Making connections between global production networks for used goods and the realm of production: a case study on e‐waste governance

Recent scholarship on waste within economic geography and global production network (GPN) studies has identified several unique characteristics of networks for used goods vis‐à‐vis ‘traditional’ GPN studies focused on production, exchange and consumption. However, in un‐bracketing GPNs to include analysis of post‐consumption activity, identifying how the distinct moments of production, exchange, consumption and disposal/recycling are related becomes a crucial task. Towards this end, I present a case study on the governance of e‐waste networks that draws upon discussions of performativity and Hudson's cultural political economy approach to GPNs. In my analysis, I demonstrate how multiple factors, such as ideological differences over how to handle e‐waste, the non‐standardized nature of used goods, as well as production factors such as design choices and planned obsolescence, all shape and disrupt efforts to standardize and coordinate resource recovery and hazard mitigation in the post‐consumption phase of electronic goods. Such analysis moves past the novelty of GPNs for used goods toward a more integrated understanding of GPNs as a whole.     

Political cultures and transnational social fields: Chileans,Colombians and Canadian activists in Toronto

We offer an institutional analysis of Chilean and Colombian transnational politics in Toronto to account for cross‐group variation in transnational political practices and the formation of different types of transnational social fields of political action. The article is based on interviews conducted with Chilean and Colombian community activists and Canadian refugee rights and social justice activists. We use the concept of political culture to account for differences in Chilean and Colombian transnational politics and to explain the different kinds of relationships the two groups have developed with non‐migrants. We introduce the concept of activist dialogues, understood as patterns of strategic political interaction between groups, to characterize how migrants and non‐migrants read and navigate their interlocutors' ways of doing politics. We argue that variation in the character of activist dialogues results in different types of transnational social fields of political action. Chilean–Canadian activist dialogues reflect a convergence of political cultures and strategies of action; Colombian–Canadian activist dialogues are marked by a relationship in which there is a divergence of strategies of action. Convergent dialogues produce thicker and more stable transnational social fields. Divergent dialogues are associated with a series of ad hoc initiatives, the absence of stable and strongly institutionalized partnerships, and a thinner transnational social field of political action.     

Frank Capra and Leni Riefenstahl: Politics,Propaganda and the Personal

Abstract

The circumstances that led Frank Capra to view Leni Riefenstahl's notorious documentary of the 1934 Nuremberg rallies, Triumph of the Will, is well-known. What is less known is the extent to which the themes inherent in Capra's filmmaking through the 1930s, and Riefenstahl's own interest in ideas of national identity, social commentary and romanticism in her fictional and documentary films, mapped out a set of cinematic coincidences between the two little discussed in the body of literature devoted to these directors. This article lays out a number of those coincidences and, in the process, compares the theoretical strain of political romanticism that winds its way through Capra and Riefenstahl's work. The iconic and symbolic imagery in their films suggests interesting and important comparative aspects to their canon, but also that a fascination in political romanticism led them to differing conclusions about the impact and threat of media and propaganda forces lined up in alliance with totalitarian powers during the 1930s and '40s.     

Corporate interests within transnational advocacy networks: The International Coalition Against Plain Packaging

Most of the research on transnational advocacy networks documents progressive, voluntary movements, motivated by values associate with human rights and public goods. There is little critical reflection on the role of corporations within such networks or on the material motivations behind movements. Meanwhile literature on corporate political strategies related to partnerships with civil society is limited to national level analysis. This article presents a case study of the International Coalition Against Plain Packaging, which is conceptualized as a transnational advocacy network, and documents its links to the tobacco industry. We find that, not only have tobacco companies provided network members – publicly presented and perceived as independent – with financial resources, but they have also been involved in producing the information used by the network to debate the benefits of plain packaging. In return, the tobacco industry is able to propagate ideas favorable to its interests through organizations perceived as legitimate experts, and to maintain a network of allies ready to counter tobacco control regulations when and where they arise. Considering the multiple benefits corporations might derive from engaging with transnational advocacy networks, there is need for greater research on private actors’ influence within advocacy networks and on those networks that aim to counter or advance alternatives to progressive ideals.     

Maritime labour,transnational political trajectories and decolonization from below: the opposition to the 1935 British Shipping Assistance Act

This article uses a discussion of struggles over attempts by the National Union of Seamen to exclude seafarers from the maritime labour market in the inter‐war period to contribute to debates at the intersection of maritime spaces and transnational labour geographies (cf. Balachandran 2012; Høgsbjerg 2013). By focusing on struggles engendered by the British Shipping (Assistance) Act of 1935, I explore some of the transnational dynamics through which racialized forms of trade unionism were contested. I argue that the political trajectories, solidarities and organizing spaces constructed by the alliances formed to oppose the effects of the act shaped articulations of ‘decolonization from below’ (James 2015). In this way, engaging with the political trajectories and activities of activists from organizations like the Colonial Seamen's Association can reveal new ways of understanding the spatial politics of decolonization and new accounts of who or how such processes were articulated and contested. I conclude the article by arguing that engagement with these struggles can help assert the importance of forms of subaltern agency in shaping processes of decolonization.     

Sociotechnical Systems and Unions: Nicety or Necessity

Sociotechnical systems (STS) theorists havelargely ignored the role of unions both in theirtheoretical framework and in STS implementation. Thisoversight weakens the potential application anddissemination of STS theory and practice. STS democracy isfrequently seen by its proponents as preferable to uniondemocracy except when they come to the same conclusion.Unions have historically played a role in the development and success of seminal STSinitiatives but are not seen as a critical specificationfor success. Many practitioners have noted theinstrumental importance of unions in unionized settings without acknowledging class, conflict, or unionvalues. As such, many unions have dismissed or resistedSTS innovations. Despite these serious shortcomings, thelabor process argument has failed to produce a credible alternative to STS principles. Insome cases, the union role has been central to STSreforms and examples like these have prompted somenational union movements to promote work reform with an STS base. Recently, the American labor movementhas endorsed work reform approaches akin to STSapproaches. STS changes are seen not just as ways tochange managerial practices but also to alter unionstructures and functioning. As such, a union-rooted STSapproach provides greater societal and workplace impactbenefitting employees, employers, trade unions, and thesociety.     

'Pitbulls' and Populist Politicians: Sarah Palin,Pauline Hanson and the Use of Gendered Nostalgia in Electoral Campaigns

Abstract

Sarah Palin and Pauline Hanson were charismatic and populist politicians, whose home states of Alaska and Queensland became central to their political narrative. Both women gained political influence at times of intense debate regarding their respective countries' national identities. Voters perceived the states to be locales that evoked antiestablishment authenticity, and which echoed the historical dynamism of frontier society. The women used this association to consolidate their call for social renewal that would return politics to sections of the citizenry who felt themselves to be marginalized. The women's authority was augmented by gendered stereotypes that directed attention to their apparent vulnerability and honesty in attempting public service. Although their messages were calibrated differently, Palin and Hanson both demanded moral and political renewal, and generated intense support through their sexualized rhetoric of economic security and social nostalgia.     

Post‐maritime transnationalization: Malay seafarers in Liverpool

The lives of seafarers may provide examples of transnational connections prior to the globally interconnected era in which ‘transnationalism’ has risen to prominence. In this article, I examine the long‐distance connections of seafarers from Southeast Asia who settled in Liverpool, UK. Drawing on oral history/life story interviews with Malay pakcik‐pakcik (elders) in Liverpool, I examine the ways in which connections with Southeast Asia have changed over the course of their lives. Much of this concerns political geography, which is often overlooked in the literature on transnationalism. During the period of Liverpool's pre‐eminence as a seaport, irrespective of the depth or intensity of maritime linkages with Southeast Asia, connections did not involve the crossing of ‘national’ borders. Ironically, transnational connections are being forged in the post‐maritime stages of the lives of pakcik‐pakcik in Liverpool. I also show how Malay ‘transnationalization’ has resulted from expanded technological possibilities for long‐distance travel and communications. Post‐maritime transnationalization takes place in a ‘community’ clubhouse in Toxteth where the lives, emotional attachments and memories of pakcik‐pakcik are intertwined with those of people with diverse connections to contemporary Malaysia and Singapore.     

Why are migrant campaigns different from homeland campaigns? Understanding belonging in context among UK‐Sudanese activists

Migrant communities' homeland‐oriented political campaigns are always related to, but often different from, the activism in which local people engage in their homeland setting. In seeking to understand the observed disparities between migrant campaigns and homeland activism, several studies have demonstrated the influence of contextual factors like political opportunity structures on homeland‐oriented migrant politics. Complementing these studies are works that focus on changes to identity and belonging associated with migration and resettlement. In this article, I build on these debates by offering a combined analysis of the intersections between, and interplay of, contextual and identity‐based factors. I use this analytical approach to examine the case of Sudanese political activists resident in the UK. I demonstrate how forms of belonging emerge here as part of – and not in isolation from – the strategic navigations of multiple political contexts and opportunities. In doing so, I contribute to our understanding of how belonging can be contextualized to serve as an analytical lens for understanding homeland‐oriented migrant activism.     

The political transnationalism of Ecuadorians in Barcelona,Madrid and Milan: the role of individual resources,organizational engagement and the political context

In this article, we examine the transnational political engagement of Ecuadorians in three European cities – Barcelona, Madrid and Milan. Drawing on previous studies that emphasize the role of organizational and institutional resources for political mobilization (as well as those that take into consideration respondents’ resources and the migration process), we analyse the results of a survey conducted between 2006 and 2008 on approximately 300 Ecuadorian individuals in each of these three cities. We examine two different dimensions of Ecuadorian political transnationalism at the individual level, namely attitudinal and participatory. Contrary to previous findings, our results show that recently arrived Ecuadorians and those with less stable household conditions are more involved in transnational politics. Associational involvement shows multiple effects. Engagement in Ecuadorian associations fosters political interest in and information about Ecuador, whereas involvement in any organization promotes electoral transnational politics. The political context is only relevant when accounting for participation in Ecuadorian elections.