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Working paper
Foreign Capital and Economic Development
(2023-07)
The Irish political economy is notable for the sustained and central role of foreign investment in driving economic growth, notably via the commercial activities of multinational corporations, and more recently financial services. Beginning in the 1950s, the Irish state began to move away from its protectionist policies of import-substituting industrialization, and transitioned towards a liberalized, export-led industrialization model of economic growth in order to achieve its developmental catch-up. This has resulted ...
Working paper
Is the Mafia a State Apparatus?
(2021-12)
Starting from the relations of production, this paper examines the role of mafia for the preservation of social power and class relations in Sicily. To this end, the concept of the informal state apparatus is introduced. Following the approach of Critical Grounded Theory, this paper proposes to fill explanatory gaps in conventional mafia research by means of Nicos Poulantzas’ historical materialist state theory. In-depth field research confirms the systematic generation of irregularity through conditions in which it ...
Working paper
Labor Rights, Working Conditions, and Workers’ Power in the Emerging Textile and Apparel Industries in Ethiopia: The Case of Hawassa Industrial Park
(2019-11)
To be able to participate in the global production network and enhance its manufacturing sector, the government of Ethiopia has been building industrial zones (Export Processing Zones) in various parts of the country. These zones have already attracted substantial investments into the country in the light manufacturing sectors, particularly, textile and apparel industries, as a result of which the country is gradually gaining the potential to become a global textile and apparel sourcing hub. Despite the governments’ ...
Working paper
Striking for the Common Good
(2022-08)
The re-emergence of massive strikes in the public education sector, predominantly in the more conservative, union-weak American South, has brought seismic change to the industry and its workers. Solving the puzzle as to why these strikes were so successful against massive obstacles could beget better methods for organizing strikes in a period when neo-liberal reforms threaten public services around the world. Furthermore, an understanding of why these strikes were successful can contribute to the contemporary discourse ...
Working paper
How can the concept of gender knowledge explain the gendered nature of the European Recovery Fund “NextGenerationEU”?
(2022-08)
The Covid-19-pandemic reproduced many long-existing gender inequalities and created new ones: women are over-represented in underpaid sectors such as the health care sector and were faced with the double burden of paid and reproductive work in the household, when kindergartens closed. As an answer to the global pandemic, the European Union (EU) implemented a recovery package, the #NextGenerationEU (NGEU) Fund. However, this fund reproduces existing gender inequalities, as most of the money is directed to male-dominated ...
Working paper
Why did OPEC lose its price setting power during the 1980s?
(2021-05)
Since the surge in oil prices during the 1970s there was an increased academic interest in explaining the formation of oil prices and the critical role played by OPEC in this process. A variety of economic models were established to explain the rise of price setting power by OPEC reflected in the massive price increases. During the 1980s, however, against many projections, the surge in oil prices came to a hold and from the 1980s on started to decrease, finally collapsing in 1986 to an unprecedented low. These ...
Working paper
"The city belongs to all of us!"
(2017-07-25)
Since the uprisings in Northern Africa and Arab regions, the global Occupy-movements and mass strikes in Southern Europe, protest and resistance have become again a much-debated topic. However, Germany seems to be rather untouched by such rebellious acts. Of course, it has not been subjected to the harsh austerity measures of “crisis management”, but neoliberal policies are for a long time at work here as well - widening the contradictions between social integrity, democracy and subjective wellbeing on the one side ...
Working paper
Critical Perspectives on TTIP
(2015-12-03)