Articles, Papers & Book Chapters by Lorena Lombardozzi
From Marx's 'Double Freedom’ to ‘Degrees of Unfreedom’: Methodological Insights from the Study of Uzbekistan’s Agrarian Labour
Marx in the Field, 2021
The condition of extreme labour exploitation often observable in current global capitalism is des... more The condition of extreme labour exploitation often observable in current global capitalism is described by many studies in social sciences as ‘forced labour’. However, by depicting an ahistorical picture detached from its capitalist social forms, such defi nitions often reproduce shallow analyses of labour and moralistic knowledge, which conceal the structural determinants of labour exploitation. Trying to problematize the concept of labour freedom
through a Marxian historical materialist perspective and mixed methods, this chapter uses the case of agrarian labour in Uzbekistan of post- Soviet independence to investigate the
empirical, methodological and epistemological complexities underpinning such concept.
Finally, while making explicit the policy implications the country faces to regulate and protect labour, the chapter provides some reflections on the contradictions of late capitalist accumulation in low- income countries.
Review of International Political Economy, 2021
Despite the important International Political Economy (IPE) scholarship on the impact of neoliber... more Despite the important International Political Economy (IPE) scholarship on the impact of neoliberal marketisation on women in the Global South, the linkages with reproductive and informal work are often neglected, as is its interaction with multi-level varieties of patriarchy. Developing a theoretical framework merging social reproduction theory and varieties of gender regimes, this article examines how women navigate market and non-market pressures during the ongoing processes of Uzbek agrarian marketisation. By applying the concept of domestic and public patriarchy to analyse the gendered practices of food production and reproduction in Uzbekistan, the article unpacks the household-led and state-led forms of dispossession and exploitation of women's work in everyday life and investigates why women's position has not improved as a result of marketisation. The paper contributes to feminist IPE in two ways. By bringing together two strands of gender theories, it explores the link between the institutional and cultural connotation and the economic ‘valuation’ of women's work. Along these lines, it examines the weaknesses of the policy solutions proposed by the neoliberal development governance in the Global South.
Unpacking state-led upgrading: empirical evidence from Uzbek horticulture value chain governance
Review of International Political Economy, 2020
This paper brings together the Global Value Chain/Global Production Network (GVC/GPNs) and the De... more This paper brings together the Global Value Chain/Global Production Network (GVC/GPNs) and the Developmental State (DS) literature to analyze state-led upgrading. By triangulating primary and secondary data on Uzbekistan’s horticulture value chain, it provides a micro-meso analysis of how the state, by creating vertical and horizontal linkages, shaped the pace and direction of agro-industrial upgrading. It discusses how targeted macroeconomic policies enabled upgrading and argues that the state should be seen not only as a regulator, facilitator, buyer and producer within GVC/GPNs, but also as a coordinator of strategic developmental objectives beyond and across the GVCs. Drawing on a strategic-relational approach and using the concept of organisational upgrading, it shows how the state articulates the institutional context of GVC/GPNs through the establishment of financial and political partnerships with international actors to avoid predatory competition; the coordination of inter-sectorial spillovers for short and long-term collective learning and capacity building; and the creation of linkages to enable multi-dimensional and inter-temporal developmental objectives. Coordinated state interventions and a gradual approach to market reforms were instrumental in ensuring the sustainability of the economic transformation.
Political Quarterly, 2020
Despite extensive attention being paid to the effects of the Universal Basic Income (UBI) on soci... more Despite extensive attention being paid to the effects of the Universal Basic Income (UBI) on society at large, little critical analysis has been developed on the relationship between gender inequality and UBI. The purpose of this article is to first reflect on the feminist arguments in
favour of UBI and then problematises some of these points by also reflecting on other available policies. By looking into the role of women’s work in both productive and reproductive activities, it is argued that UBI should not be disregarded as a social policy. However, its transformative capacity to empower women and to strengthen their role in society should not be overestimated. In order to address this gap, policymakers should address misconceptions around gender norms and acknowledge the multiple forms of women’s work across the social relations of production and reproduction.
Capital & Class, 2019
Proponents recommend Universal Basic Income (UBI) as a solution to a trifold crisis of work, wage... more Proponents recommend Universal Basic Income (UBI) as a solution to a trifold crisis of work, wage and social democracy. Synthesising Marxian form analysis with Marxist-feminist social reproduction theory, this paper suggests that these crises relate to historically-specific capitalist social forms: labour, money, and the state. These separate but interlocking crises of social form are temporary and contingent expressions of an underlying, permanent crisis of social reproduction. Mistaking the pervasive crisis of social reproduction in its totality for a temporary or contingent trifold crisis of work, wage or social democracy, UBI proposals seek to solve it by moving through the same social forms through which they take effect, rather than confronting the social relations that constitute their antagonistic undertow and generate the crisis of social reproduction. The paper considers two other solutions proposed to handle the deeper-rooted crisis with which UBI grapples: Universal Basic Services (UBS) and Universal Basic Infrastructure (UBIS) Both propose non-monetary ways past the impasses of the UBI, addressing much more directly the constrained basis of individual and collective reproduction that characterises capitalist social relations. But they retain a link with capitalist social forms of money and state that may serve to close rather than open the path to real alternatives. The paper concludes that the contradictions these 'abstract universals' touch upon are best mediated through more bottom-up and struggle-based 'concrete universals' that address the manifold crises of work, wage and social democracy that undergird them. Such alternatives would leave open dynamic tensions around work and welfare in contemporary capitalism without promise of their incomplete resolution in the name of a false universality unattainable in a world characterised by antagonism, domination and crisis.
Can distortions in agriculture support structural transformation? The case of Uzbekistan
The agricultural sector plays a strategic role in the development
process of a country. However, ... more The agricultural sector plays a strategic role in the development
process of a country. However, the tools used to trigger economic
development are objects of controversy in theory and practice.
While neoclassical theory contends that state interventions and
protectionism create inefficiencies and sub-optimal allocation of
resources, heterodox authors argue that those measures can be
instrumental in fostering growth. Uzbekistan has applied heterodox
distortive measures in agriculture. This paper investigates the
implications of those distortions for the Uzbek economy. I argue
that state interventions in agriculture, through surplus extraction
and economies of scale, have facilitated investments in added-value
industries, driving national structural transformation
Across Europe, a crisis of social democracy prevails. Deindustrialisation precipitates a breakdow... more Across Europe, a crisis of social democracy prevails. Deindustrialisation precipitates a breakdown of the communities, institutions and interests that held the social democratic and labour movements together. A collapse in everyday life passes over into a steady decline in the electoral realm. Elsewhere, a crisis of social reproduction ensues. The relationship between the wage and subsistence weakens, public services face cutbacks and a generalised dispossession of people from the commons continues apace. This triple crisis- of the society of work, social reproduction and social democracy- is a triple crisis of the social. The universal basic income (UBI) is suggested by many as a means by which the social synthesis can be pieced back together. In this paper we explore whether or not UBI lives up to the claims made for its implementation, and to what extent it addresses these three crises. We ultimately pose the question whether UBI offers a solution to the crisis of social democracy, and whether, on this basis, European social democrats should pursue the policy as a central demand of a new electoral offer. We conclude that the policy cannot be suggested as a solution to the crises of work and social reproduction, at least not without being complemented by a range of other measures. A suite of reforms could strengthen its impact and ensure it is used to nurture and preserve positive social relations that reflect social democratic ideas, rather than contrary outcomes implied in alternative visions of the UBI proposed from both right and left of the political spectrum.
Editorials, Commentary and Media by Lorena Lombardozzi
LSE Politics and Policy Blog, 2017
Policy Briefs by Lorena Lombardozzi
This paper discusses the challenges that the EU faces in relation to economic democracy and work.... more This paper discusses the challenges that the EU faces in relation to economic democracy and work. The first part of this paper looks at the need for political alternatives against the background of the failure of current strategies to tackle the increasing social and economic inequalities that have been exacerbated by the financial, economic and social crisis that started in 2008. It proposes that fostering ́economic democracy ́ should be a cornerstone of the social democratic strategy in Europe, tracing the history and theory of the concept as well as its possibilities and limitations. The second part of the paper looks at the existing situation of different tools for economic democracy in Europe, with a particular focus on cooperatives. It firstly explores the empirical implications of economic democracy through the example of cooperatives. It then looks at what policies could be pursued on a European level to support cooperatives, and also briefly looks at the policies that could be implemented to expand economic democracy beyond the development of the cooperative sector. It then discusses the limitations in theory and practice to this policy solution. Finally, it highlights some initiatives which a progressive European political movement could put on the agenda in order promote social justice and democratic accountability at the work place.
Papers by Lorena Lombardozzi
Patterns of accumulation and social differentiation through a slow‐paced agrarian market transition in post‐Soviet Uzbekistan
Journal of Agrarian Change
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Articles, Papers & Book Chapters by Lorena Lombardozzi
through a Marxian historical materialist perspective and mixed methods, this chapter uses the case of agrarian labour in Uzbekistan of post- Soviet independence to investigate the
empirical, methodological and epistemological complexities underpinning such concept.
Finally, while making explicit the policy implications the country faces to regulate and protect labour, the chapter provides some reflections on the contradictions of late capitalist accumulation in low- income countries.
favour of UBI and then problematises some of these points by also reflecting on other available policies. By looking into the role of women’s work in both productive and reproductive activities, it is argued that UBI should not be disregarded as a social policy. However, its transformative capacity to empower women and to strengthen their role in society should not be overestimated. In order to address this gap, policymakers should address misconceptions around gender norms and acknowledge the multiple forms of women’s work across the social relations of production and reproduction.
process of a country. However, the tools used to trigger economic
development are objects of controversy in theory and practice.
While neoclassical theory contends that state interventions and
protectionism create inefficiencies and sub-optimal allocation of
resources, heterodox authors argue that those measures can be
instrumental in fostering growth. Uzbekistan has applied heterodox
distortive measures in agriculture. This paper investigates the
implications of those distortions for the Uzbek economy. I argue
that state interventions in agriculture, through surplus extraction
and economies of scale, have facilitated investments in added-value
industries, driving national structural transformation
Editorials, Commentary and Media by Lorena Lombardozzi
Policy Briefs by Lorena Lombardozzi
Papers by Lorena Lombardozzi
through a Marxian historical materialist perspective and mixed methods, this chapter uses the case of agrarian labour in Uzbekistan of post- Soviet independence to investigate the
empirical, methodological and epistemological complexities underpinning such concept.
Finally, while making explicit the policy implications the country faces to regulate and protect labour, the chapter provides some reflections on the contradictions of late capitalist accumulation in low- income countries.
favour of UBI and then problematises some of these points by also reflecting on other available policies. By looking into the role of women’s work in both productive and reproductive activities, it is argued that UBI should not be disregarded as a social policy. However, its transformative capacity to empower women and to strengthen their role in society should not be overestimated. In order to address this gap, policymakers should address misconceptions around gender norms and acknowledge the multiple forms of women’s work across the social relations of production and reproduction.
process of a country. However, the tools used to trigger economic
development are objects of controversy in theory and practice.
While neoclassical theory contends that state interventions and
protectionism create inefficiencies and sub-optimal allocation of
resources, heterodox authors argue that those measures can be
instrumental in fostering growth. Uzbekistan has applied heterodox
distortive measures in agriculture. This paper investigates the
implications of those distortions for the Uzbek economy. I argue
that state interventions in agriculture, through surplus extraction
and economies of scale, have facilitated investments in added-value
industries, driving national structural transformation