Handelskonflikt zwischen China und USA könnte länger andauern

Handelskonflikt zwischen China und USA könnte länger andauern

Globalisierungsexperte Christoph Scherrer über den Strategiewechsel unter Trump

Der Handelskonflikt zwischen China und den USA wird laut dem Globalisierungsexperten Christoph Scherrer vorerst nicht beizulegen sein. »Die Chinesen hoffen vermutlich, dass Trump abgewählt wird und sie sich dann mit einer neuen Regierung einig werden können«, sagt der Leiter des Fachbereichs »Globalisierung und Politik« der Universität Kassel im Interview mit »neues deutschland« (Donnerstagsausgabe). »Doch auch eine neue Regierung in Washington wird Sachen fordern, die für China schwer zu erfüllen sind.« So werde Peking vermutlich nicht gewillt sein, seine industriepolitische Hochtechnologiestrategie aufzugeben.

https://www.neues-deutschland.de/artikel/1124024.handelskonflikt-zwischen-china-und-usa-koennte-laenger-andauern.html

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON GLOBAL VALUE CHAINS IN PAKISTAN

'Prof Christoph Scherrer from International Center for Development and Decent Work (ICDD) said ICDD was a global multidisciplinary network of eight partner universities, with its head office at the University of Kassel (Germany). It contributes to the global fight against hunger and poverty through research and education to promote economic growth, employment and decent work.'
Read full article: https://academiamag.com/punjab-minister-hussain-jahanian-gerdezi/

NEW BOOK: OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH CHALLENGES IN SOUTHERN AGRICULTURE

NEW PUBLICATION: Christoph Scherrer, Katja Radon (Eds.): Occupational Safety and Health Challenges in Southern Agriculture

Labor and Globalization, edited by Christoph Scherrer, Volume 15, ISBN 978-3-95710-247-8, Rainer Hampp Verlag, Augsburg, München 2019, 195 S., € 24.80

Occupational safety and health (OSH) is a core element of International Labour Organization​’s #DecentWork Agenda. Despite hazardous working conditions in agriculture, unfortunately, OSH issues in agriculture are frequently ignored. This volume’s contributions from Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Ghana, India, Nicaragua, and Pakistan as well as from various disciplines.

Highlights:

– the prevalent patriarchal norms and practices which expose women to more health risks;
– the lack of training and education which leave smallholders and farm workers frequently unaware of the health hazards involved in handling machinery and pesticides;
– the lack of protective gear and access to health services among smallholders;
– the undermining of OSH standards by the competitive pressures of global supply chains on their participants;
– the restriction of certifications’ impact mostly to higher hygiene standards.

Key words:
#Occupationalsafety and health , #agriculture, #smallholders, farm workers, #GlobalSouth

PDF  https://bit.ly/2woXcTH

Interview on US - China trade war, tariffs on steel and agriculture

Die US-Stahlindustrie habe ihre Kapazitätsauslastung deutlich erhöhen können, erläuterte Christoph Scherrer, Leiter des Fachgebiets Globalisierung und Politik an der Universität Kassel. [...] Nicht nur die Industriearbeiter haben wenig von den Versprechen profitiert. Schlimmer noch, bislang hätten die Handelssanktionen, die Beijing als Reaktion auf US-Strafzölle erhoben hat, erhebliche Auswirkungen auf den Mittleren Westen der USA: »Die Landwirtschaft hat stark gelitten, und obgleich die Trump-Regierung massive Ausgleichszahlungen vorgenommen hat, hat sich das Höfesterben beschleunigt«, sagte Scherrer.
https://www.jungewelt.de/artikel/354206.chauvinismus-gegen-china.html

interview on Trumps trade policy

On 20th April 2018 Christoph Scherrer was invited to give an interview on Trumps trade policy and its implications for the economies and societies of US, Asia, Europe and Germany especially.
You can either watch the eight minute interview (https://bit.ly/2I8SIG5) or the whole 30 minute makro TV show (https://bit.ly/2JsKOGP) on Trump’s punitive tariffs.
An alternative is reading the interview article (https://bit.ly/2I4gy5x).

Decent Work Deficits in Southern Agriculture: Measurements, Drivers and Strategies

NEW PUBLICATION: Decent Work Deficits in Southern Agriculture: Measurements, Drivers and Strategies

Christoph Scherrer, Santosh Verma (Eds.)

Up to 60 percent of the Global South’s work force toils in agriculture. Most smallholders and waged agricultural workers labor under poor health, safety and environmental conditions.

This volume explores
1) the extent of the decent work deficit with a focus on women in agriculture,
2) the drivers of the poor remuneration and working conditions,
3) some strategies for mitigating the decent work deficits.

Its contributors argue that the severity of the decent work deficits in agriculture calls for action. Given the divers contexts of agricultural work and the many factors reproducing the deficits, action is needed in a comprehensive as well as context-specific form. The contributors are academics from Brazil, Columbia, Germany, Ghana, India, Mexico and Pakistan.

Keywords: employment in agriculture, smallholders, landless workers, labor rights, food regime

Labor and Globalization, Volume 11
ISBN 978-3-86618-896-9, Rainer Hampp Verlag,
Augsburg, München 2018, 340 S.

https://www.uni-kassel.de/fb05/fileadmin/datas/fb05/FG_Politikwissenschaften/GlobPolitik/Publikationen/Publ-18/Scherrer___Verma__eds.__2018_Decent_Work_Deficits_in_Southern_Agriculture.pdf

New Publication: Public Banks in the Age of Financialization - A Comparative Perspective

This book asks the important question of whether public banks are a better alternative to profit-seeking private banks. Do public banks provide finance for development? Do they serve as stability anchors in financial markets? What kind of governance keeps public banks accountable to the public? Theoretically the book draws on the works of Minsky for the question on stability and on interpretative policy analysis for the issue of governance. It compares empirically three countries with significant public banks: Brazil, Germany, and India.

http://www.e-elgar.com/shop/public-banks-in-the-age-of-financialization

Edited by Christoph Scherrer | Publisher: Edward Elgar.

NEW PUBLICATION: ENFORCEMENT INSTRUMENT FOR SOCIAL HUMAN RIGHTS ALONG SUPPLY CHAINS

New publication:
SCHERRER, Christoph (ed.) 2017: Enforcement Instrument for Social Human Rights along Supply Chains, Mering, Rainer Hampp Verlag.
http://www.uni-kassel.de/go/Scherrer_Enforcement_of_Social_Human_Rights.pdf

Colloquium to strengthen the collaboration between the University of Puerto Rico and the University of Kassel

Christoph Scherrer participated in a colloquium to strengthen the collaboration between the University of Puerto Rico and the University of Kassel: http://www.uprrp.edu/?p=9424

German Video Lecture: "Finanzialisierung, Krise und hegemoniales Krisenmanagement"

“Finanzialisierung, Krise und hegemoniales Krisenmanagement” – Lecture of Prof. Dr. Christoph Scherrer at the University of Hamburg

https://lecture2go.uni-hamburg.de/veranstaltungen/-/v/18811

Forschung in Zeiten von TTIP und CETA - Privatisierung der Hochschulen durch Handelsabkommen?

Auch wenn Forschung und Bildung derzeit nicht Gegenstand der TTIP-Verhand- lungen sind, lassen sich an dem schon vorliegenden Verhandlungstext mit Kanada (CETA) Folgen für diese Bereiche ablesen. Es gilt, wachsam zu bleiben.

http://www.wissenschaftsmanagement-online.de/system/files/downloads-wimoarticle/1510_WIMO_Forschung%20in%20Zeiten%20von%20TTIP%20und%20CETA_WALTHER_SCHERRER.pdf

ICDD launches new research on Global Agricultural Production Networks (GAPS)

The ICDD network launches a new research cluster on Global Agricultural Production Networks (GAPS). Read more: http://www.uni-kassel.de/einrichtungen/international-center-for-development-and-decent-work-icdd/events/kick-off-workshop-gaps.html 

New Publication: Is US financial capital further hegemonic through more regulation?

"Auspolierte Kratzer. Das US-Finanzkapital: Durch mehr Regulierung weiter hegemonial?", In: PROKLA 197, Illusion und Macht des Geldes (Juni 2015)

http://www.prokla.de/2015/06/19/editorial-prokla-179/

Panel Discussion: The Ukraine conflict. A European challenge

Date: Monday, June 15, 2015, 6 pm
Location: University of Kassel, Diagonale 9, room 0422

Read more: http://www.uni-kassel.de/einrichtungen/icdd/news.html

The English languare master's programme "Global Political Economy" (GPE) at the University of Kassel has received an award for its internationalisation. The European Consortium for Accreditation has conferred the Certificate for Quality in Internationalisation on the programme.

The GPE course of study focuses on a critical consideration of the economic, social, political and cultural aspects of globalisation and governance. It combines contet from the social and economic sciences. Students on the GPE programme benefit in particular from exchange with the international partner universities of the global network of the International Center for Development and Decent Work (ICDD). This teaching and research network with headquarters at the University of Kassel has been active since 2009 to improve the understanding of the conditions that allow for productive employment and decent work in development situations.

The University has offered the "Global Political Economy" course of study since the winter semester 2003/2004. Currently it has 76 enrolled students from locations around the world representing countries from Argentina to Uzbekistan.  The Certificate for Quality in Internationalisation makes special mention of the international composition of the faculty and of the student body as well as the distinctive experiences, offerings and the substantial support the students receive from the University. The learning environment of the Programme was described as being international in an exemplary fashion. In its report the accrediting consortium summed up that "the programme has successfully realised internationalisation activities that make a clear contribution to the quality of teaching and learning."  The director of the programme Prof. Dr. Christoph Scherrer characterised this success as "an important seal of quality for the programme. Persons who enrol for this course of study know that they will benefit both form a scholarly and academic standpoints as well as a personal one. " This certification of the GPE master's programme follows another significant recent achievement of the ICDD, which has just received five million EUR in funding from the DAAD for a further five years.

 http://www.uni-kassel.de/einrichtungen/icdd/news.html

In 4 days: MOOC on “Workers' Rights in a Global Economy”

4 DAYS TO GO: Next week, on Monday 1st June 2015, we will start our MOOC on “Workers' Rights in a Global Economy”. We are very happy to see so many of you have enrolled. We are 2.000 right now, all interested in labour rights worldwide. This is great news!

As a first appetizer we invite you to look at this short text from the Global Labour Column, the multilingual blog on labour affairs in the Global Labour University network: http://www.global-labour-university.org/fileadmin/GLU_Column/papers/no_46_Hoffer.pdf

We are looking forward to meeting you online soon!

Register here: https://iversity.org/en/courses/workers-rights-in-a-global-economy

Public lecture on "Decent Work along the Agricultural Value Chain"

by Prof. Dr. Christoph Scherrer (University of Kassel) and Prof. Dr. Praveen Jha, (Jawaharlal Nehru University)

When: 27 May, 6 pm
Where: ICDD, Seminar room, Kleine Rosenstraße 1-3, 34117 Kassel

Small-holders and plantation workers receive only a tiny part of the value added in a value chain; e.g. cocoa farmers in Ghana capture only about 4% of the final value of a chocolate bar. They also lack social protection, are exposed to toxic chemicals and face powerful buyers. Economic upgrading is not enough; it has to be accompanied by social upgrading.
What are the obstacles, what are promising strategies to overcome the decent work deficit along agricultural value chains?

http://www.uni-kassel.de/uni/studium/campus-leben/veranstaltungen-termine/termin.html?tx_cal_controller%5Bview%5D=event&tx_cal_controller%5Btype%5D=tx_cal_phpicalendar&tx_cal_controller%5Buid%5D=5872&tx_cal_controller%5Blastview%5D=view-month%7Cpage_id-39468&tx_cal_controller%5Byear%5D=2015&tx_cal_controller%5Bmonth%5D=05&tx_cal_controller%5Bday%5D=27&cHash=49bcb948ca25ad2c87fdc09c279c69a5

"The future of world trade"

"Christoph Scherrer fundamentally criticizes the world trade order. From the perspective of developing countries, a total opening has never proven to be the best way: China, which has only opened selectively is the best example. For the “weak”, he considers a democratization of the political process as essential. "

Read the whole article in German here: https://ftdwirtschaftswunder.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/zeitgesprc3a4ch.pdf

Die Zukunft des Welthandels

Holger Görg, Martin Klein, Michael Pflüger, Oliver Krebs, Christoph Scherrer

95. Jahrgang, 2015, Heft 5, S. 303-318

DOI: 10.1007/s10273-015-1825-8

Global Labour University launches free Massive Open Online Course on Workers’ Rights in a Global Economy

We are happy to announce the launch of a free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Workers’ Rights in a Global Economy.

Starting on 1 June 2015, the six weeks online course will discuss what Global Workers’ Rights are and which instruments and strategies can be used to implement them. Based on a careful mix of video lectures, readings, online resources and interviews with activists and labour scholars from around the world, participants will gain both knowledge and practical skills for furthering workers’ rights worldwide. You can watch a short trailer here to get an overview of the course:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u8dpMVfFh0

The course has been jointly developed by an international team from the partner universities of the Global Labour University, the Bureau for Workers’ Activities of the International Labour Organisation and national and global trade unions. It brings together labour expertise from around the world.

Participation in the online course is free in the Audit Track: it gives you full access to all course material, to the course community and entitles you to a Statement of Participation after successfully completing the course. Those seeking a formal recognition as a certified training can choose the Certificate Track: for 49 Euros it allows you to earn a verified certificate and a certificate supplement after passing an online-proctored exam on the course content. Among those completing the certificate track, we will cast a lot to select three students who will be invited to participate in the 10th Global Labour University Conference “Sharing the Gains – Containing Corporate Power”, 30 September to 2 October 2015, Washington, D.C. You will find more information on the conference on: www.global-labour-university.org/fileadmin/download/CfP_GLU_Conference_2015.pdf

Please go to https://iversity.org/en/courses/workers-rights-in-a-global-economy for more information and enrolment.

TTIP: Explosive mixture for transatlantic relations

"Politicians like to tie the free trade agreement TTIP to" big politics" and to the strengthening of the transatlantic axis against China. But that could go wrong: The TTIP negotiating agenda dictated by large companies brings conflicts in the Western camp, says Christoph Scherrer, Director of the International Center for Development and Decent Work."

http://www.euractiv.de/sections/eu-aussenpolitik/ttip-explosive-mischung-fuer-die-transatlantischen-beziehungen-312525