Creating Surplus Labour: Neo-Liberal Transformations and the Development of Relative Surplus Population in Indonesia

ABSTRACT

Many among the world’s population are surplus to the requirements of capital accumulation. These are people who become engaged in precarious employment both in rural and urban contexts and those who are involuntarily unemployed. Their presence has been particularly acute in “peripheral countries.” Mainstream economic literature explains this in terms of the dual labour market, where it is argued that surplus labour will eventually disappear with market-led economic development. Contrary to this explanation, this article argues, using Marx’s concept of relative surplus population (RSP), that under the existing neo-liberal framework such labour vulnerability is continually being created. This article charts the developmental history of Indonesia and demonstrates that the growth of RSP is an outcome of a neo-liberal transformation which favours capital accumulation at the service of global markets. Neo-liberal adjustments shape the development of RSP in three related ways. First, the adjustments change class relations and transform state orientation. Second, the reconfiguration of class dynamics and the state shapes the model of accumulation. Third, the model of accumulation eventually affects the size of RSP. It is argued that the disconnection between the domestic agricultural development and industrialisation has contributed to the maintenance of a large RSP in Indonesia.     

From mice-eaten passports to fingerprint scanning: fluctuating state presence and ‘entangled documents’ along the Kyrgyz–Uzbek border

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on engagement with identity documents among the rural Uzbek population in the borderlands of Kyrgyzstan. By exploring the materiality of the documents and people’s concern with these material artefacts of bureaucracy, this article illustrates how the state has been moving in, out and through the lives of the people living on the margins of the state. People’s engagement with documents illuminates the temporal dynamics of the state’s spatialization practices and highlights the fluctuating presence of the state. In addition, this article exposes the discrepancies between the classificatory bureaucratic order and the changing realities of everyday life. Gaps between these two domains are filled with what I refer to as entangled documents. People’s attempts to disentangle documents reveal how people on the margins of the state manage encounters with state bureaucracy and provide insight into the internal dynamics of a local bureaucracy.     

The depoliticisation of two competing nationalisms and the introduction of democratic Meritopianism as a possible way out for Ethiopia

ABSTRACT

This article is a critical appraisal of the development and performance of two competing nationalisms – Ethiopian and ethnic nationalisms. It assesses why the current system espoused by ethnic politics is a danger to peaceful and harmonious co-existence and state survival and what should be done about it. It starts with the identification of a problem: if the Ethiopian version of federalism continues to be applied within the context of politicisation of ethnicity it will always be a source of ethnic hostility by generating ethnic grievances of real or perceived injustices. Both variants of nationalism are threats to the continuation of the state and the achievement of viable development. After a politico-historical comparative analysis based on observation and secondary data of Ethiopian nationalism (the thesis) and ethnic nationalism (the anti-thesis), a third individual based democratic Meritopianism (the synthesis) rooted in universal human values like individual rights rather than the politicisation of primordial identities is suggested.     

Rehehusen's verbs

Abstract

Reform of the state bureaucracy has been a serious challenge in Lithuania. In the face of a dearth of leaders with the requisite administrative expertise as well as capacity for developing ideologically coherent programs, Lithuania's political parties have had great difficulty in properly managing and directing the ministries of the government. At the same time, the Soviet era legacy of command administration with an emphasis on formalism (versus practical execution of policy) has undermined bottom-up efforts to reform the state bureaucracy. While the European Union continues to impose reforms on Lithuania's civil service, the changes are largely cosmetic, as administrators cleave to old habits.     

State-building and patronage networks: how political parties embezzled the bureaucracy in post-war Kosovo

ABSTRACT

Why has the internationally promoted Weberian-style bureaucracy failed to replace patronage as the dominant principle of state organization in post-war Kosovo? This article explores how international actors’ rule-promotion activities and local actors’ strategies of resistance play out and interact to explain the failure. The empirical analysis focuses on rules of recruitment in the civil service system in the period 2000–2016. The analysis juxtaposes two consecutive stages of the state-building process, which are marked by different degrees and forms of international involvement: the pre-independence period, 1999–2008; and post-independence period, 2008–2016. Evidence from the case suggests that during the pre-independence period, legal inconsistencies embedded in the internationally promulgated legislation enabled local actors’ formal and informal strategies to recruit political cronies in the newly created civil service system. The transfer of authority from international administrators to elected local authorities, especially after Kosovo’s declaration of independence in 2008, did not solve the problem of legal inconsistencies, and instead, served to consolidate governing parties’ strategies of control over recruitment in the state bureaucracy. More often than not, patron–client relationships that thrive at the borderline between formality and informality of political behaviour, continued to undermine external rule transfers.     

Cultural revolt in a colonial society: The non-brahmin movement in Western India, 1873–1930

Abstract

As the title implies, the central theme of this book is the role of colonialism in western India. The author argues that colonialism encouraged certain castes to rise to a position of dominance in society by creating an atmosphere that fostered polarized and competing groups. Dr. Omvedt's geographical focus is the state of Maharashtra during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when the Brahmin elites who responded to western education and new occupations in the bureaucracy moved into positions of status and authority based on a colonial model of society. Beneath them in the indigenous social hierarchy remained the non-Brahmins or Untouchables who were not granted the same opportunities for advancement,     

Bennu: Africa innovating itself out of underdevelopment

ABSTRACT

This article is a direct challenge to the established view reflected in the World Bank's Berg report, that structural adjustment programmes and the markets alone will resolve Africa's underdevelopment challenges. This article completely accepts that science and technology lead to products and services that create efficiency, productivity and wealth. It accepts different dynasties of industrialisation from land use (agriculture and mining), labour-intensive activities, heavy machinery, assembly lines, branding, information technology and intellectual property, but shows how – in the current global paradigm – this has led to an anomaly: while development aid flows from more industrialised to less industrialised countries, larger sums of global investment capital leave poorer countries for richer countries in search of higher returns. Having accepted the ‘returns-seeking’ nature of capital, a strategy is proposed for Africa to engage with this reality. In contrast with the Berg view, it is argued that the public sector is a key stakeholder in the developmental process. As has been put forward by Thabo Mbeki, several African countries exhibit ‘two nations’ characteristics. If this is true, all seven dynasties of industrialisation can be simultaneously developed through interventionist government, which could not happen though markets alone. A direct policy and strategy positioning in technology-related sectors that support increasing returns should be developed. Economic development bodies should have scientific and technological people to ensure technological focus in development strategies.The article demonstrates that a different value paradigm is needed. Large numbers of poor people can provide markets for goods that can yield returns for capital that are similar to markets of small numbers of rich people. A shift in the development model from Public Private Partnerships (PPP) to Public Entrepreneur Private Partnerships (PEPP) is suggested to maximise employment through sustainable entrepreneurship. Through spearheaded emerging technologies such as information convergence technologies, cellular technologies such as mobile banking, resource management and alternate energy, Africans can create output that attracts global investment capital – and not only aid. This article explores how, through investment in activities that generate increasing rather than decreasing returns, Africa will innovate its way out of what appears to be a stubborn history of underdevelopment.     

Out of sight,out of mind: managing religious diversity in Qatar

Abstract

The small Gulf state of Qatar is today home to as many Christians, and as many Hindus, as it is Qatari citizens, making it one of the most religiously diverse states in the Middle East. A somewhat unintended consequence of the developmental trajectory Qatar has embarked on, like other emergent social realities religious diversity poses a threat to the identity of both the state and the small citizen population, and must be managed. This article explores how the state is responding to the challenge of religious diversity by looking at ‘Church city’, a recently built complex that houses several Christian churches on the outskirts of Doha. I argue that efforts to manage religious diversity are informed by notions of protection and segregation, as can be identified both in Islamic historical precedents, and in the state’s broader response to its developmental dilemma.     

Political Economy of Southeast Asian Borderlands: Migration,Environment, and Developing Country Firms

The Chinese way of development shares many characteristics with the East Asian developmental state model. Key elements of this shared development model include state control over finance, direct support for state owned enterprises by the government, import substitution industrialisation in heavy industry, a high dependence on export markets and a high rate of domestic savings. Even the reform of corporate governance is not likely to change the basic features of the East Asian model in China. Among East Asian countries, China shares more similar characteristics with Taiwan rather than with Japan or Korea since China, like Taiwan, also has an economy of dual structure that divides the public and non-public sectors.     

Globalization's impact on the Malaysian workforce

This article provides a partial analysis of the socio-political impact of the so-called IMF reforms that were implemented by the South Korean government in response to the financial crisis of 1997–98. We find that at least in one key area — namely policies related to foreign investment — the IMF reforms fundamentally altered and reshaped Korea's development path. In fact, the policy changes affecting foreign investment produced what amounts to a paradigm shift in Korea's well-known model of developmental state. Alternatively put, these reforms led to the demise of the “Korea, Inc.,” the symbiotic relationship between government and businesses that was at the core of Korea's developmental state. As such, our analysis suggesting a paradigm shift in Korea's developmental state stands in contrast with previous (pre-crisis) arguments that proclaimed the demise of the developmental state.     

Demystifying the Park Chung-Hee Myth: Land Reform in the Evolution of Korea’s Developmental State

The developmental state literature emphasises the importance of state autonomy and capacity, with a particular focus on a Weberian type of meritocratic bureaucracy. Existing studies of South Korea’s economic development generally credit Park Chung-hee for establishing such a state. This article questions this assessment with careful process tracing of the development of a meritocratic bureaucracy in the country. The findings suggest that the contrast between the predatory Rhee regime (1948–1960) and the developmental Park regime (1961–1979) has been exaggerated. Meritocracy in South Korea’s bureaucratic recruitment and promotion systems developed gradually over several decades, including during Rhee’s regime as well as the short democratic episode (1960–1961). What then explains the evolution of a developmental state in Korea? This article suggests that land reform contributed to not only creating social structural conditions favourable to state autonomy but also promoting the development of a meritocratic bureaucracy by propelling rapid expansion of education and by mitigating the extent of political clientelism.     

“Land Grabbing” in an Autocracy and a Multi-Party Democracy: China and India Compared

ABSTRACT

Both China and India have witnessed extensive land expropriation by the state from farmers for use in industrialisation and urbanisation projects. Land conflicts have ensued from these developments. This article poses two questions: (i) Why do we see a similar escalation of land dispossession in both countries, despite their distinctively dissimilar political systems, one being a one-party authoritarian regime, the other being a multi-party democracy?; and (ii) How does the different regime type affect the politics of dispossession? Despite their diverse political institutions, government officials have been given similar incentives to chase growth by developing land, but the institutions create diverging environments for aggrieved citizens to mobilise for collective action. While it is unsurprising that the interests of the poor and weak are not protected in an autocracy, democracy provides no automatic safety valve in defending marginalised citizens either.     

Access to Information in the West Indies: Gradual Progression to Greater Openness

Abstract

Since the turn of the 21st century, the region formerly known as the British West Indies has begun to embark slowly on the implementation of information rights legislation including freedom of information (FOI) legislation. The historical trajectory of the region has had a profound impact on its current position on the sharing of information between public entities and citizens. One of the challenges affecting the success of the implementation of FOI legislation is the state of recordkeeping in the territories, which has resulted in difficulties with providing access to official records and information over time. This article, from the perspective of an archivist/records manager, explores whether the historical past of the West Indies has some bearing on the slow enactment of FOI in the region and how proper recordkeeping could enhance the chances of success in implementation of FOI. It focuses on two main concepts, ‘open government’ and ‘citizen engagement’, underpinning FOI to assess whether the region has fully embraced these ideas and thus paved the way for implementation. It examines the Jamaican experience with FOI to determine whether this can be viewed as an effective model for other territories of the region to provide access to information for the betterment of West Indian society at large.     

The Merhav-Pasinetti approach to industrialization

This article attempts to develop a non-marginalist approach to the process of industrialisation, by combining Pasinetti's theory of Vertical Integration with Merhav's analysis of the structural causes of underdevelopment. This is then integrated with the structuralist/redistribution economics of Dutt to both dismantle the mainstream emphasis on factor proportions, static comparative cost doctrine, the need to maintain low wages to sustain price competitive (industrial) exports, and to develop a new paradigm of industrialisation.     

State-building or state-capture? Institutional exports,local reception and hybridity of reforms in post-war Kosovo

ABSTRACT

Post-war Kosovo has been the subject of a highly intrusive international state-building project, including an unprecedented influx of international administrators, assistance and funds. However, it increasingly bears the hallmark of a weak and captured state. This special issue contributes theoretical and empirical insights that shed light on possible explanations, difficulties and prospects of the state-building project in Kosovo. Theoretically, we investigate how international and local explanations play out, interact and gain dominance over each other; highlight the local factors that shape the experience of state-building; and focus on the hybridity of institution- and state-building on the ground. Empirically, we take stock of two decades of international state-building activities and one decade of independent statehood by providing long-term and in-depth analysis of specific areas of reform – municipal governance, state bureaucracy, normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo, education, creation of armed forces, security sector reforms and reception of Salafi ideologies. Such time-sensitive, case-nuanced and empirically heavy analysis enables the authors to go back and forth between the role of international activities, domestic strategies of resistance and evidence of hybrid reforms in order to test the role of competing explanations.     

China's new order and past disorders: A Dialogue Starting from Wang Hui's analysis

Abstract

This dialogue develops a series of reflections on contemporary Chinese politics starting from Wang Hui's analysis of the role that the repression of the spring 1989 movement played in the acceleration of China's neoliberalist economic policies, and more in general about the peculiar forms of intervention of the party-state in the implementation of capitalist forms of economy. Four major issues are discussed: some probings of the political value of the Tiananmen movement; the suppression of the agricultural people's communes; the parallel transformation of the industrial danwei system; and the rise of Deng Xiaoping's strategy as a form of reactive subjectivity toward the political experiments of the late sixties and early seventies. The authors argue that the major consistency in the Chinese state today is the process of harsh depoliticization of subjectivities deployed during the Cultural Revolution, and retrospectively throughout the entire twentieth century in China. On the other hand, this process of depoliticization shows a weakness in consistency, since it basically depends on a “radical negation” and, in the end, lacks autonomous subjective strength.     

“A Cat’s Paw of Indian Reactionaries”? Strategic Rivalry and Domestic Politics at the India–China–Myanmar Tri-Junction

ABSTRACT

Ostensibly driven by concerns over a military standoff with China similar to Doklam, India increased military deployment at the Myanmar tri-junction. This article assesses the inevitability of systemic factors such as rivalry with China in determining India’s approach on border issues. It asks why India sought formalization of its boundary with Burma in 1967. Given its territorial disputes with China, resolving the Burma boundary should have been high priority. Still, it took India two decades after independence to broach the subject. Based on fresh archival and interview data, this article answers the question by examining the India–Burma Boundary Agreement. A three-party territorial dispute, the making of this agreement witnessed simultaneous interplay between states with visible power differentials, and various stakeholders within India’s polity and bureaucracy. The article argues that even when inter-state competition is apparent, domestic factors may be more important in triggering foreign policy change.     

Legal reform or erasure of history? The politics of moral crimes in Afghanistan

ABSTRACT

In this article we reflect on our efforts to study the prosecution of moral crimes in Afghanistan. In the process of collating information about men and women imprisoned for moral crimes such as adultery, we found evidence that pointed to large-scale incarceration of men for the uncodified crime of elopement. After establishing this fact through a careful review of official data, the article considers two interrelated themes. First, we argue that government attempts to conceal its extralegal practices cannot be reduced to the question of a corrupt bureaucracy or weak governance. Rather, they reflect a fundamental tension between a modern state’s interest in projecting the rule of (codified) law and societal expectations arising from both Islamic and customary law. Second, we suggest that officials seek to address this conceptual tension between the different bodies of law through a complex process involving both accommodation and concealment. In day-to-day judicial practice, ‘assimilation’ refers to attempts to rely on sharia provisions to accommodate customary practices which have no counterpart in statutory law. ‘Dissimulation’ refers to bureaucratic actions aimed at concealing the actual practices which make such extralegal accommodations possible.     

Displaced Persons,Family Separation and the Work Contract in Postwar Australia

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the migrant family in postwar Australia. The Commonwealth government’s two-year work contract scheme had significant effects on the initial settlement experience of displaced persons (DPs)—particularly, through the family separation that the contract enforced. Family reunification was afforded in accordance with an occasionally callous and pragmatic concern for maintaining a directable pool of labour. In this regard, the scheme and the available hostels and centres, while extensive in their bureaucracy and administrative reach, were woefully unprepared for the needs and wants of DPs, specifically the need for family unity during the initial settlement process. In drawing on archival sources, this article explores bureaucratic practices, and responses to DP resistance and dismay in the face of family separation.