Platform capitalism's social contract

What kind of social contract underwrites platform capitalism? Based on findings from the Platform Labor research project, I discuss a number of ways in which platform companies are expanding their services and influence by identifying particular societal needs and marketing themselves as efficient solutions to workers, citizens and civil society organisations, as well as local governments. I argue that we are seeing the emergence of different gendered "platform fixes", connected to other types of "fixes" that have sought to overcome the limits of capital accumulation and attendant crises of social reproduction. The three platform fixes discussed in this essay each attempt to revise and rearticulate elements of the nation state's social contract, operating at the urban level: 1) Channeling migrant labour into on-demand domestic work; 2) Coordinating civil society's "altruistic surplus" to deliver social care; and 3) Promoting "home-sharing" as a way to finance the rising costs of social reproduction

Bridging the legitimacy gap—translating theory into practical signposts for legitimate flood risk governance

Legitimacy is widely regarded as a founding principle of ‘good’ and effective governance, yet despite intense academic debate and policy discourse, the concept remains conceptually confusing and poorly articulated in practice. To bridge this gap, this research performed an interpretive thematic analysis of academic scholarship across public administration, public policy, law, political science and geography. Three core themes were identified in relation to representative deliberation, procedural and distributive equity and justice, and socio-political acceptability, with numerous sub-themes therein. In an attempt to clarify conceptual confusion, this paper grounds these theoretical debates in the context of flood risk governance where numerous legitimacy dilemmas exist. A number of questions are presented as conceptual ‘sign posts’ to encourage reflexive governance in the future. Thus, more broadly, we assert the importance of bringing legitimacy to the forefront of contemporary flood risk governance discourse and practice, moving beyond the realm of academic reflection