Socio-economic inequality as a key challenge of our modernity

The article is devoted to the study of the causes, essence and social consequences of socio-economic inequality in the modern world. On the basis of an economic-sociological approach, the author investigates the evolution of this phenomenon from the beginning of the implementation of neoliberal reforms to the present. The article proves that the key reason for the intensification of the polarization of income and wealth in recent decades has been the fundamental transformations of the sphere of labor and employment, as well as other economic and political measures implemented within the framework of introducing the principles of neoliberalism into economic practice. The declining share of the labor income within the national income, the blurring of the link between productivity and wage growth, the dismantling of the welfare state and weakening trade unions are the result of the neoliberalization of the global economic system and key drivers of income and wealth differentiation and our modernity of labor inequality.The article focuses on the study of inequality in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and the current COVID-crisis. The author comes to the conclusion that the growth of inequality and other social problems as a result of the pandemic was determined mainly by the socio-economic policies of the states of the pre-pandemic period. The COVID-19 pandemic acted as a social x-ray that revealed to the worlds population the real state of modern social institutions.

An ‘Organ of Student Opinion’? Alternative Print, Protest, and the Politics of Education in Salient, 1973-1989

<p>This thesis explores Victoria University of Wellington’s student newspaper, Salient, in the 1970s and 1980s. Salient covered a wide array of issues, performing its role as a campus newspaper while closely engaging with and informing students of wider political issues during a period of significant student protest. As a publication, it consistently and deliberately set itself apart from the mainstream media, a position which placed it alongside other alternative or radical publications. Furthermore, the thesis demonstrates that the connections between Salient and the Wellington Marxist-Leninist Organisation (MILO) were profound and enduring in the 1970s, with significant implications for the kinds of analysis and issues that Salient presented to its readers. While individual editors did have unique editorial policies, the nature of Salient’s journalism in the 1970s was notably socialist and activist in its outlook. In the 1980s, while Salient maintained a progressive political outlook, the direct association with MILO (by then the Workers’ Communist League) loosened. The paper’s political content still covered a range of contemporary social issues, and its editors took political stances, but its content was more akin to political commentary than an extension of political activism. The exception was Salient’s opposition to user pays tertiary education, which was seriously considered by David Lange’s Labour Government as part of its neoliberal reforms. As the possibility of a user-pays tertiary education system became more likely, Salient dedicated more space to covering, opposing, and organising action against this disruptive policy which had major implications for its student readership. Salient often did not speak for all students, but provided a platform for alternative analysis of social and political issues, pushing the boundaries of the purpose of student media and its place within the print landscape of New Zealand.</p>

An ‘Organ of Student Opinion’? Alternative Print, Protest, and the Politics of Education in Salient, 1973-1989

<p>This thesis explores Victoria University of Wellington’s student newspaper, Salient, in the 1970s and 1980s. Salient covered a wide array of issues, performing its role as a campus newspaper while closely engaging with and informing students of wider political issues during a period of significant student protest. As a publication, it consistently and deliberately set itself apart from the mainstream media, a position which placed it alongside other alternative or radical publications. Furthermore, the thesis demonstrates that the connections between Salient and the Wellington Marxist-Leninist Organisation (MILO) were profound and enduring in the 1970s, with significant implications for the kinds of analysis and issues that Salient presented to its readers. While individual editors did have unique editorial policies, the nature of Salient’s journalism in the 1970s was notably socialist and activist in its outlook. In the 1980s, while Salient maintained a progressive political outlook, the direct association with MILO (by then the Workers’ Communist League) loosened. The paper’s political content still covered a range of contemporary social issues, and its editors took political stances, but its content was more akin to political commentary than an extension of political activism. The exception was Salient’s opposition to user pays tertiary education, which was seriously considered by David Lange’s Labour Government as part of its neoliberal reforms. As the possibility of a user-pays tertiary education system became more likely, Salient dedicated more space to covering, opposing, and organising action against this disruptive policy which had major implications for its student readership. Salient often did not speak for all students, but provided a platform for alternative analysis of social and political issues, pushing the boundaries of the purpose of student media and its place within the print landscape of New Zealand.</p>

Trickle Down Development? The Expansion of Asparagus Exports and Water Availability for Urban Marginal Groups in Ica, Peru

<p>This thesis explores the neoliberal approach to development and its influence on resource management in Latin America using a case study of Peru. Peru’s neoliberal reforms, beginning in 1990s, were successful in fostering macro-economic growth and helping the country reverse its dismal economic performance of the 1970s and 1980s. Promoted by neoliberal policies natural resource export booms, including in the non-traditional agricultural export (NTAX) sector, have contributed to Peru’s economic success. However, this overall economic growth has exacerbated the pre-existing inequalities of Peru. By applying an analysis inspired by structuralist and dependency theories, this thesis critically examines Peru’s NTAX expansion to understand why ‘underdevelopment’ and the country’s position as a ‘resource periphery’ has continued to take place. This study focuses on the rapid expansion of fresh asparagus exports in the Ica Valley following the 1990 reforms. Fresh asparagus production in the Ica Valley represents the flagship of Peru’s NTAX boom, with the industry generating economic growth and eradicating the area’s previously high unemployment. However, the industry has also concentrated water access and worsened water non-availability and inequalities in the valley. These problems are disproportionately affecting Ica’s marginalised population, yet limited work has documented how marginal urban groups are being impacted. This research therefore investigates how the asparagus export boom has affected Ica’s marginal urban groups and their access to water. In doing so, it critically studies the withdrawal of the state from development planning and resource management. Additionally, this research seeks to connect the rural and urban spheres, which are commonly and problematically separated in development study, through a contemporary example of the resource curse argument.</p>

Trickle Down Development? The Expansion of Asparagus Exports and Water Availability for Urban Marginal Groups in Ica, Peru

<p>This thesis explores the neoliberal approach to development and its influence on resource management in Latin America using a case study of Peru. Peru’s neoliberal reforms, beginning in 1990s, were successful in fostering macro-economic growth and helping the country reverse its dismal economic performance of the 1970s and 1980s. Promoted by neoliberal policies natural resource export booms, including in the non-traditional agricultural export (NTAX) sector, have contributed to Peru’s economic success. However, this overall economic growth has exacerbated the pre-existing inequalities of Peru. By applying an analysis inspired by structuralist and dependency theories, this thesis critically examines Peru’s NTAX expansion to understand why ‘underdevelopment’ and the country’s position as a ‘resource periphery’ has continued to take place. This study focuses on the rapid expansion of fresh asparagus exports in the Ica Valley following the 1990 reforms. Fresh asparagus production in the Ica Valley represents the flagship of Peru’s NTAX boom, with the industry generating economic growth and eradicating the area’s previously high unemployment. However, the industry has also concentrated water access and worsened water non-availability and inequalities in the valley. These problems are disproportionately affecting Ica’s marginalised population, yet limited work has documented how marginal urban groups are being impacted. This research therefore investigates how the asparagus export boom has affected Ica’s marginal urban groups and their access to water. In doing so, it critically studies the withdrawal of the state from development planning and resource management. Additionally, this research seeks to connect the rural and urban spheres, which are commonly and problematically separated in development study, through a contemporary example of the resource curse argument.</p>

Missed Opportunities and Future Challenges: Globalisation, Small-Farmers and the Expanding Chilean Non-Traditional Fruit Sector

<p>The following research revisits, re-examines and builds on previous and ongoing critical work into the rise of non-traditional fruit exports in Chile. The work is principally concerned with the negative distributional impacts on small-scale producers in light of the country's extensive neoliberal reforms of the mid 1970s and 1980's and their continuation under successive Concertacion governments since 1990. Attention is placed on revisiting and better understanding the phenomenon observed by Murray (1997) ten years earlier, that saw small-scale producers enter into grossly uneven bargaining relationships with large fruit export firms that tended to expose them to a disproportionately high proportion of the risks associated with exporting in the global marketplace. At the time, these processes were shown to be driving many small-scale producers into a cycle of debt- resulting in land concentration and greater inequality in the locality. In the absence of government intervention, it was predicted that these patterns would continue to threaten the livelihood and economic sustainability of the Chilean peasantry. The following dissertation demonstrates that in the ten years since 1994 significant land concentration has indeed continued to take place as predicted within the original research locality, El Palqui. But unlike in the past, where land was dominated by large haciendas, today, it is equally large, capital intensive producers - including a handful of internationally owned export firms - who are progressively extending their grip over the Chilean countryside. In light of these changes, it could therefore be argued that the Chilean countryside is developing a character gravely reminiscent of Chile's pre-reform 'semi-feudal' system. With even those small producers, who have supposedly 'successfully inserted' into the global economy facing serious financial hardship, the future looks bleak for the Chilean peasantry. This thesis argues that the continuation of land concentration is a by-product of successive Chilean governments' persistent failure to assist small-producers during and after the critical transitional phase from an inward oriented development model to an outward oriented export-led model. This failure to act represents a missed opportunity to effectively integrate smaller producers into the export sector in a manner which might have been conducive to growth with equity.</p>

Missed Opportunities and Future Challenges: Globalisation, Small-Farmers and the Expanding Chilean Non-Traditional Fruit Sector

<p>The following research revisits, re-examines and builds on previous and ongoing critical work into the rise of non-traditional fruit exports in Chile. The work is principally concerned with the negative distributional impacts on small-scale producers in light of the country's extensive neoliberal reforms of the mid 1970s and 1980's and their continuation under successive Concertacion governments since 1990. Attention is placed on revisiting and better understanding the phenomenon observed by Murray (1997) ten years earlier, that saw small-scale producers enter into grossly uneven bargaining relationships with large fruit export firms that tended to expose them to a disproportionately high proportion of the risks associated with exporting in the global marketplace. At the time, these processes were shown to be driving many small-scale producers into a cycle of debt- resulting in land concentration and greater inequality in the locality. In the absence of government intervention, it was predicted that these patterns would continue to threaten the livelihood and economic sustainability of the Chilean peasantry. The following dissertation demonstrates that in the ten years since 1994 significant land concentration has indeed continued to take place as predicted within the original research locality, El Palqui. But unlike in the past, where land was dominated by large haciendas, today, it is equally large, capital intensive producers - including a handful of internationally owned export firms - who are progressively extending their grip over the Chilean countryside. In light of these changes, it could therefore be argued that the Chilean countryside is developing a character gravely reminiscent of Chile's pre-reform 'semi-feudal' system. With even those small producers, who have supposedly 'successfully inserted' into the global economy facing serious financial hardship, the future looks bleak for the Chilean peasantry. This thesis argues that the continuation of land concentration is a by-product of successive Chilean governments' persistent failure to assist small-producers during and after the critical transitional phase from an inward oriented development model to an outward oriented export-led model. This failure to act represents a missed opportunity to effectively integrate smaller producers into the export sector in a manner which might have been conducive to growth with equity.</p>

Marketisation and regional planning in neoliberal public services: Evidence from French hospitals

Marxist scholarship has documented the implications of ‘neoliberal’ reforms to public services. This scholarship often considers these reforms as class projects which have disciplined working populations and created new opportunities for capitalist profit-making. But in this article, we shift emphasis to the internal dysfunction that shapes states’ pursuit of market-oriented policy agendas. We place closer focus on the specific levers through which marketising reforms are implemented, noting the conflicting pressures they unleash, and the cracks this may open through which a more democratic agenda can be advanced. Taking the French hospital sector as an example, we show how attempts to expand and intensify competition in public services have coincided with attempts to decentralise governance to the regional level. While ostensibly part of the same ‘reforming’ policy agenda, marketising policies have a strongly centralising logic which has in practice undermined efforts to develop meaningful regional planning. These institutional tensions have catalysed new political currents, as the relationship between public authorities and private sector actors has become more overtly conflictual. We argue that Marxist theorists of the state need to pay closer attention to the often dysfunctional relationship between different branches of the state, and that in the context of neoliberal public service reform, the tensions between central and regional states are particularly salient. We conclude that opponents of the marketisation of public services need to pay attention to the contested and ambiguous nature of ‘decentralisation’: while it is often a rhetorical cover for marketisation, there are opportunities for the left in demanding more meaningful and authentic forms of regional planning.

Black Markets and Militants

Understanding the political and socio-economic factors which give rise to youth recruitment into militant organizations is at the heart of grasping some of the most important issues that affect the contemporary Middle East and Africa. In this book, Khalid Mustafa Medani explains why youth are attracted to militant organizations, examining the specific role economic globalization, in the form of outmigration and expatriate remittance inflows, plays in determining how and why militant activists emerge. The study challenges existing accounts that rely primarily on ideology to explain militant recruitment. Based on extensive fieldwork, Medani offers an in-depth analysis of the impact of globalization, neoliberal reforms and informal economic networks as a conduit for the rise and evolution of moderate and militant Islamist movements and as an avenue central to the often, violent enterprise of state building and state formation. In an original contribution to the study of Islamist and ethnic politics more broadly, he thereby shows the importance of understanding when and under what conditions religious rather than other forms of identity become politically salient in the context of changes in local conditions.