Imperial Warfare in the Naked City—Sociality as Critical Infrastructure

The Global War on Terror (GWOT), framed as conflict with groups and individuals determined to disrupt and destroy "critical infrastructures," is heavily dependent on technological and psychological discourses and practices to find terrorists and their plots. ¹ These methods seek to protect the material "backbone" of contemporary society and to detect those individuals whose capabilities might progress to action. Yet, the social nature of all action suggests that "critical infrastructure is people," and that surveillance cannot, by itself, determine who might act and who will not. The ultimate purpose and effect of the GWOT is better understood as involving the transformation of individual mentalities, so that "heretical" thoughts and practices become impossible.     

Sweating it out: NGO campaigns and trade union empowerment

In the context of globalisation, transnational social regulation is increasingly the product of NGOs intervening in the sphere of global trade. Drawing on empirical research in SE Asia, the author contends that what matters as much as codes of conduct are spillover effects whose force extends beyond building walls into the broader society of the host country. The basis for effective labour law lies within states, and activism must focus on improving legal, political, and social conditions for workers in the host countries, rather than on trying to affect corporate behaviour through consumer pressure.