The geopolitics of labour

Sandro Mezzadra, Brett Neilson

Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperChapter

3 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The concepts of geopolitics and labour, both central to debates on migration and justice, rarely occur together. This chapter extends and expands our previous work on the changing constitution of global space and the mutating global division of labour to rethink the relation of geopolitics to labour. Building on previous concepts developed in our writings, including ‘the threshold of justice’s excess’ and ‘the multiplication of labour’, we ask how migratory movements offer a key to understanding present transformations of geopolitics and labour. Geopolitics focuses on operations of power in relation to geographical space, with the traditional emphasis on international relations and the strategies of nation-states. Labour, by contrast, evokes the subjective capacities of the human body and their production as the commodity of labour power. In forging and approach to the geopolitics of labour, this chapter asks how evolutions in global capitalism and world politics (including processes of renationalization and the border hardening associated with the coronavirus pandemic) redefine the spaces and scales of justice in ways significant for migratory and border struggles.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHandbook of Migration and Global Justice
EditorsLeanne Weber, Claudia Tazreiter
Place of PublicationU.K.
PublisherEdward Elgar Publishing
Pages14-25
Number of pages12
ISBN (Electronic)9781789905663
ISBN (Print)9781789905656
Publication statusPublished - 2021

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