structure of trade relations. There is no isolating attitude towards autocracies; moreover, a regime practically does not play a role in trade relations. Over the past six years, the countries’ positions in trade relations have not changed despite a radical change in the political discourse regarding the Russian Federation and China. The results of the network analysis allowed mapping the international technology trade landscape. Authoritarian states are not “outcasts” but rather active participants in international trade relations without exposing the internal authoritarian regime to threats (the regime’s adaptation and the stability of authoritarian institutions). In other words, “business is business” despite the regime differences. Another assumption of the study was that the transplanting process of authoritarian institutions is more successful than that of democratic institutions. This as- sumption requires an independent and more detailed study in the future. However, it has an empirical basis and looks promising in the context of the explanatory power of modern politiical processes in different countries.