Transit States

Description

There are vast swathes of people in economic migration across the Gulf states today. In total, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar form the largest destination for labour migration in the global South. This book studies the impact of this mass migration, and its effect on citizenship and workers' rights.



Transit States considers how the transitory labour power these workers provide creates an extraordinary development boom that impacts neighbouring countries. The majority of the working population is therefore composed of migrant workers with no citizenship rights.



The Gulf takes a central place in growing debates around migration and labour in the global economy. Transit States confronts the precarious working conditions of migrants in an accessible, yet in-depth manner.
List of Illustrations

Preface

Part I: Introduction

1. Histories of Migration to the Gulf - Omar AlShehabi

2. The Politics of Migration - Abdulhadi Khalaf

3. Overcoming Methodological Nationalism: Spatial Perspectives on Migration to the Gulf Arab States - Adam Hanieh

Part II: Dimensions of Gulf Migration: Law, Urban Space, Gender

4. Kafala: Foundations of Migrant Exclusion in GCC Labour Markets - Mohammed Dito

5. Rootless Hubs: Migration, Urban Commodification and the 'Right to the City' in the GCC - Omar AlShehabi

6. Construction Work, ‘Bachelor’ Builders and the Intersectional Politics of Urbanisation in Dubai - Michelle Buckley

Part III: Gulf Migrants: Broadening Perspectives

7. Bahrain’s Migrant Security Apparatus - K.T. Abdulhameed

8. Expat/Expert Camps: Redefining 'Labour' within Gulf Migration - Neha Vora

9. In and Out Moves of the Bahraini Opposition: How Years of Political Exile Led to the Opening of an International Front during the 2011 Crisis in Bahrain - Claire Beaugrand

Part IV: Conclusion

10. Migrant Rights in the Gulf: Charting the Way Forward - Adam Hanieh

Bibliographies

References

Index

Sujets

• Social Science
• Sociologie, société et politique
• Saudi Arabia
• Emigration
• United Arab Emirates
• Middle East
• Migration
• Immigration
• Émirats arabes unis
• Arabie saoudite

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 20 novembre 2014
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781783712212
• Langue: English

Extrait

Transit States
Transit States
Labour, Migration and Citizenship in the Gulf
Edited by Abdulhadi Khalaf, Omar AlShehabi and Adam Hanieh
First published 2015 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Copyright © Abdulhadi Khalaf, Omar AlShehabi and Adam Hanieh 2015
The right of the individual contributors to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN    978 0 7453 3522 3    Hardback ISBN    978 0 7453 3520 9    Paperback ISBN    978 1 7837 1220 5    PDF eBook ISBN    978 1 7837 1222 9    Kindle eBook ISBN    978 1 7837 1221 2    EPUB eBook
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data applied for
This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental standards of the country of origin.
10    9    8    7    6    5    4    3    2    1
Typeset by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England Text design by Melanie Patrick Simultaneously printed digitally by CPI Antony Rowe, Chippenham, UK and Edwards Bros in the United States of America
Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface Part I    Introduction 1 Histories of Migration to the Gulf
Omar AlShehabi 2 The Politics of Migration
Abdulhadi Khalaf 3 Overcoming Methodological Nationalism: Spatial Perspectives on Migration to the Gulf Arab States
Adam Hanieh Part II    Dimensions of Gulf Migration: Law, Urban Space, Gender 4 Kafala : Foundations of Migrant Exclusion in GCC Labour Markets
Mohammed Dito 5 Rootless Hubs: Migration, Urban Commodification and the ‘Right to the City’ in the GCC
Omar AlShehabi 6 Construction Work, ‘Bachelor’ Builders and the Intersectional Politics of Urbanisation in Dubai
Michelle Buckley Part III    Gulf Migrants: Broadening Perspectives 7 Bahrain’s Migrant Security Apparatus
K. T. Abdulhameed 8 Expat/Expert Camps: Redefining ‘Labour’ Within Gulf Migration
Neha Vora 9 In and Out Moves of the Bahraini Opposition: How Years of Political Exile Led to the Opening of an International Front During the 2011 Crisis in Bahrain
Claire Beaugrand Part IV    Conclusion 10 Migrant Rights in the Gulf: Charting the Way Forward
Adam Hanieh Biographies References Index
List of Illustrations
Figures 1.1 GCC population evolution, 1975–2012 (millions) 1.2 Citizens and expatriates’ percentages within GCC populations in 2012 1.3 Workforce size in the GCC states, 1975–2012 1.4 Citizens and expatriates’ percentages in total GCC workforce in 2012 1.5 Percentage of Arabs in the GCC’s immigrant workforce, 1975–2004 1.6 Public and private sector labour force composition, 2009–2012 4.1 The four paths of kafala 5.1 Spatial representation of IMREPs in Dubai, December 2013 5.2 Spatial representation of IMREPs in Bahrain, December 2013 8.1 Little India cover, October 2012
Tables 1.1 Expatriate numbers by nationality, 2002–2004 (thousands) 1.2 Migrant worker percentages by regional origin in 2005 5.1 Announced number of international real estate units in 2008 that are completed or planned to be built by 2020 (thousands) 5.2 Real estate transactions in Dubai in the first half of 2012 by nationality
Boxes 4.1 Employer versus migrant obligations as per work-permit regulations (example from Bahrain)
Preface
The intersection of labour, migration and citizenship lies at the core of understanding social life in the six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council or GCC (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman and Qatar). The region was the largest destination for labour migration in the global South at the start of the twenty-first century, with a majority of its working population composed of temporary migrant workers. These workers have underpinned the spectacular development boom across the region in recent decades – involved in construction, maintenance and infrastructure work – as well as service, clerical, retail and domestic activities.
South Asian countries such as Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have become almost fully dependent on the labour markets of the Gulf for their overseas workforce, with the money sent home from these workers helping to sustain millions of families across the globe. At the same time, international media, human rights organisations and labour unions have become increasingly attuned to the dire working conditions faced by many migrant workers in the Gulf – demonstrated, perhaps most strikingly, in the barrage of newspaper reports critical of Qatar’s treatment of workers involved in World Cup-related construction projects. For all of these reasons, the Gulf region takes a central place in contemporary debates around migration and labour in the global economy.
Despite the extreme significance of migration to the Gulf, much scholarly analysis of the GCC’s political economy has tended to sideline the importance of these labour flows, focusing instead on capital markets, the distribution of oil rents and the nature of ruling families. Explanations for the heavy reliance on migrant labour most often adopt a neoclassical lens of low population levels, mismatched skill profiles or ‘push–pull’ wage differentials between the Gulf and surrounding regions. When discussed in this literature, migrant workers are frequently framed as policy objects rather than social actors in themselves – a ‘potential problem’ that can be solved through institutional or policy initiatives.
Within the migration literature, analysis of the GCC has emphasised the deprivation and exploitation to which workers have been subject in the host economies, or the impact of remittance flows on community, village and other social structures in the source countries. This literature typically highlights sociological and anthropological themes, looking at the ways in which networks of migration form and decisions to migrate are taken, drawing upon the life histories of migrants themselves. Despite the fact that this literature contains a wide range of useful and perceptive analysis that provides an important counterweight to the traditional scholarly literature on the Gulf, it often suffers from being overly descriptive and narrow in focus – failing to adequately situate the question of labour migration within the broader political, economic and social developments in the Gulf.
This book attempts to bring together and explore the tensions between these different sets of literature, which too often tend to speak past one another. Our key argument is that the relationship between ‘citizen’ and ‘non-citizen’ holds immense significance for understanding the construction of class, gender, city and state in the Gulf. For this reason, questions of migration and the status of ‘non-citizens’ are essential to interpreting contemporary political and social trends in the Gulf.
The precarious working conditions of labour in the Gulf have often facilitated exploitation of both migrants and citizens. They have also engendered a variety of forms of social mobilisation and resistance, presenting new challenges for political actors. Migration has been a principal factor behind the dramatic changes in the Gulf’s urban landscape – closely tied to real estate regulatory reform and financialisation. Constantly evolving forms of migration have emerged, linked to highly skilled labour and the rebranding of the Gulf itself. By bringing together scholars on the Gulf, including academics based in the region itself, our edited book critically explores these questions – recentring the question of migration at the core of the social structures and political economy of the GCC states.
The Structure of the Book
The chapters in this book are based on a dedicated workshop on Gulf migration that was held in Istanbul in May 2012 and was generously funded by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Lund University, Sweden. 1 This book covers a wide range of themes and case studies, including theoretical and historical perspectives; migration and the Gulf political economy; migration and gender in the Gulf; and new forms of migration to the Gulf. Through each chapter the authors critically reflect upon the dominant understandings of migration in the region, exploring the ways in which migration has helped to underpin the construction of class, gender, city and state within the GCC.
The book opens with an introductory chapter presenting an overview of the main historical phases of migration to the Gulf. The two subsequent chapters lay out different theoretical accounts of Gulf migration and labour flows. Chapter 2 focuses on the politics of the state as a way to understanding migration, while Chapter 3 emphasises the Gulf’s place within the wider regional and global economic structures. Chapters 4 , 5 and 6 examine the relationship between migration and the socio-economic features of the Gulf – looking at its significance to the rapid urbanisation processes that have taken place over the last decade, the means through which the subordination of migrant workers is deepened through the work permit system known as kafala , and the ways in which these processes are gendered. Chapters 7 , 8 and 9 challenge the standard caricatures of labour migrants as ‘male construction workers’, mapping new forms of migration to university and education zones, the role of ‘migrant-mercenaries’ in the security forces in the region, and the impact of exile communities on the politics of the Gulf. The final chapter presents an overview of recent mobilisation efforts surrounding migrant issues, and argues for more solidarity across the Arab world and globally for the rights of migrants.
1 The authors would like to thank Lisa Barrington and Eda Farsakoglu for their invaluable efforts in organizing the wor