In order to understand the effects of neoliberal globalization on trade unions in India, this paper investigates what have been the changes in trade union participation in modern Indian industrial...Show moreIn order to understand the effects of neoliberal globalization on trade unions in India, this paper investigates what have been the changes in trade union participation in modern Indian industrial relations. This paper uses data from the time period between 1993 and 2013 and utilizes three main variables; trade union membership, trade union density, and union wage changes in order to measure trade unions’ ability to engage and conduct their prime directive in industrial relations. This thesis finds that trade union participation has increased due to higher trade union membership, union density, and union wages while having mobilized in response to neoliberalism. Although the increase in union wages relative to non-union ones is subject to debate, a potential reason for explaining both sides is the abandonment or persistence of political incorporation and patronage of unions.Show less
Lebanon’s 17 October Uprising marked a watershed moment in the country’s history as it challenged the very foundation of the political system: sectarian power-sharing. It was the largest and most...Show moreLebanon’s 17 October Uprising marked a watershed moment in the country’s history as it challenged the very foundation of the political system: sectarian power-sharing. It was the largest and most diverse protest movement in decades and its anti-sectarian stature was entirely unprecedented. For the first time, many Lebanese called on their confessional leaders to resign. This thesis examines firstly why the uprising directed its focus toward political sectarianism as a primary cause of Lebanon’s political and economic plight. The inability or unwillingness of sectarian leaders to deliver basic services to their constituents created a situation in which Lebanese across all sects were more united than ever before in their collective plight. Second, it explores the timing of the uprising in the fall of 2019. It argues that the uprising was the culmination of simmering resentments that finally erupted as a result of deteriorating economic conditions, political corruption, and a series of disasters that the government failed to prevent or address. Lastly, the thesis investigates how the uprising helped propel anti-sectarian ideas that were previously taboo into mainstream political discourse. While the 17 October Uprising ultimately failed to achieve its objective of establishing a secular rather than sectarian political order, it stands as the most significant challenge to political sectarianism in the country’s history and could pave the way for future mobilizations in the same vein. This thesis will contribute to the nascent body of literature on the 17 October Uprising and the broader scholarship on sectarian power-sharing as a system of governance.Show less
This thesis explores the lobbying strategies used by multinational agribusinesses to shape the global food security regime as part of global capitalism management. My case study focuses on how the...Show moreThis thesis explores the lobbying strategies used by multinational agribusinesses to shape the global food security regime as part of global capitalism management. My case study focuses on how the four largest grain traders in the world lobby the Food and Agriculture Organization to promote market-based policies for global food security. I find substantial evidence for four strategies: multi-stakeholder fora, corporate-FAO partnerships, lobbying national governments, and revolving door practices. The four strategies help agribusinesses be involved in decision-making, increase their market and structural power, and promote the private sector as a legitimate and essential actor in the regime’s governance. The findings fit within a neo-Gramscian framework and can be interpreted as strategies used by the transnational capitalist class to support the transnationalization of social relations of production and the promotion of the neoliberal world order.Show less
Ten years have passed since Japan’s triple disaster on March 11, 2011. The earthquake that occurred off the coast of eastern Japan triggered a powerful tsunami that in turn caused a nuclear...Show moreTen years have passed since Japan’s triple disaster on March 11, 2011. The earthquake that occurred off the coast of eastern Japan triggered a powerful tsunami that in turn caused a nuclear meltdown. As with the Great Hanshin earthquake in Kobe in 1995, most of the victims were elderly people. This paper articulates the causes of Japan’s elderly population’s vulnerability to (natural) hazards by examining to what extent neoliberalism aggravates the Japanese elderly’s disaster vulnerability by using the Disaster as a Social Vulnerability framework. The prevailing consensus in studies that utilize this approach is that neoliberalism and the most common developments associated with the neoliberal ideology, privatization, and decentralization4, harm people’s vulnerability. This paper shows that while processes associated with neoliberalism can exacerbate the Japanese elderly’s disaster vulnerability, as will be demonstrated by discussing the pension system, there is no evidence for the accuracy of this consensus regarding the healthcare system. Based on these insights, this paper concludes that the “neoliberalism aggravates disaster vulnerability”-consensus is too simplistic to consider the elderly population in Japan.Show less
Neuroscience has since its institutionalization in the 19th century directed its scientific promise of the discovery of the relationship between the brain and mind and with it the explanation of...Show moreNeuroscience has since its institutionalization in the 19th century directed its scientific promise of the discovery of the relationship between the brain and mind and with it the explanation of mental illnesses and disorders to range of political actors. Where neuroscientists in the first decades after the Second World War failed to claim a position of scientific expertise, by the late 1980s the social and political context had changed in their favor with the rise of Neoliberal governance. During the 1990s Decade of the Brain, neuroscience’s promise of the ‘cure for mental illness’ was turned into a national project, first by the Bush administration in the United States and then followed up by nations around the globe. Neuroscientific reductionist explanations of mental illness were so successful because they aimed at and resembled neoliberal discourses on individual responsibility and the inability of governmental interference in the social environment. Where neuroscientists and governmental officials in the first years of the Decade mentioned social factors as causes for mental illness and disorders, by the beginning of the 21th century mental illness had become a ‘no-fault brain illness’, a neurobiological phenomenon without external causes and therefore also solutions. The consequences of this alliance between neuroscience and neoliberalism have been topic of many critical studies in the past decade, yet the Decade of the Brain until now have almost completely been ignored. This master thesis is the first step towards an understanding of the interplay between the local and global dimensions of this Decade and thereby also a step towards understanding the way mental health issues are seen and treated in the present. This understanding at the same time is meant to open up the possibility to imagine much needed change in the future.Show less
This paper analyzes Mexico’s food consumption patterns and social consequences conditioned by economic changes following the implementation of NAFTA. Market liberalization and foreign investment...Show moreThis paper analyzes Mexico’s food consumption patterns and social consequences conditioned by economic changes following the implementation of NAFTA. Market liberalization and foreign investment have proven to negatively impact public health in Mexico which experiences a steep increase of obesity prevalence and non-communicable diseases. This paper is able to trace the complex relationship between trade, health policy and the nutrition transition.Show less
The World Bank has been increasingly involved in post-Independence Kenya’s agricultural development since the drought of 1973 and the Oil Crisis of the same year. Their stated objectives across...Show moreThe World Bank has been increasingly involved in post-Independence Kenya’s agricultural development since the drought of 1973 and the Oil Crisis of the same year. Their stated objectives across these loan agreements and Structural Adjustment Programs have been to liberalise trade and ultimately create a situation of food security in Kenya. In the years that have followed, Kenya has continued to be a major exporter of horticultural goods such as cut-flowers and black tea. Yet Kenya has not emerged as a food secure nation. In fact Kenya is now recognised as a food insecure nation. This is undeniably a highly complex issue with all manner of contributing factors, most notably the worsening climate crisis and internal displacement this has caused. However, Kenya is East Africa’s largest and arguably most stable economy with hugely profitable agricultural exports. Kenya is also a nation unlike many other African nations in that its most valuable natural resource is its soil rather than what lies beneath it. Despite this, more than a third of Kenyan children suffer from stunting meaning chronic malnutrition in pregnant women and children is widespread. This research therefore utilises a theoretical framework based on elements from the Neoliberal Theory of Development, Postcolonial Theory and World Systems Theory to analyse how the World Bank’s loan conditionalities have contributed to Kenya’s status as food insecure. With many of these loans still in the process of being repaid this research focuses on the impacts they have had thus far.Show less
Corruption as a systemic phenomenon is usually attributed to developing states and their weak institutional capacity to impose rule of law. However, unlike the predominant view which isolates state...Show moreCorruption as a systemic phenomenon is usually attributed to developing states and their weak institutional capacity to impose rule of law. However, unlike the predominant view which isolates state affairs to a national domain, alternative view states that when countries are becoming more financially and economically interdependent, they are inevitably faced with transnational issues which infuse their domestic sphere. This thesis continues to research corruption in a global context and particularly studies how neoliberal, i.e. pro-market and de-regulation norms and policies which dominated certain advanced economies’ spheres for the past decades, affect their institutional capacity to impose rule of law to control foreign corruption. A case study between Germany and the United States is conducted to test this theory and finds that the neoliberal policies and norms contribute to these countries’ struggle to impose adequate control even when corruption directly affects their domestic spheres. Yet, due to their institutional differences, their capabilities diverge in an interesting fashion.Show less
This thesis explores the role of a teacher under Bolsonaro regime in Curitiba, Brazil. More specifically, it will answer the following research question: how have the oppressive structures of...Show moreThis thesis explores the role of a teacher under Bolsonaro regime in Curitiba, Brazil. More specifically, it will answer the following research question: how have the oppressive structures of neoliberalism under the Bolsonaro regime affected teachers' capabilities in Curitiba, Brazil? The disseratation explores the question through the framework of neoliberalism, the commodification of education and knowledge on the one hand and transformative education on the other. The goal is to identify and analyse the impact of Bolsonaro's neoliberal policies on teachers' experiences in the classroom and society. The research is based on six, qualitative, semi-structured interviews with six teachers in Curitiba. The analysis indicates that teachers find it increasingly difficult to realise their ideological aspirations towards transformative education within the framework of Bolsonaro's neoliberal policies. Based on the data, the Bolsonaro regime's neoliberal educational policies that have led further commodification of education and knowledge which deteriorate teachers' professional status, working conditions, support and pedagogical liberty. Through critical premises, this research engages in the ongoing political debate on the commodification of education.Show less
This thesis seeks to investigate the possible connection between the precarious socioeconomic situation that dominates the lives of most Chileans and the historically unprecedented magnitude of...Show moreThis thesis seeks to investigate the possible connection between the precarious socioeconomic situation that dominates the lives of most Chileans and the historically unprecedented magnitude of protests that are currently shaking the country. The main research question will, therefore, take a close look at “How to understand the 2019 Chilean protests as a result of the structural inequalities produced by the radical neoliberal development strategy implemented in the 1980s? In order to make this research more tangible and feasible, the privatization of the social security (pension) system will serve as a case study to analyze the changing tolerance for inequality, as the demand for a pension system reform is one of the key drivers behind the ongoing social upheaval in Chile. The research questions will be answered by using the Hirschman “tunnel hypothesis” created in 1973 to investigate how societies in the early stages of rapid economic development have created a substantial tolerance for initial economic disparities, anticipating a future reduction of said disparities that will include everyone. Should these expectations never be met, considerable social discontent develops, that can result in disaster and turn previous supporters into enemies of the stateShow less
Studies have been carried out that explore the effect of the ILO's Decent Work Agenda but there has been a lack of focus of its effect on the working conditions of women working informally. Through...Show moreStudies have been carried out that explore the effect of the ILO's Decent Work Agenda but there has been a lack of focus of its effect on the working conditions of women working informally. Through carrying out a qualitative content analysis of key documents, the normative function of the ILO's Decent Work Agenda within the context of informal domestic workers in India between 2008 and 2018 was analysed. This provided a nuanced and in-depth understanding of the ILO's role in the development of women who work outside of the purview of the rule of law and are also often marginalised on the basis of social constructs such as class, caste, religion and gender. While the ILO's Decent Work Agenda has resulted in the limited improvement of the lives of Indian women working in the informal economy the organisation ability to drive change has been curbed by its inability to enforce international law, and the neoliberal global political economy.Show less
This thesis investigates the effects of neoliberalism on labour and the social reproduction of labour. The thesis provides a literature review of the extensive literature on neoliberalism in...Show moreThis thesis investigates the effects of neoliberalism on labour and the social reproduction of labour. The thesis provides a literature review of the extensive literature on neoliberalism in general and in Egypt before providing a historical account of neoliberal reforms and their effect on the corporatist bargain between labour and the state. It then proceeds to discuss the effects of neoliberalism on informality, welfare and repression. The thesis argues that on all these fronts workers have been increasingly marginalised and forced to live in substandard conditions. Neoliberalism has caused a spike in informal employment and informal settlements. This informality results in decreased working conditions, wages and housing conditions. Another effect of the neoliberal reforms was the reduction of state provision of welfare. This vacuum was filled by private actors, often those families and individuals who benefitted from the neoliberal reforms in the first place. Labour is now dependent on private actors to provide services, which used to be a right based on citizenship. Harvey characterises neoliberal reforms as accumulation through dispossession. Lastly, the thesis claims that resistance to this dispossession has been effectively repressed through legal obstacles, Sisi-linked media narratives securitising resistance and an increased security apparatus. Overall, workers have suffered the brunt of neoliberal reform to the benefit of a select group of elites, who now attempt to form a coalition with the security forces to maintain stability, prevent another 2011 and maintain their accumulated wealth.Show less
