The role of collective mobilization in the divergent performance of the rural economies of China and India (1950–2005)

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that the divergent performance of the rural economies of China and India after 1950 was a product of the different capabilities of the Chinese and Indian governments to mobilize the labor force and financial resources of the rural population. By mobilizing unpaid labor and the financial resources of the villagers through mediation by the collectives (before 1984) and local administrations (from 1984 to the abolition of agricultural taxation and compulsory rural labor mobilization in 2006), the Chinese state developed rural infrastructure and the quality of the labor force at a pace and geographical scope that was far beyond its limited fiscal capacity. Efforts by the Indian state to establish rural organizations with similar mobilization capabilities failed due to the effective opposition of well-entrenched political and economic interests in the countryside. Unable to mobilize the labor and financial resources of the villagers, the Indian government relied primarily on its limited fiscal resources, which produced a much slower development of physical infrastructure and labor force quality. These are the primary reasons why China’s rural economy developed much more rapidly than India’s, which contributed significantly to the divergence of their national economies in the post-1950 era.     

Inmigrantes laborales y flujo en tránsito en la Frontera Sur de México: dos manifestaciones del proceso y una política migratoria

This text presents a characterization of Guatemalan labor immigration into Mexico, its historical perspective and processes of change in relation to new places of destination, crossings and labor insertions. It also sets out the most fundamental traits of migrants who cross Mexican territory when in transit from Central America, new crossing trajectories and social costs in terms of human rights, within a framework of greater social vulnerability. It analyzes the role that the Mexican state has played in relation to the establishment of a new migration policy set forth in the last two administrations (2001–2012) by the Partido Acción Nacional (National Action Party), institutional and legislative arrandos gements, progress and unresolved matters with respect to the proclamation of human and labor rights. It is concluded that even though unprecedented progress has been made in terms of immigration regulations, these policies still have serious shortcomings with regards to Central American immigration into Mexico, be it labor immigration or migrants in transit. This migration has taken on new forms and has registered qualitative and quantitative changes in crossing, in an environment of greater risk in Mexican territory.     

Dis-Assembly Lines: gestures,situations, and surveillances

In “Americanism and Fordism,” Antonio Gramsci offers a brief meditation on the gestural performances of assembly-line workers who, rather than become subordinate to the disciplinary flow of the machine, cultivate perfectly timed gestures that allow workers to hide in plain sight: or, in other words, to inhabit the scene of management otherwise. Rather than extend Gramsci's investment in virtuosic, masterful performances of gesture, this article considers the potentiality of gesture through Lucille Ball's and Tehching Hsieh's performances of bad timing. As different as these performances are in terms of genre and historical situation, each uses gesture as a technique to performatively divide the labor process, producing fleeting temporalities of waste within rhythms marshaled toward production and accumulation. While it tracks the effects of these itinerant gestures, this article reconsiders the oppositions between productive and reproductive work, rationality and emotionality, and work and home that sustain Gramsci's theory, as well as how the collapse of such oppositions introduces alternative historical and artistic trajectories into theories of precariousness.     

Calling Local/Talking Global: the cosmo-politics of the call-center industry

In 2015, pioneering Saudi vlogger Juju Sajer revealed her face on YouTube after three years of performing in relative invisibility. She used her beauty vlog for small family dramas as well as beauty advice, translating the global genre to stage Saudi womanhood in modest and modern ways. This article analyses Juju’s use of digital frames as material for building a representational apparatus for young Saudi women. It takes a posthumanist approach to media roles as materially entangled with apparatuses of production, attending to the performer’s construction of networks and her onscreen performances. Juju’s evolving role from beauty vlogger to proto-talk show host, accompanied her increasing control over means of digital production after she gained corporate sponsorship and put her face on her brand. In contrast to theorists of communicative capitalism, I examine Juju’s self-branding as a networked performance of self, which enlivened and extended representational repertoires for young Saudi women. As a niche YouTube channel, it shows the potential of digital performance repertoires to develop within a framework of gendered modesty.     

Limits to non‐state market regulation: A qualitative comparative analysis of the international sport footwear industry and the Fair Labor Association

Non‐state market regulation has become a central focus and continues to receive scholarly attention. The present paper provides an assessment of the conditions under which multinational firms join a multi‐stakeholder certification initiative. The cases of the Fair labor Association and 17 international sport footwear companies have been selected for this purpose. A Qualitative Comparative Analysis of the 17 cases is performed. The paper argues that the combination of sustained NGO pressure and public ownership of a firm is a necessary precondition for firms joining a multi‐stakeholder certification initiative. The theoretical and policy implications of this result are discussed.     

对劳动价值源泉的现代经济分析

世纪之交,劳动价值论面临着社会经济现实的严峻挑战。本文通过对现代价值形成的各类问题的分析,证明了劳动仍是价值的唯一源泉,剔除了劳动价值论中某些不符合实际的传统结论,澄清了人们对这一理论的某些简单化理解,肯定了劳动价值论仍具有巨大科学意义,足以充当现代经济分析的基础理论和基本工具。     

东盟地区公共产品供给模式与困境分析

近年来,随着地区合作与一体化进程的发展以及相应的地区政治研究的兴起,地区公共产品理论已在地区主义发展的实践领域产生了越来越强的解释力。一般而言,水平较低、进展缓慢的地区合作进程,很大程度上就是由于该地区的公共产品供给不足而引起,东盟即是如此。作为一个由中小国家组成的地区组织和一个处于发展与建构中的一体化进程,在其几十年的发展中始终存在地区公共产品供给不足的困境,并明显地制约了其地区合作进程的发展。东盟要想实现《东盟宪章》提出的目标,在共同体建设中加强合作,推进地区认同和制度化建设,从而增加地区公共产品的供给,缓解供给不足的困境是东盟的必然选择。     

基于劳动范畴的马克思主义整体性诠释

马克思主义的整体性是其内在逻辑结构的外部延伸,诠释马克思主义整体性必须内在于马克思主义的构建过程和逻辑结构。劳动范畴是马克思、恩格斯关于劳动问题的总体看法和根本观点,含蕴着马克思主义的逻辑整体。劳动范畴的科学化是马克思主义理论体系生成过程的缩影,成为马克思、恩格斯剖析人类社会演进问题的主线。劳动范畴的理论图景是马克思主义逻辑结构的映像,是连接马克思主义各个理论模块的枢纽。因而,劳动范畴是马克思主义的逻辑内核,为呈现马克思主义整体性的内在结构提供了新视角。     

日本平台经济下的“类雇员”概念建构及其启示

平台经济在各国的发展状况不同,各国对其涉及的劳动关系认定等问题进行规制的法律制度也不同。日本平台经济下的劳动关系认定相关探讨建立在个别法与集体法对劳动者概念之界定、相关的判例和学理的基础上,主要思路是修订现行《家内劳动法》与导入德国"类雇员"概念。在充分考虑日本对于平台经济之定位与我国有所区别的前提下,其兼顾"如何划定适用对象"及"对其采用何种规制"的政策研究方式,以及构建"类雇员"概念的相关探讨,对我国相关政策研究及法律制定极具借鉴意义。     

劳动合同适用违约金责任问题的思考

谭氏官府菜餐饮发展有限责任公司诉吴某违约承担250万元违约金案,引发了人们对劳动合同中适用违约金责任问题的关注。我国的《劳动法》修订和《劳动合同法》立法应正视违约金条款被大量使用的现实,允许劳动合同中对违约金条款应加以限制的适用,并应从法律上加以规制。