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UOW Home > Faculty of Arts > Research > SIATAPP > Working Papers |
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Social Impact Analysis and the
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The Working Papers cover three different thematic areas. However, these three areas are not entirely discrete areas of investigation and it is only by considering them together that an adequate understanding of the dynamics of change in the port sector can be reached. Working Paper 1: Comparative Political Economy, Sustainability and the Port SectorThe first Working Paper is a theoretical review of the political economy of sustainability in the port sector. This indicates how different disciplines can be combined to understand the imperatives and constraints involved in pursuing sustainability in the port sector. While globalisation is radically altering the port sector throughout the world, ultimately the nature of change will be mediated by local political, social and geographical considerations. An interdisciplinary approach is used to understand how the mediation of these local and global imperatives can be theorised. The diagram attached indicates how these areas combine in the first Working Paper. From the resulting comparative approach to political economy is derived the framework from which the other two Working Papers are contextualised. These latter two areas are more micro-level in their orientation and the approach to understanding them is more explicitly sociological. Working Paper 2: Labour Relations The second area of focus is the examination of the changing context of labour relations in the port sector. This Working Paper begins by examining the pressures for labour reform in the port sector. Since the port sector is an important node in the national economy, the pressures for reform are particularly acute. The paper examines the national and global compulsions for labour reform. The most common approach to undertaking labour reform under conditions of globalisation, including the specific example of the port sector, is then discussed. Port Klang, which is one of the project's five case studies, is often cited in broader literature as an exemplar of the positive outcomes that can be gained from labour reform. The paper utilises an in-depth case study derived from fieldwork to suggest that labour practices in Port Klang are less optimal than some of this literature suggests. The labour regimes in the other four ports (Calcutta, Chittagong, Saigon and Port Kembla) are then examined and possible lessons from each are then considered. Again, in-depth fieldwork conducted in each of these ports provides the basis for this examination. In general, we observe a casualisation and deunionisation of labour in the ports under investigation. Working Paper 3: Spatial Relocation, Urban Transformation This Working Paper examines the issues involved in the spatial relocation of port facilities. The general historical pattern in most parts of the world has been has been for cities to develop in the area around the port. The activities of the port are then periodically shifted away from the centre of the city. While in some places this has led to the subsequent redevelopment of the riverfront, it nevertheless involves a considerable dislocation for those communities who have lived around the port. In the context of our study, this is particularly an issue in the ports of Calcutta, Saigon and, to a lesser extent, in Chittagong. The paper begins by examining the issue theoretically, utilising the notion of ‘spatio-temporal fix' as a way of conceptualising why the current phase of capitalist globalisation induces the spatial relocation of port operations. After examining the comparative empirical literature on riverfront redevelopment and relocation, the paper considers the likely for these three ports. |
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