Rethinking informal labor in peripheral capitalism: the dynamics of surplus,market, and spatiality

ABSTRACT

The paper presents a critique of the discourse of precarity that assumes that regulated era labor relations in advanced capitalist economies represent the norm, while ‘irregular work’ represents a historical aberration under capitalist employment. We argue that this approach fails to inform labor theorists in any meaningful way as it conceals the differences in the social relations under which work is performed. The catchall term ‘precarious labor’ makes it difficult to design policies for specific social groups who are non-homogenous in social relations. We propose a Marxian socio-spatial class framework that gives visibility to three key dimensions: 1) the manner in which surpluses are produced, appropriated, and distributed during the labor process; 2) the spatial component of where work is performed, and 3) the degree of market-orientation. Recognizing on the one hand that precarity will always be a ubiquitous feature of capitalist labor markets, and that there are differences within forms of work depending on the social context and location of work on the other, has a number of benefits for contemporary debates. These include a better appreciation of the multiplicity of processes in which labor participates and generates radically new ways of thinking about anti-capitalist resistance across national boundaries.     

The pattern of suicide in Pakistan

There is paucity of information on suicide from Pakistan, an Islamic country in which data collection poses formidable challenges. A variety of social, legal, and religious factors make reporting and diagnosing suicide difficult. Paradoxically, incidents of suicide are regularly reported in newspapers in Pakistan. In the absence of other means these reports serve a useful, though basic information source for suicidal deaths. A 2-year analysis of all such reports in a major newspaper in Pakistan showed 306 suicides reported from 35 cities. Men (n = 208) outnumbered women by 2:1. While there were more single than married men, the trend was reversed in women. The majority of subjects were under 30 years of age and "domestic problems" was the most common reason stated. More than half the subjects used organophosphate insecticides, while psychotropics and analgesics were used infrequently. The study challenges the widely held belief that suicide is a rare phenomena in an Islamic country like Pakistan, and underscores the need for more culture specific research on this important public health problem.     

Writing Islamic Constitutions: Lessons from Pakistan

Muslim-majority countries often face the question of how to reconcile the place and role of religion within the framework of the nation state and a modern westernised system of constitutional ordering. And few states have wrangled with the politics of constitutionalising religion as profoundly and persistently as the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. This paper argues that insights drawn from Pakistan are pertinent as much for contemporary debates on Islam within many Muslim-majority countries as they are for wider debates on religion and politics in the modern period. It argues that when contemplating the constitutionalisation of Islam and Islamic provisions: the design and jurisdiction of the courts matter; it may be better to achieve a workable political compromise between competing parties on religious matters than to stall or strive for the realisation of some ideal; the constitution should be free of any sectarian bias; and constitution-makers must take more structural matters such as the separation of powers seriously when considering discussions on religion and politics.     

Neopatrimonialism and corruption: towards a new common sense*

ABSTRACT

Neopatrimonialism, according to the distinguished development scholar, Thandika Mkandawire [2015. “Neopatrimonialism and the Political Economy of Economic Performance in Africa: Critical Reflections.” World Politics 67 (3): 563–612], provides the ‘common denominator’ for a host of practices of politics in Africa; viz. patronage, corruption, cronyism, and predation. So deeply embedded is this view among mainstream thinkers, that ‘underneath every policy lurks neopatrimonialism’, that the idea has come to be imbued with the ‘air of irrefutable common sense’. This paper deconstructs common sense refracted through the lens of present-day statecraft and the deceptive and subversive nature of contemporary neoliberal governance. It cautiously outlines the contours of a new common sense, placing emphasis on theorisation, a situated politics, institutional recalibration, fundamental changes in social relations, and the adoption of ‘bad’ and unorthodox development policies.     

The Failures of Neo‐Liberal State Building in Iraq: Assessing Australia's Post‐Conflict Reconstruction and Development Initiatives

This article examines Australia's post‐conflict reconstruction and development initiatives in Iraq following the intervention of 2003. Overall, it finds that Australia privileged the neo‐liberal model of post‐conflict state building by investing in projects that would enhance the capacity of the new Iraqi state, its key institutions and the private sector towards the imposition of a liberal democracy and a free‐market economy. To demonstrate, this article documents the failures of the Australian government's stated aims to “support agriculture” and “support vulnerable populations” via interviews conducted in Iraq with rural farmers and tribal members and those working in, or the beneficiaries of, Iraq's disability sector. It concludes by noting that such failures are not only indicative of the inadequacy of the neo‐liberal state building model, but also that these failures point the way forward for future post‐conflict reconstruction and development projects which ought to be premised on a genuine and sustained commitment to addressing the needs of those made most vulnerable by war and regime change.     

Representations of crime,power and social decay in the South African post-colony in the film Gangster’s Paradise: Jerusalema (2008)

The film Gangster’s Paradise: Jerusalema, released on August 29, 2008, decries the proliferation of crime, violence and social decay in the South African post-colony. The aim of this article is to interrogate the banality in the use of violence and power in the South African post-colony. The filmic narratives of Gangster’s Paradise: Jerusalema reveal that behind the ‘rainbow’ façade presented by South Africa, one encounters festering poverty in ‘non-white’ communities, racial acrimony, broken promises, social and class struggles, and tales of betrayal of the majority of black people by the elite black leadership which now sit comfortably in the seats vacated by their former colonisers. An analysis of the narratives of the film Gangster’s Paradise: Jerusalema permits one to locate apartheid-based economic disparities as still haunting mainly ‘non- white’ local communities, although some whites have not been spared by the vicious new normal of poverty and the effects of corruption. This interpretation is further questioned in the film which shows that, after apartheid, the nationalist leadership encouraged a negative culture of entitlement. The irony in the film is that the masses are also tainted in so far as they commit crimes against other ordinary people and refuse to take responsibility or, rather in an escapist way, blame all the woes of the post-colony on apartheid. Thus, the narratives of Gangster’s Paradise: Jerusalema beg the question: What is going wrong with the dream of democracy for all, irrespective of race, that was the founding principle of the new nation?