scholarly journals The Governance of Global Labor Migration: Literature Review

2021 ◽  
pp. 29-36
Author(s):  
Ie. Zasoba ◽  
Andrii Khomiak ◽  
Liubov Panchenko ◽  
H. Korzhov
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Labor Migration ◽  
National Level ◽  
Medical Personnel ◽  
Migrant Labor ◽  
Preliminary Review ◽  
Industrial Workers ◽  
Seasonal Workers ◽  
Governance Roles ◽  
Student Workers

This paper focuses on the past 10 years of major scholarship on the governance of external labor migration. It also centers on migration that is voluntary and regular, recognizing that rules governing lowskilled migration are often formed to control irregular migration [5]. Scholars of migrant labor identify four major categories: low-skilled temporary (e. g. seasonal workers, service workers), low-skilled permanent (e. g. industrial workers), high-skilled temporary (e. g. student workers, corporate assignees, “expats”), and high-skilled permanent (e. g. medical personnel, technology specialists). Discussion on the layers of labor migration governance may give the impression that all initiatives are government-based. However, as some authors mention [12; 30; 17], non-state entities play key governance roles. Multinational corporations (MNCs) are the most influential non-state actors. In light of the incoherence of governance in the area of regular labor migration, there is no shortage of knowledge gaps. A preliminary review of contemporary scholarly literature, suggests that case studies to identify best practices in multilateral schemes and public-private partnerships within the regional “layer” of governance, may be a particularly fruitful focus for scholarly research. This conclusion is based on sources that describe immigration politics and policy at the national level as inherently unstable and less likely to yield insights into balancing short vs. long-term economic interests or into the protection of migrant’s rights [24; 29]. The slow pace and relative ineffectiveness of efforts at the global level suggests that scholars may find targeting this “layer” of limited value, particularly if they wish to form actionable, forward-looking policy recommendations.  

scholarly journals A Traveling Script: Labor Migration, Precarity, and Performance

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 48-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geraldine Pratt ◽  
Caleb Johnston ◽  
Vanessa Banta
Keyword(s):  
Labor Migration ◽  
Home Country ◽  
Ethical Dilemmas ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Migrant Labor ◽  
And Performance

Originally performed in Vancouver, the testimonial play Nanay was developed to address the politics and hard ethical dilemmas of caregivers and migrant labor in Canada. When moved from Vancouver to the Philippines, the play was considerably revised with input from the community to consider the problems facing Filipino live-in caregivers from within the context of their home country.

Visible Bodies, Invisible Work: State Practices toward Migrant Women Domestic Workers in Malaysia

2003 ◽  
Vol 12 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 49-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine B.N. Chin
Keyword(s):  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Labor Migration ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Migrant Labor ◽  
Labor Rights ◽  
Migrant Women ◽  
Alternative Strategies ◽  
Invisible Work ◽  
State Involvement

The changing characteristics of labor migration in Asia today elicit an important question regarding the nature and consequences of state involvement in the entry and employment of low wage migrant workers. This paper offers an analysis of the labor-receiving state's practices toward migrant women domestic workers in Malaysia. I ascertain that the exercise of a particular kind of state power as evinced from policies and legislation, consistently make visible migrant womens' presence in society even as their labor in households is rendered invisible. A key consequence of this is the fragmentation of public support for migrant workers, and the contraction of what can be considered legitimate space for Malaysian NGO advocacy on migrant labor rights. To counteract this, some NGOs have adopted alternative strategies and targets that begin to reveal the possibility for constructing alternative forms of governance.

Guest Workers and Resistance to U.S. Corporate Despotism

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Immanuel Ness
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
Organized Labor ◽  
Migrant Labor ◽  
Industrial Workers ◽  
Guest Workers ◽  
Labor Costs

This book thoroughly investigates the use of guest workers in the United States, the largest recipient of migrant labor in the world. The book argues that the use of migrant labor is increasing in importance and represents despotic practices calculated by key U.S. business leaders in the global economy to lower labor costs and expand profits under the guise of filling a shortage of labor for substandard or scarce skilled jobs. The book shows how worker migration and guest worker programs weaken the power of labor in both sending and receiving countries. The in-depth case studies of the rapid expansion of technology and industrial workers from India and hospitality workers from Jamaica reveal how these programs expose guest workers to employers' abuses and class tensions in their home countries while decreasing jobs for American workers and undermining U.S. organized labor. Where other studies of labor migration focus on undocumented immigrant labor and contend immigrants fill jobs that others do not want, this is the first to truly advance understanding of the role of migrant labor in the transformation of the working class in the early twenty-first century. Questioning why global capitalists must rely on migrant workers for economic sustenance, the book rejects the notion that temporary workers enthusiastically go to the United States for low-paying jobs. Instead, the book asserts the motivations for improving living standards in the United States are greatly exaggerated by the media and details the ways organized labor ought to be protecting the interests of American and guest workers in the United States.

The Political Legacy of Lázaro Cárdenas

1983 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 383-405 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles H. Weston
Keyword(s):  
Public Schools ◽  
National Level ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
The Political ◽  
Reform Process ◽  
Industrial Workers ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Lazaro Cardenas ◽  
The Revolution

The political legacy of Lázaro Cárdenas is marked by a striking paradox. On the one hand, Cárdenas as president of Mexico from 1934 to 1940 presided over the most radical phase of the Mexican Revolution or what some historians call the “Second Revolution.” He was instrumental in organizing industrial workers and peasants at the national level and incorporating both groups into the reorganized government party, the Partido de la Revolutión Mexicana (PRM), that had as its declared purpose the establishment of a “workers' democracy” in Mexico. Under his leadership the government supported the demands of industrial workers for higher wages and improved working conditions, greatly expanded the distribution of land to the peasantry, established new welfare programs, nationalized the railroad and petroleum industries and inaugurated a program of socialist education in the public schools. The prestige of Cárdenas as the foremost leader of the radical phase of the Revolution was enhanced by the fact that he, unlike many of his contemporaries, never attempted to use political office for personal financial gain; he was not a rich man when he completed his term of office as president. At the time of his death in 1970, Cárdenas was eulogized as “the greatest figure produced by the Revolution… an authentic revolutionary who aspired to the greatness of his country, not personal aggrandizement.” On the other hand, Cárdenas was the architect of the corporatist system of interest representation, including labor, peasant and business organizations, that provided the institutional framework of what Crane Brinton has called the “Thermidor,” i.e., the conservative reaction to the radical phase of the revolutionary process, that began in Mexico in approximately 1940. The institutions developed by Cárdenas were utilized by his successors to curtail the very reforms, such as agrarian and labor reform and socialist education, that had been central to his reform program. Moreover Cárdenas facilitated the transition to a more conservative era by naming as his successor Manuel Ávila Camacho, who was known to favor a moderation of the reform process, rather than Francisco Múgica, the preferred candidate of the radicals in the government. In short, Cárdenas played a decisive role both in presiding over the radical phase of the Revolution and in launching and shaping the relatively conservative post-1940 era. The paradox of the political legacy of Cárdenas is that though the seemingly radical reforms he carried out had a lasting impact upon Mexican politics, the impact was predominantly conservative rather than radical. This essay will endeavor to explain the paradoxical political legacy of Lázaro Cárdenas by focusing upon his ideology, the institutional reforms he carried out while president, and the impact of those reforms after 1940.

scholarly journals The Regional Migration-Development Nexus in Australia: What Migration? Whose Development?

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martina Boese ◽  
Anthony Moran
Keyword(s):  
Regional Development ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Migration Policy ◽  
Migrant Labor ◽  
Regional Migration ◽  
Migration Policies ◽  
Seasonal Workers ◽  
Human Costs ◽  
Multi Stakeholder ◽  
Regional Australia

Both regional resettlement of refugees, and the attraction of different kinds of migrant labor to regional areas, have been significant trends in Australia’s recent migration policies. Using the concept of the migration-development nexus, we address important questions about the nature and scope of development these different policies aim to promote, and achieve. We examine the intersection of policies and initiatives implemented to encourage and support refugee settlement and regional migration in Australia with the perspectives of regionally settled migrants and refugees on their regional migration outcomes. We argue that recent government policies, and multi-stakeholder initiatives aimed at regional migration and/or settlement, cast migrants as differential contributors to regional development, useful either in terms of their skills (skilled migrants) or their labor (backpackers, seasonal workers, refugees). The co-presence of different groups of migrants in regional locations is also shaped by the fluctuating employer demands for mobile labor in combination with visa regulations. We draw on data from three projects on regional settlement, multiculturalism and mobilities to analyze three important elements of regional migration that are central to a critical analysis of the nexus between rural migration and development in regional Australia: the complex roles of employers; the embedding of regional migration in migrants’ life courses; and the tension between long-term migration outcomes and quick fixes. By focusing on development as it is experienced by migrants themselves and interpreted by different stakeholders in regional migration, we draw attention to the limitations of a purely instrumental view of migrants as agents of regional development. We argue that the sustainability of regional migration policies will depend on recognizing the important role of migrants’ hopes, needs and aspirations as well as their rights, and the unintended human costs and consequences of exclusively economically driven migration policy design.

scholarly journals Spatial econometric analysis of the regional commuting

2016 ◽  
pp. 42-53
Author(s):  
K. Sehida ◽  
S. Kostrikov
Keyword(s):  
Labor Migration ◽  
National Level ◽  
Econometric Analysis ◽  
Geographical Information ◽  
Research Approach ◽  
Administrative District ◽  
Spatial Econometric ◽  
Subject Field ◽  
Scale Levels ◽  
Spatial Econometric Analysis

Paper authors introduce the transitional research approach – the spatial econometric analysis (SEA) – upon commuting study within a regional workforce market. The authors emphasize that both the labor migration and the commuting are two dominant issues upon studying of any workforce market either at its national level, or at the regional one. In authors’ opinion, if we attempt to understand the lower, regional migration level, we have to choose just commuting as its dominant trend. SEA has been introduced as a subject field related to both Human Geography and Regional Studies, it also involves the applied GIS-science instruments as the mandatory research tools. The relationship between the usual labor migration and commuting has been shortly examined on the theoretical level only. This research has been provided with the use of geographical information system (GIS) software for spatial modeling, analysis and visualization. Several levels of the regional commuting geodatabase update with both empirical and derivative data have been described, and its relevant mathematical content introduced. Authors’ empirical / analytical GIS-model of regional commuting has become a key component of SEA completed consequently for two scale levels: for a single administrative district (“rajon”) => for whole Kharkiv administrative oblast – a region. Different visuals represent in details all commuting trends and peculiarities within Kharkiv region borders. Authors’ theoretical / empirical model has estimated an approximated number of regular daily-weekly commuters to Kharkiv-city from the region around one hundred and thirty thousand in the period of 2012-2014. The paper conclusion outlines that further commuting research needs to extend authors’ model presented with much broader number of cross-regional commuting factors. First of all, those commuting determinants caused by the war going on the East – the area neighboring to our region – must be taken into account in one way, or in another.

The Foreign Relations of Subnational Governments

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Lucas McMillan
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Foreign Relations ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
World Politics ◽  
The Political ◽  
The World ◽  
National Borders ◽  
Subnational Governments

Subnational governments are increasingly involved in foreign policy and foreign relations in activities usually labeled as paradiplomacy or constituent diplomacy. This phenomenon is due to the rising capacity of substate territories to act in world politics and has been aided by advances in transportation and telecommunications. National governments’ control of foreign policy has been permeated in many ways, particularly with globalization and “glocalization.” Since 1945, subnational governments such as Australian states, Canadian provinces, and U.S. states have sought to influence foreign policy and foreign relations. Subnational leaders began traveling outside their national borders to recruit foreign investment and promote trade, even opening offices to represent their interests around the world. Subnational governments in Belgium, Germany, and Spain were active in world politics by the 1980s, and these activities expanded in Latin America in the 1990s. Today, there are new levels of activity within federal systems such as India and Nigeria. Subnational leaders now receive ambassadors and heads of government and can be treated like heads of state when they travel abroad to promote their interests. Not only has paradiplomacy spread to subnational governments across the world, but the breath of issues addressed by legislatures and leaders is far beyond economic policy, connecting to intermestic issues such as border security, energy, environmental protection, human rights, and immigration. Shared national borders led to transborder associations being formed decades ago, and these have increased in number and specialization. New levels of awareness of global interdependencies means that subnational leaders today are likely to see both the opportunities and threats from globalization and then seek to represent their citizens’ interests. Foreign policy in the 21st century is not only affected by transnational actors outside of government, such as multinational corporations and environmental groups, but also governmental actors from the local level to the national level. The extent to which subnational governments participate in foreign policy depends on variables related to autonomy and opportunity. Autonomy variables include constitutional framework, division of power, and rules as determined by legislative action or court decisions. Opportunity variables include geography, economic interdependence, kinship (ethnic and religious ties), as well as partisanship and the political ambitions of subnational leaders. Political culture is a variable that can affect autonomy and opportunity. Paradiplomacy has influenced the expectations and roles of subnational leaders and has created varying degrees of institutionalization. Degrees of autonomy allowed for Flanders are not available for U.S. states. Whereas most subnational governments do not have formal roles in international organizations or a ministry devoted to international relations, this does occur in Quebec. Thus, federalism dynamics and intergovernmental relations are evolving and remain important to study. In future research, scholars should more fully examine how subnational leaders’ roles evolve and the political impacts of paradiplomacy; the effects of democratization and how paradiplomacy is diffused; how national and subnational identity shapes paradiplomacy, and the effects paradiplomacy has on domestic and international law as well as political economy. The autonomy and power of subnational governments should be better conceptualized, particularly because less deference is given to national-level policy makers in foreign policy.

Last best: experiences of Dutch European works councils

1999 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 302-319 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ulke Veersma
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Information Disclosure ◽  
Comparative Research ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
National Level ◽  
European Level ◽  
Works Councils ◽  
High Standards ◽  
Enterprise Policy

Dutch works councils are bodies of workers' representation that are equipped to influence enterprise policy at the national level. Possibilities for information disclosure, training and for the resolution of disputes through the court are. in broad terms, well established. The introduction of European Works Councils (EWC)1, however, look more time than in other countries. Nevertheless, the Directive has had its effects in the Netherlands since the first EWC was installed at the ING bank in April 1996. EWCs now operate in many Multinational Corporations (MNCs). In this article the first experiences of European Works Councils (EWCs) are reported. EWCs were surveyed on, among other things, the main impediments to their effective functioning at the European level, Furthermore, the article addresses the question of what strategies are being developed. Dutch MNCs appear to be generally behind with the establishment of EWCs. Another general conclusion of the survey is that, with the establishment of the EWC, different elements of industrial relations from other countries are being introduced, which can be seen as a first step towards the europeanisation of the system of national works councils in the Netherlands. It has yet to be seen if Dutch works councils will be able to maintain their relatively high standards, and possibly raise them to match those of other European countries, or whether a downgrading harmonisation has been put into force. More comparative research, which has to cover a longer period of lime, is required to point out whether the last will be the best at the European level.

scholarly journals The implications of oil theft on social and economic development in the Niger Delta

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Titilayo Soremi
Keyword(s):  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Niger Delta ◽  
Local Level ◽  
National Level ◽  
Resource Curse ◽  
Social Implications ◽  
Rentier State ◽  
State Structure ◽  
Economic Implications ◽  
The Social

The emergence of the exploration of crude oil in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria, has awarded the region worldwide renown as the economic  backbone of the country, but also as a conflict flashpoint. Drawing from the propositions of the resource curse theory, the paper identifies Nigeria’s  rentier state structure as the underlining cause linked to the citing of conflict and corruption, as the reasons for the occurrence of oil theft in the Niger Delta. Also, the Dutch disease is identified as an economic explanation of the resource curse theory, and this is used to identify the economic  implications of oil theft in the Niger Delta at the national level. In addition, the rentier state structure is used to identify the social implications of the occurrence of oil theft at the local level in the Niger Delta region. The paper posits that economic implications include reduced revenue, increased  unemployment, and diversification of the economy. The social implications also include sustained conflict, curbed social development, and  displacement of persons. To combat the illegal practice of oil theft, it is recommended that transparency and accountability should be adhered to in the relations among government, oil-producing communities and multinational corporations. Keywords: Niger Delta, oil theft, resource curse, sustainable development, security and conflict

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