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Liberalized markets promoted by the Washington Consensus under globalization have resulted in a global class structure in which new groups have emerged, including a precariat consisting of millions of people subject to flexible, insecure labor relations. The precariat is a class-in-the-making, in that the global market system wants most workers to be flexible and insecure, even if it is not yet a classfor-itself, having a clear vision of what type of society it wishes to see emerge. It is not an underclass. This article traces the factors explaining its growth and considers which demographic groups have the highest probability of being in it. The essay then considers two possible political scenarios-a politics of inferno, if current negative trends are allowed to continue, and a politics of paradise, a set of policies that would be essential to arrest those negative trends. Polity (2012) 44, 588-608.

The International Labour Organization, set up in 1919 to develop and promote labour standards, is at a crucial point. It has preached that labour is not a commodity and in 1969 received the Nobel Peace Prize. Since then it has run into trouble. This article considers how the ILO has failed to come to terms with the Global Transformation, seeing it as trying to play three roles -a standard-setter, a technical assistance agency and a knowledge generatorwithout developing the professional capacity to do so. The big question is whether the ILO could become an effective development agency given the changing character of work and labour in globalizing labour markets and its antiquated governance structure.