Confronting root causes: forced labour in global supply chains

Excerpt It is by now widely recognised that effectively tackling forced labour in the global economy means addressing its ‘root causes’. Policymakers, business leaders and civil society organisations all routinely call for interventions that do so. Yet what exactly are these root causes? And how do they operate? The two most commonly given answers are ‘poverty’ and ‘globalisation’. Although each may be foundational to forced labour, both terms are typically used in nebulous, catch-all ways that serve more as excuses than explanations. Both encompass and obscure a web of decisions and processes that maintain an unjust status quo, while being used as euphemisms for deeper socio-economic structures that lie at the core of the capitalist global economy. The question thus becomes: exactly which aspects of poverty and globalisation are responsible for the endemic labour exploitation frequently described with the terms forced labour, human trafficking or modern slavery? Which global economic processes ensure a constant and low-cost supply of highly exploitable and coerced workers? And which dynamics trigger a demand among businesses for their exploitation, making it possible for them to profit from it? This 12-part report is an attempt to answer these questions in a rigorous yet accessible way. With it, we hope to provide policymakers, journalists, scholars and activists with a road map for understanding the political economy of forced labour in today’s “global value chain world”

Blind spots in IPE : marginalized perspectives and neglected trends in contemporary capitalism

Which blind spots shape scholarship in International Political Economy (IPE)? That question animates the contributions to a double special issue—one in the Review of International Political Economy, and a companion one in New Political Economy. The global financial crisis had seemed to vindicate broad-ranging IPE perspectives at the expense of narrow economics theories. Yet the tumultuous decade since then has confronted IPE scholars with rapidly-shifting global dynamics, many of which had remained underappreciated. We use the Blind Spots moniker in an attempt to push the topics covered here higher up the scholarly agenda—issues that range from institutionalized racism and misogyny to the rise of big tech, intensifying corporate power, expertise-dynamics in global governance, assetization, and climate change. Gendered and racial inequalities as blind spots have a particular charge. There has been a self-reinforcing correspondence between topics that have counted as important, people to whom they matter personally, and the latter’s ability to build careers on them. In that sense, our mission is not only to highlight collective blind spots that may dull IPE’s capacity to theorize the current moment. It is also a normative one—a form of disciplinary housekeeping to help correct both intellectual and professional entrenched biases

Epidemiology of distal femur fractures in France in 2011–12

AbstractIntroductionEpidemiological study of femoral fractures has been dominated by proximal fractures. Distal fracture requires equal attention for correct management.Patients and methodsA prospective study in 12 French hospital centres between June 1st, 2011 and May 31st, 2012 recruited cases of non-pathologic distal femoral fracture in patients over 15 years of age without ipsilateral knee prosthesis.ResultsThere were 183 fractures in 177 patients. Mean age was 63.5 years. Female patients (60.5%) were significantly older than males (mean age, respectively 73 versus 48.4 years). Walking was unrestricted in only 83 patients (46.89%). On the AO/OTA (Orthopaedic Trauma Association) classification, there were 86 type A fractures (47%), 29 type B (15.8%) and 68 type C (37.2%). Fractures were open in 32 cases (17.5%), most frequently in male, young patients and type C fracture. Causal trauma was low-energy (fall from own height) in 108 cases, most frequently in female patients and type A fracture. Forty-five patients were proximal femoral implant bearers.ConclusionDistal femoral fracture shows highly variable epidemiology. AO/OTA type A fracture mainly involves elderly, relatively dependent female subjects. Outcome study requires radiographic data and assessment of functional capacity.Level of evidence IVProspective cohort study

Choreography, controversy and child sex abuse: Theoretical reflections on a cultural criminological analysis of dance in a pop music video

This article was inspired by the controversy over claims of ‘pedophilia!!!!’ undertones and the ‘triggering’ of memories of childhood sexual abuse in some viewers by the dance performance featured in the music video for Sia’s ‘Elastic Heart’ (2015). The case is presented for acknowledging the hidden and/or overlooked presence of dance in social scientific theory and cultural studies and how these can enhance and advance cultural criminological research. Examples of how these insights have been used within other disciplinary frameworks to analyse and address child sex crime and sexual trauma are provided, and the argument is made that popular cultural texts such as dance in pop music videos should be regarded as significant in analysing and tracing public perceptions and epistemologies of crimes such as child sex abuse

Shalom bayit—Peace of the Home: Ritual and Tradition in American Jewish Families

Utilizing a sample of 30 regionally diverse families (N=75 individuals) belonging to various branches of Judaism, we qualitatively explored how Judaism enhanced and facilitated participants' general life strengths and relational strengths (i.e., marriage and parenting). Based on our findings, Jewish rituals, traditions, and observances had a positive influence on participants' personal lives and family relationships. A sense of duty and responsibility felt toward Jewish observance and to family relationships seemed to facilitate much of this influence.12 month embargo; published online: 02 Jul 2018This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Seeing and not-seeing like a political economist : the historicity of contemporary political economy and its blind spots

Contemporary political economy is predicated on widely shared ideas and assumptions, some explicit but many implicit, about the past. Our aim in this Special Issue is to draw attention to, and to assess critically, these historical assumptions. In doing so, we hope to contribute to a political economy that is more attentive to the analytic assumptions on which it is premised, more aware of the potential oversights, biases, and omissions they contain, and more reflexive about the potential costs of these blind spots. This is an Introduction to one of two Special Issues that are being published simultaneously by New Political Economy and Review of International Political Economy reflecting on blind spots in international political economy. Together, these Special Issues seek to identify the key blind spots in the field and to make sense of how many scholars missed or misconstrued important dynamics that define contemporary capitalism and the other systems and sources of social inequality that characterise our present. This particular Special Issue pursues this goal by looking backwards, to the history of political economy and at the ways in which we have come to tell that history, in order to understand how we got to the present moment

Biochemical characteristics and bacterial community structure of the sea surface microlayer in the South Pacific Ocean

The chemical and biological characteristics of the surface microlayer were determined during a transect across the South Pacific Ocean in October-December 2004. Concentrations of particulate organic carbon (1.3 to 7.6-fold) and nitrogen (1.4 to 7-fold), and POC:PON ratios were consistently higher in the surface microlayer as compared to surface waters (5 m). The large variability in particulate organic matter enrichment was negatively correlated to wind speed. No enhanced concentrations of dissolved organic carbon were detectable in the surface microlayer as compared to 5 m, but chromophoric dissolved organic matter was markedly enriched (by 2 to 4-fold) at all sites. Based on pigment analysis and cell counts, no consistent enrichment of any of the major components of the autotrophic and heterotrophic microbial community was detectable. CE-SSCP fingerprints and CARD FISH revealed that the bacterial communities present in the surface microlayer had close similarity (>76%) to those in surface waters. By contrast, bacterial heterotrophic production (<sup>3</sup>H-leucine incorporation) was consistently lower in the surface microlayer than in surface waters. By applying CARD-FISH and microautoradiography, we observed that <i>Bacteroidetes</i> and <i>Gammaproteobacteria</i> dominated leucine uptake in the surface microlayer, while in surface waters <i>Bacteroidetes</i> and <i>Alphaproteobacteria</i> were the major groups accounting for leucine incorporation. Our results demonstrate that the microbial community in the surface microlayer closely resembles that of the surface waters of the open ocean. Even a short residence in the surface microlayer influences leucine incorporation by different bacterial groups, probably as a response to the differences in the physical and chemical nature of the two layers