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Papers by Roy William Cobby

Research paper thumbnail of Searching for sustainability in the digital agriculture debate: an alternative approach for a systemic transition

Teknokultura, 2020

One of the key challenges for agriculture today is feeding an increasing population without contr... more One of the key challenges for agriculture today is feeding an increasing population without contributing to climate change. Increasingly, digital agriculture is discussed as a new sociotechnical regime that could help limit emissions for farmers worldwide. While sustainability is an important issue, recent papers in the field of digital agriculture do not address the problem directly. After a literature review, this paper will focus on the importance of shared perspectives as enablers in socio-technical transitions. This paper argues that the myth of the digital sublime could act in favour of the existing and unsustainable model of agriculture. This is partly a result of hardware production and connectivity already being resource-intensive. Precisely because of this high environmental impact, the following discussion will employ the legacy of the Green Revolution to highlight the importance of precaution in deploying digital agriculture. In theory, in order to address the shortcomings of the current system, private sector companies are developing proprietary software solutions that could in practice entrench unsustainable business models. As an alternative, this paper suggests, existing open-source platforms that encourage not-for-profit collaborations between farmers should be scaled up. Through bottom-up processes, future researchers and developers should seek ways to place sustainability at the centre of their analyses, and encourage the adoption of practices that can be tailored to the diverse needs of farmers. Ultimately, stakeholders in digital agriculture should understand that sustainability principles must be encoded at all stages in the deployment of digital agriculture technologies.

Research paper thumbnail of The uneven and combined development of anti-systemic movements: the international roots of May ’68

Mayo del 68 / 50 años después, 2020

A chapter within "Devenires de un Acontecimiento: mayo del 68 cincuenta años después", developed ... more A chapter within "Devenires de un Acontecimiento: mayo del 68 cincuenta años después", developed from different contributions to Unversidad Complutense's Congress on the subject. The paper traces the origins of the global revolt employing the framework from my MSc thesis. Rather than focusing on exclusively local or exclusively global features of May 68, a long-term transnational and Polanyian perspective explains why diverse constituencies across the Global North and South decided to strike at the same time.

Book Reviews by Roy William Cobby

Research paper thumbnail of Review -  The art of economic catch-up. Barriers, detours and leapfrogging in innovation systems.

Eurasian Geography and Economics, 2020

Student Dissertations by Roy William Cobby

Research paper thumbnail of MSc Dissertation: The Historical and Transnational Origins of Contemporary Austerity: Uncovering the Agency, Space and International Regimes Behind Southern European Peripheralisation 2017

This was my MSc Dissertation, which showed how sympathetic and negative accounts of austerity fai... more This was my MSc Dissertation, which showed how sympathetic and negative accounts of austerity fail to acknowledge the crucial role of social embeddedness of economic policy. Thus, with the help of
heterodox political economy, a transnational historical framework for understanding contemporary processes of economic adjustment will be developed. This focuses on the agents, spaces, and international regimes that have shaped the insertion of the GIPS (Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain) in the global economy. It argues that, taking
off for the first time precisely in the late 1800s, these countries suffered a combination of unprecedented domestic conflict and external competition. In particular, combined relative isolation within their considerable proximity to the core of Europe’s most developed countries. The analysis will show that these nations have stagnated over time, and are now becoming peripheralized.

Research paper thumbnail of BSc Dissertation The European Left and the Crisis Years 2014

This dissertation will trace back the current “renaissance” of the Left in Europe, particularly i... more This dissertation will trace back the current “renaissance” of the Left in Europe, particularly in Spain and Greece. The goal is to question a dominating narrative: that it has been mainly the economic crisis, and the rejection of austerity by Southern Europeans, that have propped up radical movements and parties. This was notably seen with some analysis of the results of the 2014 European elections, which conflated in the same “radical” constellation actors as different as Marine Le Pen and Alexis Tsipras. To the contrary, it will be argued that the seemingly ‘new’ proposals taking the scene in squares and demonstrations across the continent are rooted in enduring debates within the Left.
First, the problem of Left Melancholy after 1989, as a symbolic year of defeat, will be confronted. Secondly, the construction of a new ontology capable of ‘rehabilitating’ communism will be accounted for. Thirdly, there will be a comparison between two two ways of understanding political transformation: the spontaneous ‘Multitude’ against the ‘Hegemonic’ People. Finally, insights from every chapter will come together in the conclusion to discuss the rise of Syriza and Podemos. Above all, there are two key conclusions: 1. The post-Marxist Left is fundamentally plural and undefined, which makes it stronger. 2. The current events taking place in Europe could signal a sequence of revolution comparable to the ‘pink tide’.

articles by Roy William Cobby

Research paper thumbnail of Searching for sustainability in the digital agriculture debate: an alternative approach for a systemic transition

Searching for sustainability in the digital agriculture debate: an alternative approach for a systemic transition, 2020

Uno de los desafíos principales para la agricultura contemporánea es alimentar a una población cr... more Uno de los desafíos principales para la agricultura contemporánea es alimentar a una población creciente sin contribuir al cambio climático. En tiempos recientes, la agricultura digital es un nuevo régimen sociotécnico que podría ayudar a granjeros de todo el mundo a reducir emisiones. Aunque la sostenibilidad es un asunto importante, artículos recientes en el campo de la agricultura digital no se dedican al problema directamente. Tras una revisión de la literatura, este artículo se centrará en la importancia de las perspectivas compartidas como facilitadores de transiciones sociotécnicas. Este artículo propone que el mito de lo sublime digital podría actuar a favor del actual e insostenible modelo agrícola. Esto es en parte el resultado de que la producción de hardware y la conectividad ya consuman muchos recursos. Precisamente como resultado de este alto impacto medioambiental, la discusión posterior empleará el legado de la Revolución Verde para subrayar la importancia de la precaución ante el desarrollo de la agricultura digital. Teóricamente para subsanar los problemas del sistema actual, compañías privadas están desarrollando soluciones basadas en software patentado que podrían en la práctica sostener prácticas insostenibles. Como alternativa, este artículo sugiere reforzar el papel de plataformas abiertas que promueven colaboraciones sin ánimo de lucro entre granjeros. A través de procesos de abajo a arriba, futuros investigadores y desarrolladores deberían buscar maneras de colocar la sostenibilidad en el centro de sus análisis y promover actividades que puedan adaptarse a las necesidades diversas de los granjeros. En última instancia, los participantes de la agricultura digital deberán entender que los principios de sostenibilidad habrán de ser programados en cada etapa de desarrollo de tecnologías de agricultura digital.

Research paper thumbnail of Searching for sustainability in the digital agriculture debate: an alternative approach for a systemic transition

Teknokultura, 2020

One of the key challenges for agriculture today is feeding an increasing population without contr... more One of the key challenges for agriculture today is feeding an increasing population without contributing to climate change. Increasingly, digital agriculture is discussed as a new sociotechnical regime that could help limit emissions for farmers worldwide. While sustainability is an important issue, recent papers in the field of digital agriculture do not address the problem directly. After a literature review, this paper will focus on the importance of shared perspectives as enablers in socio-technical transitions. This paper argues that the myth of the digital sublime could act in favour of the existing and unsustainable model of agriculture. This is partly a result of hardware production and connectivity already being resource-intensive. Precisely because of this high environmental impact, the following discussion will employ the legacy of the Green Revolution to highlight the importance of precaution in deploying digital agriculture. In theory, in order to address the shortcomings of the current system, private sector companies are developing proprietary software solutions that could in practice entrench unsustainable business models. As an alternative, this paper suggests, existing open-source platforms that encourage not-for-profit collaborations between farmers should be scaled up. Through bottom-up processes, future researchers and developers should seek ways to place sustainability at the centre of their analyses, and encourage the adoption of practices that can be tailored to the diverse needs of farmers. Ultimately, stakeholders in digital agriculture should understand that sustainability principles must be encoded at all stages in the deployment of digital agriculture technologies.

Research paper thumbnail of The uneven and combined development of anti-systemic movements: the international roots of May ’68

Mayo del 68 / 50 años después, 2020

A chapter within "Devenires de un Acontecimiento: mayo del 68 cincuenta años después", developed ... more A chapter within "Devenires de un Acontecimiento: mayo del 68 cincuenta años después", developed from different contributions to Unversidad Complutense's Congress on the subject. The paper traces the origins of the global revolt employing the framework from my MSc thesis. Rather than focusing on exclusively local or exclusively global features of May 68, a long-term transnational and Polanyian perspective explains why diverse constituencies across the Global North and South decided to strike at the same time.

Research paper thumbnail of Review -  The art of economic catch-up. Barriers, detours and leapfrogging in innovation systems.

Eurasian Geography and Economics, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of MSc Dissertation: The Historical and Transnational Origins of Contemporary Austerity: Uncovering the Agency, Space and International Regimes Behind Southern European Peripheralisation 2017

This was my MSc Dissertation, which showed how sympathetic and negative accounts of austerity fai... more This was my MSc Dissertation, which showed how sympathetic and negative accounts of austerity fail to acknowledge the crucial role of social embeddedness of economic policy. Thus, with the help of
heterodox political economy, a transnational historical framework for understanding contemporary processes of economic adjustment will be developed. This focuses on the agents, spaces, and international regimes that have shaped the insertion of the GIPS (Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain) in the global economy. It argues that, taking
off for the first time precisely in the late 1800s, these countries suffered a combination of unprecedented domestic conflict and external competition. In particular, combined relative isolation within their considerable proximity to the core of Europe’s most developed countries. The analysis will show that these nations have stagnated over time, and are now becoming peripheralized.

Research paper thumbnail of BSc Dissertation The European Left and the Crisis Years 2014

This dissertation will trace back the current “renaissance” of the Left in Europe, particularly i... more This dissertation will trace back the current “renaissance” of the Left in Europe, particularly in Spain and Greece. The goal is to question a dominating narrative: that it has been mainly the economic crisis, and the rejection of austerity by Southern Europeans, that have propped up radical movements and parties. This was notably seen with some analysis of the results of the 2014 European elections, which conflated in the same “radical” constellation actors as different as Marine Le Pen and Alexis Tsipras. To the contrary, it will be argued that the seemingly ‘new’ proposals taking the scene in squares and demonstrations across the continent are rooted in enduring debates within the Left.
First, the problem of Left Melancholy after 1989, as a symbolic year of defeat, will be confronted. Secondly, the construction of a new ontology capable of ‘rehabilitating’ communism will be accounted for. Thirdly, there will be a comparison between two two ways of understanding political transformation: the spontaneous ‘Multitude’ against the ‘Hegemonic’ People. Finally, insights from every chapter will come together in the conclusion to discuss the rise of Syriza and Podemos. Above all, there are two key conclusions: 1. The post-Marxist Left is fundamentally plural and undefined, which makes it stronger. 2. The current events taking place in Europe could signal a sequence of revolution comparable to the ‘pink tide’.

Research paper thumbnail of Searching for sustainability in the digital agriculture debate: an alternative approach for a systemic transition

Searching for sustainability in the digital agriculture debate: an alternative approach for a systemic transition, 2020

Uno de los desafíos principales para la agricultura contemporánea es alimentar a una población cr... more Uno de los desafíos principales para la agricultura contemporánea es alimentar a una población creciente sin contribuir al cambio climático. En tiempos recientes, la agricultura digital es un nuevo régimen sociotécnico que podría ayudar a granjeros de todo el mundo a reducir emisiones. Aunque la sostenibilidad es un asunto importante, artículos recientes en el campo de la agricultura digital no se dedican al problema directamente. Tras una revisión de la literatura, este artículo se centrará en la importancia de las perspectivas compartidas como facilitadores de transiciones sociotécnicas. Este artículo propone que el mito de lo sublime digital podría actuar a favor del actual e insostenible modelo agrícola. Esto es en parte el resultado de que la producción de hardware y la conectividad ya consuman muchos recursos. Precisamente como resultado de este alto impacto medioambiental, la discusión posterior empleará el legado de la Revolución Verde para subrayar la importancia de la precaución ante el desarrollo de la agricultura digital. Teóricamente para subsanar los problemas del sistema actual, compañías privadas están desarrollando soluciones basadas en software patentado que podrían en la práctica sostener prácticas insostenibles. Como alternativa, este artículo sugiere reforzar el papel de plataformas abiertas que promueven colaboraciones sin ánimo de lucro entre granjeros. A través de procesos de abajo a arriba, futuros investigadores y desarrolladores deberían buscar maneras de colocar la sostenibilidad en el centro de sus análisis y promover actividades que puedan adaptarse a las necesidades diversas de los granjeros. En última instancia, los participantes de la agricultura digital deberán entender que los principios de sostenibilidad habrán de ser programados en cada etapa de desarrollo de tecnologías de agricultura digital.