Introduction to the Special Issue: The Political Economy of Agrarian Change: Essays in Appreciation of Henry Bernstein

This special issue presents five essays and an interview in appreciation of Henry Bernstein. The essays – by major scholars in the field of agrarian political economy – engage with different aspects of Bernstein’s oeuvre: from direct critical reflections on his approach to the peasantry and the agrarian question through to arguments developed in connection to his work on commercial capitalism, landed-property and the relationship between petty production and accumulation. This introduction briefly sets out some of the major aspects of Bernstein’s distinctive editorial, pedagogical and theoretical contributions. It suggests that his most crucial and lasting contribution is in his absorption and ability to apply Marx’s theory and method as a living theoretical and analytical approach to the study of agrarian political economy

Working beyond the border? : a new research agenda for the Evaluation of Labour Standards in EU trade agreements

The European Union (EU) has approximately fifty bilateral trade agreements in place with partners across the world, and more than twenty more that are at various stages of the negotiating process. At the same time as they increase in number, these agreements also increase in scope. EU trade agreements now cover a wide range of regulatory measures, including ‘Trade and Sustainable Development’ chapters, which, among other things, contain obligations in relation to labour standards. These labour standards provisions follow a common model (with limited variations) and adopt an approach which has been described as ‘promotional’ rather than ‘conditional’. In the context of the broader debate about the purpose and efficacy of the labour and trade linkage, this article examines the possibilities and limitations of the EU's new provisions on labour standards. It draws attention to the limited research on the impact of existing provisions ‘on the ground’ with respect to different types of agreements, and why this is problematic. It then concludes with proposals for a research agenda that can fill this gap, involving a set of methodologies requiring greater concern for firm and country-level assessment of changes arising from the implementation of this new breed of EU bilateralism and directed to the question of whether EU labour standards can really work ‘beyond the border’

The trade-labour nexus: global value chains and labour provisions in European Union free trade agreements

Labour standards provisions contained within the European Union’s (EU) free trade agreements (FTAs) are a major iteration of attempts to regulate working conditions in the global economy. This article develops an analysis of how the legal and institutional mechanisms established by these FTAs intersect with global value chain governance dynamics in countries with contrasting political economies. The article formulates an original analytical framework to explore how governance arrangements and power relations between lead firms in core markets and suppliers in FTA signatory countries shape and constrain the effectiveness of labour provisions in FTAs. This analysis demonstrates how the common framework of labour provisions in EU trade agreements, when applied in a uniform manner across differentiated political-economic contexts, face serious difficulties in creating meaningful change for workers in global value chains

Labor regimes, global production networks, and European Union trade policy: labor standards and export production in the Moldovan clothing industry

This article examines the relations between workplace and local labor regimes, global production networks (GPNs), and the state-led creation of expanded markets as spaces of capitalist regulation through trade policy. Through an examination of the ways in which labor regimes are constituted as a result of the articulation of local social relations and lead-firm pressure in GPNs, the article examines the limits of labor provisions in European Union trade policy seeking to ameliorate the worst consequences of trade liberalization and economic integration on working conditions. The article takes as its empirical focus the Moldovan clothing industry, the leading export-oriented manufacturing sector in the country. Trade liberalization has opened up a market space for EU lead firms to contract with Moldovan-based suppliers, but in seeking to regulate labor conditions in the process of trade liberalization, the mechanisms in place are not sufficient to deal with the consequences for workers’ rights and working conditions. Indeed, when articulated with national state policy formulations seeking to liberalize labor markets and deregulate labor standards, the limits of what can be achieved via labor provisions are reached. The EU’s trade policy formulation does not sufficiently take account of the structural causes of poor working conditions. Consequently, there is a mismatch between what the EU is trying to achieve and the core labor issues that structure social relations in, and labor regimes of, low-wage labor-intensive clothing export production for EU markets

Workers’ rights are now a basic element of trade deals. What stance will Britain take?

Labour rights are now a basic component of many of the kinds of trade agreements the UK wants to sign post-Brexit, but there has been little discussion of what sort of provisions the UK wants to see in them. James Harrison and colleagues have found that commitments to workers’ rights on paper are not always enforced. They suggest what a labour rights agenda might look like as the UK prepares to leave the EU’s trade deals

Governing labour standards through free trade agreements: limits of the European Union's trade and sustainable development chapters

The EU has established a new architecture of international labour standards governance within the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapters of its Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). To examine the operationalization of this framework, we draw upon 121 interviews undertaken with key informants in three FTAs signed with the Caribbean, South Korea and Moldova. We engage with wider debates over external governance and the projection of EU power by showing how operational failings, including a lack of legal and political prioritization of TSD chapters and shortcomings in the implementation of key provisions, have hindered the impact of the FTAs upon labour standards. We also identify significant limitations to the EU's ‘common formulation’ approach when applied to different trading partner contexts, alongside ambiguities about the underlying purpose of the trade–labour linkage. Reflection about the function and purpose of labour standards provisions in EU trade policy is therefore required

Governing labour standards through free trade agreements: limits of the European Union's trade and sustainable development chapters

The EU has established a new architecture of international labour standards governance within the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapters of its Free Trade Agreements (FTAs). To examine the operationalization of this framework, we draw upon 121 interviews undertaken with key informants in three FTAs signed with the Caribbean, South Korea and Moldova. We engage with wider debates over external governance and the projection of EU power by showing how operational failings, including a lack of legal and political prioritization of TSD chapters and shortcomings in the implementation of key provisions, have hindered the impact of the FTAs upon labour standards. We also identify significant limitations to the EU's ‘common formulation’ approach when applied to different trading partner contexts, alongside ambiguities about the underlying purpose of the trade–labour linkage. Reflection about the function and purpose of labour standards provisions in EU trade policy is therefore required

Sensitivity of water stress in a two-layered sandy grassland soil to variations in groundwater depth and soil hydraulic parameters

Monitoring and modelling tools may improve irrigation strategies in precision agriculture. We used non-invasive soil moisture monitoring, a crop growth and a soil hydrological model to predict soil water content fluctuations and crop yield in a heterogeneous sandy grassland soil under supplementary irrigation. The sensitivity of the soil hydrological model to hydraulic parameters, water stress, crop yield and lower boundary conditions was assessed after integrating models. Free drainage and incremental constant head conditions were implemented in a lower boundary sensitivity analysis. A time-dependent sensitivity analysis of the hydraulic parameters showed that changes in soil water content are mainly affected by the soil saturated hydraulic conductivity K-s and the Mualem-van Genuchten retention curve shape parameters n and alpha. Results further showed that different parameter optimization strategies (two-, three-, four- or six-parameter optimizations) did not affect the calculated water stress and water content as significantly as does the bottom boundary. In this case, a two-parameter scenario, where K-s was optimized for each layer under the condition of a constant groundwater depth at 135-140 cm, performed best. A larger yield reduction, and a larger number and longer duration of stress conditions occurred in the free drainage condition as compared to constant boundary conditions. Numerical results showed that optimal irrigation scheduling using the aforementioned water stress calculations can save up to 12-22 % irrigation water as compared to the current irrigation regime. This resulted in a yield increase of 4.5-6.5 %, simulated by the crop growth model

Protection and maintenance of permanent pastures

peer reviewedAll farmers receiving direct payments are subject to compulsory cross-compliance which includes standards related to the maintenance and protection of permanent pastures. Questionnaire techniques and spatio-temporal analyses demonstrated that the ratio of permanent pasture area to agricultural land provides a simple tool for monitoring and controlling the protection of permanent pastures at the regional to Member State level. Huge variations in the ratio across Europe were related to the importance of permanent pastures, the interpretation of definitions, sources of information used, differences in calculation, and the presence of protective and/or sensitive zones. Precautionary or complementary measures are in place in most Member States in order to prevent decreases in the ratio. The implementation of GAEC standards related to permanent pastures overlaps with the standard management requirements, national legislation and current agri-environmental programmes. The study advocates the establishment of a comprehensive geo-information platform consisting of a topologically correct inventory of all permanent pasture parcels in a 1:1 geo-referenced relation between IACS and LPIS; ancillary spatially explicit data such as orthophotos, remote sensing images and other thematic geo-databases; and, geodatabases with parcel information compiled for other monitoring purposes such as those within the framework of the Nitrates Directive or 2nd pillar support