… the Lines: Globalization, Dissent and Democracy

The Internationalization/Transnationalization of the State and its Relation to Low-Intensity Democracy: The Case of Haiti
( view abstract )
Ray Silvius & Neil Burron, Political Science
Networks of Power: The World Water Council in Global and Local Contexts
( view abstract )
Emma Lui, Political Economy
Spatial Strategies in …

Tags: democracy, development, diaspora, dissent, economy, globalization, protest, water

… of Political Economy at Carleton University is holding its 9th annual graduate studies conference this week. In coming weeks, Cultural Shifts will be posting a selection of papers from the event.
If you are in Ottawa, Canada, and would like to attend, the conference details are below. The event is open and free to the general public.

QUESTIONING BOUNDARIES: The Political …

… from the depths of the worldwide economic storm, a wave of worker protests against factory closures is grabbing both public imagination and media attention.
Their story begins with a sign hanging from a factory gate: OUT OF BUSINESS. LOOK FOR WORK ELSEWHERE. Or else it begins with a letter in the mailbox: WILL NOT PAY FINAL MONTH’S SALARY OR PROCESS REQUESTS FOR SEVERANCE PACKAGES.
Or …

Tags: Argentina, capital, community, democracy, liberalization, privatization, protest, resistance

… October and November 2005, the emeutes (riots) in the Parisian banlieues re-stated the existing social conflicts between second and third immigrants from former North African French colonies and the French state. These instances of violence brought to life memories of colonialism and of the Algerian War, conveniently forgotten by the French officials. Moreover, the emeutes questioned the …

Author: Irina Mihalache

Tags: Africa, Algeria, community, diaspora, France, media, migration, protest

… the political life of our time” (Anderson, 3). The existence of that nation, according to those who belong to it, is unquestionable. The nation is immutable, it has always existed and its members must impede its violation and ensure its future existence by putting it at the top of their priorities. But what is a nation exactly? This paper will to touch on some theoretical aspects of the …

… my paper contains an assortment of words relevant to current labor studies – networks, struggle, unions – but one word, or more aptly, one concept, will certainly stand out as peculiar: work-well-fare. What is this concept? What does it mean? I argue that work-well-fare is a tendency towards a renewed class compromise for America; a meeting point for capital and labor to renegotiate …

Comment by Broadband blogger: … with your colleagues and to work …

… the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) in 2003 marks an attempt to integrate all of Canada’s various border-controlling agencies and acts under one enforcement organization; it’s function is to provide “integrated border services that support national security and public safety priorities and facilitate the movement of persons and goods.” In taking on this role, the agency presents …

… their new lives in their new country. These ideal images are based on hopes of a better, more plentiful, and freer life which could not be found in Algeria due to poverty, the heritage of French colonialism, and ethnic segregation. In The Suffering of the Immigrant, Abdelmalek Sayad presents a series of interviews with Algerian immigrants who arrived in France with similar hopes. One man …

Author: Irina Mihalache

… over the Bourgeoisie Moment of Expropriation: Who is the Neo-Expropriater?
Primitive accumulation - a concept Marx previously used for addressing the initial inhumane stage of capitalism at which both the expropriation of the producers from the means of production and transformation of them into wage-labourers took place - has long been an absent reference point within the social sciences. …

Comment by Spritzer: … more now enabled by digitization of …

… unclean water. “Power, poverty and inequality” are root causes to lack of clean water. ( UNDP’s Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis ) Although 70% of the earth is made up of water, only 2.5% is fresh water. Less than 1% of the earth’s water is renewable and ready for human consumption. ( Water Facts ) The world’s clean water supply is also decreasing …

… this paper, I explore some of the political-economic implications of technological transformation and reflect on the social effects of producing, communicating and existing in virtual space. Although the use of online social networking is nothing new, the emergence of virtual worlds such as Second Life provide for unique opportunities to examine changing trends in the governing of societies …

Tags: economy, governance, identity, Internet, periodization, scale, technology, virtual worlds, virtualization

… the global spatial has created renewed interest in recovering the role of the ‘local’ in the creation, maintenance and expansion of global flows and networks. Global place(s) are the urban territories where global networks ‘touchdown’ and organize material capabilities. This reorganization of urban space also creates new geographies of marginality and new struggles over resources and …

Tags: Canada, capital, citizenship, gender, geography, globalization, labour, Montreal, standpoint, urbanization

… today’s political life, nations are unquestionably legitimate. The nation is immutable, it has always existed and its members must impede its violation and ensure its future existence by putting it at the top of their priorities. Using critical geography theories, this paper questions the necessity of one of today’s most unquestioned assumption. To begin, the three components of the …

… Korea is a country blessed with natural beauty. Its landmass is predominantly mountainous and there are many National Parks for hikers of every level. The Federal Government has done a surprisingly good job at maintaining vast areas of untouched wilderness and countless nature enthusiasts delight in the joys of ascending craggy peaks that tower over fields of cherry blossoms, interspersed …

Comment by David Carson: … Korea seems to think nothing of …

… “terrorism” has displaced the focus on the “gang epidemic” that prevailed in the latter decades of the twentieth century. However, since 2005, law enforcement agencies and media organizations have sparked a renewed interest in gangs such as Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), dubbed “the world’s most dangerous gang” by the FBI. Thus far, the few existing investigations of MS-13, mostly in …