This bibliographical and conceptual essay summarizes recent research in Cold War Studies in Europe and the Americas, especially on smaller states in historiographical studies. Against the background of an increasing connectedness and globalization of research about the Cold War, the authors highlight the importance of the full-scale integration of countries and regions of the 'Global South' into Cold War Studies. Critical readings of the newly available resources reveal the existence of important decentralizing perspectives resulting from Cold War entanglements of the 'Global South' with the 'Global North.' As a result, the idea that these state actors from the former 'periphery' of the Cold War should be considered as passive recipients of superpower politics seems rather troubled. The evidence shows (at least partially) autonomous and active multiple actors.
This case study explores xenophobic sentiments and actions in Costa Rica during the refugee crisis from April to December 2018, caused by the internal political crisis in Nicaragua. By looking at Costa Rica’s long histories of migration it is evident that xenophobic sentiments against Nicaraguans derive from long-lasting interconnections and migration movements between these two countries. This study demonstrates not only that much of nationalist and xenophobic discourses originate from prolonged historical arguments, but also that the global dimension of anti-migration sentiments has to be considered. Using neo-institutionalist theory, in particular historical and sociological institutionalism, this paper explores how the history of migration in Costa Rica has contributed to the creation of Costa Rican nationalism. Furthermore, by combining past and present examples, namely the history of migrations between Nicaragua and Costa Rica and actions by nationalist groups on social media channels, this paper contributes to a historically centred analysis to one of the central issues of the 21st century.
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the reality of precarious jobs and working conditions all around the world, ranging from meat-cutters in Germany, to fruit and vegetable pickers in Peru, and to women from Eastern Europe working as 24-hour assistants for elderly people in Western Europe. The global health crisis has shed light on exploitative working conditions as well as global power inequalities. The book Unfreie Arbeit. Trabalho escravo in der brasilianischen Landwirtschaft (Unfree Labour: Trabalho escravo in Brazilian Agriculture) addresses exactly these issues by looking at trabalho escravo, a form of unfree labour, in the north-western Brazilian state of Pará. However, Harnoncourt explains that trabalho escravo is just one of many mechanisms of creating inequality which the study aims to disentangle (p. 10).In four chapters plus an appendix Harnoncourt analyses the aspects which constitute and shape this labour regime. Due to the fact that the book is based on a PhD thesis, the introduction (pp. 7-44) is reduced to the basics, such as sources, perspective, method and theory as well as the state of the research. Familiar with the original text of the thesis, the reviewer has to point out the excellent editorial work that has been carried out by the author and the editorial staff at Promedia. Why is that important? The book was published in the series "Critical Science" (Kritische Forschung) and therefore wants to accomplish -apart from scientific standards -also a socio-political statement. This implies that the outcome of scientific research addresses a wider audience, reaching not only "expert" circles. The introduction proves that this goal has been met, due to the previously mentioned editorial work, but also through clear language and logical argumentation. Although up to now the book has only been published in German, which limits its possible outreach, the study proves to be useful for various settings, from undergraduate students at university seminars to basic reading material for journalistic investigations.The main part of the book (pp. 45-199) then deals with trabalho escravo in the agricultural complex in Pará. As a peripheral state inside the Brazilian nation-state, Pará constitutes a favourable location for the exercise of unfree labour and other forms of exploitation. During the last military dictatorship the Amazonian region experienced an "internal peripheralization", becoming a source of primary materials such as cattle, sugar and soya. These are produced basically only by men under various unfree labour mechanisms which are implemented in order to reproduce surplus value for global agrobusiness (pp. 126-7).Harnoncourt´s study focuses on these agricultural workers and describes the process of how these young men -often of black or indigenous descent -step into a vicious circle of dependency and exploitation (pp. 87-105).The empirical basis for the book consists of qualitative interviews with members of different organisations which oppose trabalho escravo and its agents, like the Landless...
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