Middle East

he New and the T Untouchable s : Immigration

New World Worker

Nigel Harris

New York: Penguin Books, 1997. 254 pages. $12.95 (ISBN 0-14-014689-X)

Review by Rachel Simon Princeton University rsimon@princeton.edu

igel Harris, who specializes in developing countries a t the University College, London, provides us with a comprehen- N sive examination of the current role of migration in the

world. The study does not focus on the Middle East, but the region in general and several countries in particular are included in the study. Thus, it puts migration issues related to the Middle East (as source or destination regions) in a broad, global framework. The book holds eight chapters, a n extensive bibliography (p. 229-244), and a n index.

The first chapter deals with “Capitalism and Migration,” exam- ining the emergence of world economy, postwar economic growth, and the attitude of capitalist states towards immigration, including immigration controls. This is followed by “The Sweated Trades in the Developed Countries,” which focuses on those sectors in the developed world (especially the USA and Britain) which depend on low-paid jobs which are abandoned by local workers to be filled by

The New Untouchables-R. Simon 33

Winter 1999

immigrants. Following is the counter chapter on “The Sweated Trades in the Developing Countries,” examining the potential of creating labor-intensive low-paid jobs in the developing countries, moving out of the developed world. This chapter has a special section dealing with the growing cosmopolitan workforce in the Middle East oil-producing countries from the 1970s on. The Middle Eastern example suggests nationality-based occupational special- ization. The fourth chapter on “Immigration and the State,” exam- ines policies and practices of the state (mainly in the US, Europe, and Japan) regarding immigration and the role of immigrants with regard to economic growth and national sovereignty. Chapter five examines “Social Networks and Migration;” how worker recruit- ment is carried out, how are destinations and sources chosen, and the effects of emigration on the labor exporting countries. The following chapter deals with “The Reproduction of the Labour Force,” providing a theoretical examination of the move from devel- oping to developed countries. This is followed by “Arguments and Evidence,” examining the common arguments against immigration with existing evidence. The concluding chapter, “The Freedom to Move,” argues tha t modern capitalism is driven to integrate capital flows, trade flows, and labor flows.

As stated above, only a small portion of this study deals with Middle Eastern countries or with the region as a whole. In addition to the examination of immigrant labor in the oil-producing coun- tries, the issue of Turkish workers in Germany is mentioned a number of times as is migration within the Middle East. Regarding migration and Israel, Harris mentions the issues of Palestinian refugees, Jewish immigrants to Israel granted immediate citizen- ship thanks to the “Law of Return,” the emergence of labor immigra- tion in Israel and adoption of foreign-born babies. These and other issues are spread throughout the study, which focuses more on the US, Europe and Japan as destination countries and Eas t and Southeast Asian countries and Mexico as labor exporting countries.

Harris provides a comprehensive and interesting study on labor migration and its implications on the developing and developed world. The Middle East is just a small par t of this analysis. I t is a n important study for scholars on migration and its social, economic, and political implications. I t might help scholars of migration in the Middle East examine the issue in a wider, comparative perspective.

34 Digest of Middle East Studies