Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Domestic maid has been a part of the life of many middle- and high-income families in urban Bangladesh. Domestic maids stay alone in individual households, hidden from public scrutiny, and their lives controlled by their employers. Total number of domestic maids in Bangladesh is not available from any official source, for example, Ministry of Women's and Children's Affair's. However, some NGOs estimate that there are approximately a half million domestic maids in Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh. They are usually very young and work long hours for little pay and often face abuses. The destiny of these maids rests largely on the mercy of their employers. As their parents or close relatives primarily live in rural areas and usually are unable to afford to visit Dhaka regularly to oversee the condition, they are exposed to a wide range of maltreatment including health risks. Although some of the problems of domestic maids, for example, sexual exploitation and physical abuses, have recently received attention from scholars; however, we are not sufficiently aware of the health hazards of domestic maids in Bangladesh. This paper investigates the provision of health care facilities and addresses the health vulnerability of domestic maids through a case study in Dhaka. The study uses both primary and secondary data. Research methods include participant observation, questionnaire survey and focus group interview.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Globally, at least 10 million children are trapped in domestic labor jobs where they work long hours for little pay and often face abuses. Total number of child domestic workers in Bangladesh is not available from any official source, for example, Ministry of Women's and Children's Affair's. Some NGOs estimate that there are approximately two million children engaged in domestic work in Bangladesh. Child domestic workers in Bangladesh stay alone in individual households, hidden from public scrutiny, and their lives controlled by their employers. The destiny of these child domestic workers rests largely on the mercy of their employers. As their parents primarily live in rural areas and usually are unable to afford to visit Dhaka regularly to oversee the condition of their children, they are exposed to abuses and health risks. Although some aspects of child domestic workers, for example, sexual exploitation and education, have recently received attention from scholars, we are not sufficiently aware of the health consequences of child domestic workers in Bangladesh. This paper investigate the provision of health care facilities and address the vulnerability and health hazards of child domestic workers through a case study in Dhaka, capital of Bangladesh. The study use both primary and secondary data. Research methods will include participant observation, questionnaire survey and focus group interview.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Scholars claim that increases in international trade facilitate emergence of democratic political regimes in countries around the world. This argument is supported predominantly from the current era of economic globalization, particularly the last decades of the twentieth century, in which countries have simultaneously increased their trade integration with other countries and increased their levels of political competition and political participation.In this paper, I examine the relationship between international trade integration and domestic political liberalization outside this particular historical moment. I trace the effects integration in international trade had on domestic political regimes in the previous era of economic globalization, from the mid-nineteenth century to the early-twentieth century. In particular, I examine the domestic political consequences of the rise of free trade policies in large economies---especially in Great Britain starting with the Corn Law of 1846---on smaller price-taking economies.In this context, I advance the following argument. During this period, trade integration facilitated political liberalization, because it destabilized the political economic bargain leaders maintained in their country. Specifically, changing patterns of external market accessibility resulting from trade integration unraveled domestic coalitions supporting political leaders by decreasing their dependence on the leaders or reducing leaders' ability to sustain their coalition members' welfare. These changes triggered unraveling of the leader's domestic coalition and shifted the bargaining power away from the leader in favor of coalition members. Coalition members could use this leverage to demand and obtain political liberalization.The empirical portion of the paper consists of two parts. I examine the political consequences of greater external market access first on smaller countries that were industrializing at the time and then on smaller countries that were not industrializing at the time. Differences between these two sets of countries capture critical aspects of the proposed argument. Countries' predominant economic sector---industrial or agricultural---captures the dominant political coalition in each country. The predominant economic sector also identifies the relevant changes in external market accessibility for each country. The analysis demonstrates that while increasing external market access for industrializing countries increased political instability and the likelihood of political liberalization, increasing external market access for agricultural countries decreased political instability and reduced the likelihood of political liberalization.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: There remains a strong tendency to analyze developing and emerging economies on the basis of either foreign economic power or entrenched domestic structures. This is understandable in that the politics of economic nationalism are alive and well in the global economy as seen in political debates across a spectrum of countries (Endesa, Gazprom, Lone Star, World Ports) and in popular culture—for example, a Japanese television show featuring the word “vulture” in its title depicts a Gordon Gekko-like character responsible for mass firings at Japanese companies. In the case of emerging markets, resentment towards foreign actors is still surprisingly animated, rightly or wrongly, one decade after the emerging market crises of the late 1990s. However, deconstructing the discourse of predatory foreign actors and defensive local elites through a close examination of Asian political economies reveals that the perennial faultline between foreign power and domestic politics in developing countries is starting to break down.

The analysis in this paper reconsiders the meaning of “domestic” and “foreign” in contemporary emerging markets and suggests that a process of adaptation to the global economy is slowly taking root in key emerging markets, although it is being advanced by actors that identify themselves as domestic without fitting the meaning of this word as normally understood. The latest international business and financial practices are materializing in emerging markets as a result of domestic agents mirroring Anglo-American practices, yet using the cover of their preferred local status. The line between domestic and foreign, it is argued, is more complex than it is often made out to be.

Publication Type: Proceeding