Progressive Responses to Populism: A Polanyian Critique of Liberal Discourse

This article explores the recent rise of populist politics from the perspective of Karl Polanyi's theory of the ‘double movement’. It firstly introduces Polanyi's understanding of interwar populism, and relates this to his broader critique of liberal economic thought. This framework is then used to analyse three prominent explanations for populism which emerged in the wake of the UK's 2016 EU referendum: globalisation; cultural reaction; and social media. I show how each of these explanations exogenises contemporary populist movements, narrating them as something external to the liberal economic restructuring pursued globally since the 1980s. Failing to diagnose adequately the causes of contemporary populist movements, which lie in this utopian attempt to treat labour as a commodity, they cannot support an intellectually coherent progressive response to Brexit. Finally, I outline a political agenda centred on labour de‐commodification, which could directly address populist grievances and reclaim the discourse of ‘taking back control’ for the left.     

Collective learning and regime dynamics under uncertainty: labour reform and the way to autocracy in Russia

The article questions the structural approach to autocratic transition that sees government as knowingly and purposely building autocracy, and contributes to the tradition emphasizing the plurality of possible regime developments and the role of contingency therein, by providing a more systematic treatment of such contingency. We offer a path-dependent theory of political change and use insights from cognitive institutionalism to show how ad hoc policy reform practices become accepted as a trusted way of interaction by political actors and how they “learn” their way into autocracy. This intuition is substantiated with a case-study of the labour reform in Putin’s Russia. The early 2000s marked a surge in uncertainty in Russian politics caused by the succession crisis and the profound political turnover it triggered. This uncertainty could have resolved in a number of ways, each leading to a different political development. We trace the actual way out of this uncertainty and show that the major factor to condition further regime trajectory was the way social reforms were conducted. The course of these reforms determined the ruling coalition and the institutions that ensure credible commitment within its ranks (the dominant party), and contributed to crowding out the political market and opposition decay.     

Fairtrade labour certification: the contested incorporation of plantations and workers

Fair trade seeks to promote the well-being and empowerment of farmers and workers in the Global South. This article traces the contested growth and configuration of Fairtrade International labour certification, providing a multifaceted and dynamic view of private regulation. I explain why Fairtrade International began certifying large enterprises and how its hired labour strategy has developed over time, illuminating fair trade’s move from peasant to plantation sectors, stakeholder involvement in shaping the growth of Fairtrade labour certification, the internal and external balancing of farmer and worker concerns, and major innovations in Fairtrade’s ‘New Workers Rights Strategy’. My findings challenge the claim that recent market mainstreaming explains the rise of labour certification within fair trade and the more general argument that private regulatory programmes founded to foster empowerment evolve over time to prioritise a logic of control. As I document, Fairtrade International has recently moved to bolster producer power within its organisation and labour rights within its certification programme. My analysis reveals the dynamic nature of private regulatory programmes and the potentially influential role of diverse stakeholders in shaping the priorities of Fairtrade and other labour-standards systems.     

Colonial labour,Tawdenni and ‘L’enfer du sel’: the struggle from slave to free labour in a Saharan salt mine

Abstract

Can we understand the arrival of Capitalism in Africa by tracking labour – from unfree to free, from slave to wage? The question supposes slavery to lie at its heart, yet the conversation between labour and slave studies is in early stages. The sources are problematic: the colonial ‘language of labour’ was often political rhetoric camouflaging ongoing forms of slavery. Then, there was the question of how the metropole-incorporated colonies into its economy: French West Africa’s sun and sand offered few economic resources. One was salt. The Niger Bend economy depended on Tawdenni, a desert salt mine controlled by Saharans and exploited by their slaves. In 1910, it was predicted that the French abolition of slavery would spell the end of Tawdenni: “Never will a man from the South – unless a slave – give himself to this work”; what, therefore, was to be done? The paper challenges the view that engagement with colonial capitalism necessarily led directly or even inevitably from slavery to wage labour by exploring how Tawdenni’s servile labour system responded to French colonial attempts to combine political abolition and economic sustainability.     

Impacts of land and agricultural commercialisation on local livelihoods in Zambia: evidence from three models

By examining three different models of commercial agriculture – a plantation, a commercial farming area, and an out-grower scheme – we observe heterogeneous impacts on different segments of rural communities. Each produces gender and generational differentials in employment and other income-earning opportunities. Our study supports the hypothesis that the plantation model typifies the ‘enclave’ economy that is poorly integrated into the surrounding communities and the local economy. While out-grower schemes have often been favourably compared to plantations, our evidence on the Magobbo sugarcane out-grower scheme points to the contrary: its block farming model consolidates smallholdings and creates a peasant-shareholder class. Shareholder ‘out-growers’ receive dividends from what is essentially an extension of the plantation. This accumulation for a few also produces land scarcity and fragile semi-proletarianised livelihoods for others. By contrast we find that the commercial farming model, while based on an elite form of large-scale commercial farming, does provide benefits to surrounding areas, through employment and local economic linkages.     

Seamen,national welfare and global deregulation, 1850–1914

In nineteenth-century Britain, the status of seamen revealed the ambiguities of the modernisation paradigm: Were seamen slaves? Why did the abolitionist movement refuse to put them in this category? And how can we explain the fact that, even today, the global market for seamen includes a large number of ‘global seamen’ with no rights? The global market of seamen expresses the connections between the lack of rights, persistent bondage, colonialism and deregulation. It blurs the difference between recruitment for the Navy and recruitment in the labour market. The current seamen’s labour market still reflects the tensions between global deregulation and national welfare, between global and national unionised seamen. We show that, contrary to conventional beliefs, these are not opposing realities, but fully integrated dynamics and ideologies.     

非公有制企业劳资冲突与劳资关系的和谐秩序

近年来,我国非公有制企业劳资冲突时有发生。引起劳资冲突的原因较多,既有主体的主观根源,又有社会制度的客观根源。非公有制企业劳资关系和谐秩序的形成不仅有利于非公有制经济的健康发展,也有利于社会的稳定与和谐。在我国非公有制企业劳资关系向市场化和契约化方向转变的过程中,包括政府、企业和劳动者在内的诸多主体都应该发挥各自作用,共同努力,推动非公有制企业劳资关系和谐秩序的形成。     

析WTO框架内的国际劳工标准

回顾了WTO与劳工标准问题的历史渊源后,进一步分析了发达国家与发展中国家对此问题持不同立场的原因.认为将劳工标准与WTO联系起来是必然的趋势,中国采取坚决抵制的态度是不可取的,中国应充分发挥其在WTO的地位,在维护本国利益的前提下,积极提出自己的观点和主张.     

论我国劳动教养制度的可证伪性 --一种法理上的批判性视野

根据科学家卡尔.波普尔(K arl Popper)的科学哲学观,任何科学理论都有其“可证伪性”。我国目前的劳动教养制度在合法性、合理性、监督制约性、救济性方面都存在着可批判性,已经与当今社会的法治精神背道而驰。因此,我们应该废除劳动教养制度。     

Local labour market competition and radical right voting: Evidence from France

How do the economic effects of immigration affect radical right support? The evidence in support of the labour market competition theory — which posits that the economic threat posed by immigration to jobs and wages leads to radical right voting — has been mixed. On the one hand, individual-level surveys underreport economic drivers because of social desirability bias. On the other hand, contextual studies show contradictory findings due to an over-reliance on units of analysis that are too aggregated to meaningfully capture the competitive threat posed by immigrants. This paper identifies the influence of labour market competition on radical right voting at a local level in contexts where native workers are directly affected by the arrival of immigrants who have similar or higher skillsets. Using an original longitudinal dataset of fine-grained municipal electoral, demographic and economic data from France over the 2002–2017 period, the paper provides empirical evidence of local contextual influences of economic competition between natives and immigrants of any skillset. Under local conditions of material deprivation, measured by the local unemployment rate, the effect of labour market competition on municipalities’ radical right vote share is amplified. Moreover, higher radical right support is observed in municipalities with a higher share of any one of the following groups: low-skilled natives, medium-skilled immigrants or high-skilled immigrants. This supports the hypothesis that immigrants with higher qualifications are compelled to accept lower-skilled jobs, and are thus perceived as a competitive threat to low-skilled natives. By reconciling radical right contextual studies and research on the political economy of immigration policies, this paper highlights the importance of a local analysis in detecting the effect of labour market competition on radical right support. This paper also explains why some local areas are more prone to radical right support than others over time.