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Call for Papers - St. Antony's International Review (STAIR)

Associated Editor of the St Antony's International Review (STAIR), a peer-reviewed academic journal of international affairs based here at St Antony's College, University of Oxford has issued a call for papers.

St. Antony's International Review (STAIR)

Call for Papers: The Politics of Human Trafficking

• Abstracts due August 30, 2007
• Papers due December 30, 2007

In the year of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade, the global trade in human beings is back on the policy agenda. This illegal trade is no longer restricted to a singular westward flow across the Atlantic, but now occurs in such diverse regions as South Asia and the Middle East. International crime control, migration agencies and the media show great concern over the upward trend in human trafficking based on the new opportunities created by increasing global mobility. But, despite this growing alarm, there remains insufficient serious scholarship addressing human trafficking. There is no consensus as to the precise meaning of the term, as its elements of victimhood and agency remain obscure, whilst economic analysis of human trafficking, and its relationship to the international labour market remains hazy at best. Similarly, despite the existence of research on the international abolitionist movement and drug policies, little comparative analysis exists between forms of trafficking. For these reasons, the St Antony’s International Review (STAIR) invites academics, young researchers, and policy experts to submit abstracts of papers that explore one or more of the following lines of enquiry for the forthcoming issue on ‘The Politics of Human Trafficking.’

Agency and “Victimhood”
The popular portrayal of human trafficking often resembles a Dickensian landscape of suffering and pain, with voiceless children and powerless women caught in a trap of violence and exploitation. Whilst this may be true of a number of cases, it is now frequently asserted that such depictions unfairly obscure the complex web of coercion and consent that underpins and characterises the diverse processes of contemporary human trafficking. In many cases the boundaries between voluntary labour migration and forced exploitation are so thin as to hide the intricacies of the choices that people actually make. Why do some parents encourage their children to go and what motivates them to leave? What do men and women stand to gain from illegally crossing borders and are all at risk of abuse if they do? Are traffickers inherently evil or do they provide an unregulated service in an apparently failing economy? Is there room for agency even in situations of extreme hardship? And if so, why does the discourse of disempowerment and victimhood so dominate the standard narrative?

Economics of Trafficking
The impacts of human trafficking are manifold. Aside from creating human misery, and straining political systems, the economic impact of human trafficking on national economies can be enormous. Academics and policymakers highlight the need for greater research in order to better understand both the relationship between trafficking and development and that between trafficking and the dynamics of the international labour market. How should we integrate the supply-side and the demand-side in our analysis? How can the existence of remittance flows help us to better understand the processes and motivations of trafficking? What is the relationship between trafficking and economic migration, and what role do global social inequalities, freedom of movement and corruption play in this relationship?

Politics and policy making
The fight against human trafficking has become an increasingly salient political issue for governments around the world. In spite of widespread agreement on the need for multilateral cooperation in addressing this problem, its very persistence highlights the important weaknesses that still remain in the identification of appropriate counter-trafficking policies. How can national legislation foster a more inclusive approach to trafficking? What are the best methods for adapting to increased global mobility? What has been the role of immigration laws and policies and is a victim-centered approach appropriate? Does international trafficking lead to more internal trafficking and if so, what role do governments have in dealing with this? What is the role of non-state actors involved in the fight against trafficking? How can the monitoring and evaluation of counter-trafficking policies be improved?


Methodology: Trafficking in International Affairs
Trafficking research is not well integrated with the academic study of politics and international affairs because of the apparent lack of data, methods and analytical models. How can trafficking studies draw on existing research, such as international trade theory, transnationalism and migration studies, to benefit the discipline and our understanding of both the trade and its policy responses? What conventional types of sources are available for analysing illegal trades and are there feasible alternatives, such as interviews with end-users? Do criminology or anthropology offer useful alternative methodologies or do they take us too far from the disciplinary mainstream? And does it make sense to compare human trafficking across different regions and/or contrast it to other forms of illegal trade in drugs, diamonds or arms? If so, what can be learnt from such comparisons?

In conjunction with the general Call for Papers for the forthcoming issue on 'The Politics of Human Trafficking', STAIR also seeks to publish book reviews of works that adhere to the advertised theme of the issue. If you are interested in submitting book reviews related to the theme 'The Politics of Human Trafficking”, please contact book.reviews@stair-journal.org

Notes for Contributors are available at: www.sant.ox.ac.uk/STAIR

For more information, contact:
Ms. Heidi Stöckl
Associated Editor, St. Antony's International Review (STAIR)
Heidi.Stoeckl@nuffield.ox.ac.uk