Mode 4 trade in services: promoting temporary labour mobility via the trade détour?

A comprehensive process of the liberalisation of trade and capital flows notwithstanding, neoliberal globalisation has not been equally successful in freeing the international movement of labour. With the General Agreement on Trade in Services, (GATS), the WTO set up a novel legal framework within the domain of trade politics that includes the cross-border movement of natural persons to deliver services, labelled Mode 4, thus aiming at the promotion of temporary labour mobility. This article seeks to explain the emergence of Mode 4 and its subsequent development as the outcome of a particular politics of scale motivated by the interests of transnational capital as well as the strategic selectivity of specific institutional terrains. The result has been a compromise that restricts Mode 4 liberalisation to highly qualified personnel only.     

From ‘temporary migrants’ to ‘permanent residents’: Indian H-1B visa holders in the United States

Literature on international migration from India in the past has focused on the formation and development of ‘Indian diasporas’; that is, Indians who have moved to various parts of the world and maintain socio-economic, cultural and political lives in India as well as other countries. However, little attention has been paid toward ‘temporary migrants’ who have migrated to different countries with a temporary visa and in the course of time extended their visas to become ‘permanent residents’. Temporary migration from India has become a common trend over the last two decades, especially since the acceleration of globalisation and the developments in the fields of information and communication technologies. Although it is argued that this type of migration took place in the past – for instance, Indians migrated to British, French, Dutch and Portuguese colonies during the nineteenth and early part of the twentieth centuries as indentured labourers for a period of three to five years and later extended their stays – what is new about the current trend is the new state policies of different host countries and the socio-economic and cultural background of the immigrants. This paper is an exploratory study of this contemporary phenomena of movement from ‘temporary migrant’ to ‘permanent resident’, a phenomena which has not been given much attention by academicians and policy makers in India. The present paper outlines this trend with an illustration of Indian H-1B visa holders in the United States.     

An evaluation paradox in social work? An empirical study of evaluation use in connection with temporary programmes in Swedish social work

This article contributes to the debate on evaluation use by analysing temporary national programmes in Swedish social work. Previous empirical research shows a gloomy picture of evaluation use, thus supporting an evaluation paradox: evaluations are not used for learning and development, but are continually prioritised. The aim of this article is to study, through interviews and document analysis, how evaluations of temporary programmes in social work are designed and used. The results support the paradox and we found that it has two dimensions. First, evaluations are prioritised, but they function as a ritual, characterised by routine and unclear intentions, with limited relevance for professional learning and improvement. The second dimension is about limited use by those commissioning the evaluations, but the evaluators are using data for new purposes and in new contexts. This is, at best, a form of conceptual use, hopefully contributing indirectly to social work practice. The article ends in a discussion on how evaluations could be designed for learning and improvement by focusing on three normative models: utilisation-focused evaluation, responsive evaluation and evidence-based practice approach (EBP).     

US/Spanish comparisons on temporary immigrant workers: implications for policy development and community practice Trabajadores inmigrantes temporales en los EEUU y España: implicaciones para el desarrollo de políticas sociales y servicios comunitarios

Issues of immigration policy have recently become a central preoccupation of citizens, policy makers and law enforcement agencies throughout the globe. This paper addresses the commonalities and differences in policy and services experienced by temporary workers in the US and Spain, focusing on the South-western US and Andalusia. Laws and regulations affecting temporary workers in both countries are reviewed. Implications for social service providers are drawn and contrasted.

Problemas relacionados a las políticas inmigratorias se han transformado en una preocupación central de los políticos, la policía migratoria y los administradores de programas sociales en muchos países del mundo. Este artículo se enfoca en las similitudes y diferencias en políticas de servicios que afectan a los trabajadores inmigrantes temporales en los EEUU y España, concentrándose principalmente en el Sur-oeste de los EEUU y Andalucía. Se describen las leyes principales que afectan a estos trabajadores en ambos países y se discuten las implicaciones de esta situación para los trabajadores sociales.