Humberto Márquez Covarrubias

The Reshaping of Mexican Labor Exports under NAFTA: Paradoxes and Challenges

From the perspective of the political economy of development, this article analyzes the role played by Mexican labor in the U.S. productive restructuring process under the aegis of the North American Free Trade Agreement. By conceptualizing the labor export–led model it dissects three basic mechanisms of regional economic integration: maquiladoras, disguised maquilas, and labor migration. Not only does this analytical framework cast light on the contributions made by Mexican migrants to the economies of the United States and Mexico, it also reveals two paradoxes: the broadening of the socioeconomic asymmetries between the two countries, and increased socioeconomic dependence on remittances in Mexico.

The Dialectic between Uneven Development and Forced Migration: Toward a Political Economy Framework

The purpose of this chapter is to provide a new analytical overview of the nexus between migration and development in the context of the global capitalist restructuring that has been taking place during the past three and a half decades. We base our approach on a political economy theoretical framework and place the concepts of uneven development and forced migration at the centre of an alternative interpretation of the asymmetrical global relationships between North and South, thus addressing the concomitant role of international migrations. From this point of view, migration appears as an expression of uneven development and a structural pillar of imperialist1 strategies intended to weaken and cheapen the labour force on a global level. Instead of unilaterally approaching migration as a vehicle of development in places of origin, we address its role as a direct contributor to the accumulation processes of developed nations. Migration also involves the transference of human resources, which is linked to other types of surplus and natural resource transferences that intensify underdevelopment in countries of origin. In this context, migration functions as an important cog in the machinery of the so-called neo-liberal globalization, a source of growing social inequalities and asymmetries among countries that result in a sort of vicious circle leading to the current systemic capitalist crisis.

Imperialism and capitalism in the twenty-first century : a system in crisis

Contents: Introduction Dynamics and contradictions of capitalist development Latin America at the crossroads of change The land struggle in Latin America Latin America growth, stability and inequality Capitalism in the second decade of the 21st century: from the golden age to the dark ages Labor and migration: a pathway out of poverty or neocapitalism?, Raul Delgado Wise and Humberto Marquez Covarrubias The global crisis of capitalism: whose crisis? Who profits and who bears the cost? Extractive capital, imperialism and the post-neoliberal state The new authoritarianism: democracy in America Anti-imperialism of the fools Imperialism and democracy: notes on an arranged but fruitful marriage Capitalism and democracy in Egypt: dispatches from the frontline of a class war Rethinking imperialism in the 21st century Bibliography Index.

Contemporary Migration Seen from the Perspective of Political Economy: Theoretical and Methodological Elements

Covering both qualitative and quantitative topics, the expert contributors in this Handbook explore fundamental issues of scientific logic, methodology and methods, through to practical applications of different techniques and approaches in migration research.