Civic Engagement
A Starving Man Helping Another Starving Man: United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, India, and the Genesis of Global Relief, 1943-1947
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Julien Reiman
In November 1943, the allied nations created the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) to solve the agricultural, industrial, and refugee crises that WWII had created. Also in November 1943, a famine was ravaging Bengal. Although WWII caused the famine, UNRRA never aided Bengal. This essay explains this omission by examining the activity of low-level personnel of the American, British, and Indian governments. Documents from the mostly-untapped UNRRA archive in New York City show how agents attempted to relieve famine victims despite orders from their superiors. UNRRA provided the channels through which these officers interacted and broke from their nations’ executives. These breaks changed the relationship between the United States and British India, allowing the two countries to have closer diplomatic and economic ties outside the purview of British diplomats. UNRRA deserves attention in the history of international affairs, as do the low-level employees that drive the world’s organizations.
Involvement and Commitment of Young People for the Development of Haiti: Civic and Social Commitment
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Roodelin Charlotin, Maynia Charlemagne
Despite the fact that young people represent 64% (less than 25 years) of the Haitian population, they have very little presence in decision-making spheres (political, economic, social). Young people are not present in executive, financial institutions, etc. This is true at the national level as well as at the local level. The consequence is that quite often, other categories of people decide for the country and therefore for them. Having understood that they are excluded, some have understood the need to get involved, to engage, in a word to take responsibility. In the face of various national and international development issues, the participation of the population in general and young people in particular is more important than ever. Young people have all the more interest in participating because their immediate future greatly depends on it. This study asks: What are their actions? How are they organized? Do they find partnerships? How do they overcome the difficulties? What are they proposing? Difficult or not, young people must get involved and commit because their participation is at the heart of many issues.
Digital Re(appropriations) and Attempts of Collective Labor Organizing : Uber Technologies
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Dragana Mrvos
This paper argues that attempts of collective labor organizing between drivers who work under digital ride-hailing platforms such as Uber become more challenging compared to earlier times. My argumentation is profoundly tied up with the extension of the capitalist appropriation (explored in the context of “social factory”) and labor alienation that I operationalize through three dimensions (powerlessness, normlessness, and isolation). Increasing powerlessness and normlessness among Uber drivers contribute to labor organizing aimed at bunking of the exploitative scheme. For instance, Uber drivers realized that the only way to boost their earnings was by re-appropriating the technology, using the Uber app against Uber illegally. Normlessness, as an integral aspect of alienation, in this case helped collective labor organization, potentially in function of class composition, and formation of “class for itself”. However, isolation, also a central aspect in defining alienation, prevented workers’ organization from evolving into a more sustainable and structured type of cooperation. Rather, several attempts of collective organizing among Uber drivers that I explored illuminated only a lower degree of convergence and inability of outgrowing from autonomous and loosely defined into a more nuanced, class-based type of struggle, potentially a catalyst of counter culture and qualitative social change. This way, I reaffirm decidedly political character of alienation.
How Do Female Labor Force Participation Rates Change During Periods of Globalization and Marginalization?: Evidence from 1990 to 2019
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Bong Sun Seo, Bernhard Gunter, Farah Tasneem
Despite the overall economic globalization we have seen during the last few decades, which for example is evident by the increase in the share of world exports to world GDP, it is now well-established that the exports-to-GDP ratios have been decreasing for about one third of the world’s countries during the last three decades. This paper examines how female labor force participation rates (FLFPRs) have changed during periods of significant globalization and periods of significant marginalization based on the experience of more than 130 countries and territories all over the world. It also examines the change in labor force participation rates of females relative to that of males. To reduce the possible distortion resulting from changes in tertiary education rates, we focus initially on LFPRs between ages 25 to 64, though we also examine LFPRs between ages 15 to 24. Preliminary regression results indicate that both globalization and marginalization had a negative impact on FLFPRs between ages 25-64. This negative impact on FLFPRs is consistent with our findings that globalization and marginalization are both positively associated with the gap between female and male LFPRs. To shed some light on the sources for these changes in FLFPRs, we then examine how consistent these overall changes are for the group of industrialized and developing countries.
