New Dossier: "Global Informalizations and Informalities"

Editor: Moisés K. Rojas

Professor of Universidad de Barcelona. 

From: January 15th

To: June 15

Neoliberalism operates differently across the regions of the world. One of the
features that reinforces the gaps between the countries of the global North and
South is related to informality. According to the International Labour Organization
(2018), 93% of informal employment is concentrated in developing countries. In
this context, a dossier is proposed that delves into and analyzes informality and the
informalization of labor comparatively, focusing on two aspects.
First, the dossier will underscore the asymmetries that exist in global markets
where Southern countries (mainly Asia and Latin America) have become the
centers of low-cost production. This phenomenon is generated by state projects
and policies that allow as well as encourage the precariousness of local labor in
competition with the global market. Second, it examines the implementation
process, under the influence of international organizations, of precarious economic
models that undermine job security and economic stability. A large group of Latin
American countries have a very weak industrial matrix that has been neglected by
the States, prioritizing precariousness, and primary-export models.
Both processes signify a large- and medium-scale political process to informalize
economies and societies, with global repercussions. There are global economic
and political elites that exercise power over the countries of the South, with the
complicity of local elites, to initiate and strengthen processes of informalization in
economies and employment.
The dossier intends to raise a debate over these terms, with the participation of
researchers from different regions. This would be the political dismissal of
informality from a global perspective. Although the two processes described above
could be the synthesis of the relationship between informality and politics on a
global scale. The dossier is open to explore additional relationships and networks.