IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/devchg/v52y2021i2p241-264.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Diffuse Drivers of Modern Slavery: From Microfinance to Unfree Labour in Cambodia

Author

Listed:
  • Nithya Natarajan
  • Katherine Brickell
  • Laurie Parsons

Abstract

Over the past two decades, the global issue of modern slavery has become increasingly prominent within development thinking and practice. Efforts to address it largely focus on criminal prosecutions of immediate ‘perpetrators’, for instance those who are direct employers or middlemen. This article adds to a growing call from critical scholars to look to the structural drivers of such highly exploitative labour relations. Drawing on an unfree labour approach that views debt bondage as embedded in and reproduced by capitalist accumulation, this analysis explores the diffuse drivers of unfree labour through the experiences of indebted farmers who have migrated from rural areas to work in and around Phnom Penh as debt‐bonded brick‐kiln labourers. The study demonstrates how debt discipline in the context of unregulated microfinance lending in rural Cambodia creates the conditions for unfree labour to emerge. Evidencing links between risky lending practices and unfree labour, the article strengthens calls to understand modern slavery as unfree labour and, in doing so, highlights the failures of the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 8 and other similar policies to make these crucial connections.

Suggested Citation

  • Nithya Natarajan & Katherine Brickell & Laurie Parsons, 2021. "Diffuse Drivers of Modern Slavery: From Microfinance to Unfree Labour in Cambodia," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 52(2), pages 241-264, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:52:y:2021:i:2:p:241-264
    DOI: 10.1111/dech.12623
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/dech.12623
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/dech.12623?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David Hulme, 2008. "The Story of the Grameen Bank: From Subsidised Microcredit to Market-based Microfinance," Global Development Institute Working Paper Series 6008, GDI, The University of Manchester.
    2. Marcus Taylor, 2013. "Liquid Debts: credit, groundwater and the social ecology of agrarian distress in Andhra Pradesh, India," Third World Quarterly, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(4), pages 691-709.
    3. Ben Fine & Alfredo Saad-Filho & Kate Bayliss & Mary Robertson, 2016. "Thirteen Things You Need to Know about Neoliberalism," Working papers wpaper155, Financialisation, Economy, Society & Sustainable Development (FESSUD) Project.
    4. Heather A. Clark, 2006. "When There Was No Money," Springer Books, Springer, number 978-3-540-28877-0, December.
    5. Maryann Bylander, 2015. "Credit as Coping: Rethinking Microcredit in the Cambodian Context," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 43(4), pages 533-553, December.
    6. Slocomb, Margaret, 2010. "An Economic History of Cambodia in the Twentieth Century," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9789971694999, December.
    7. Kaplinsky, Raphael & Morris, Mike & Readman, Jeff, 2002. "The Globalization of Product Markets and Immiserizing Growth: Lessons From the South African Furniture Industry," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(7), pages 1159-1177, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. W. Nathan Green & Theavy Chhom & Reach Mony & Jennifer Estes, 2023. "The Underside of Microfinance: Performance Indicators and Informal Debt in Cambodia," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 54(4), pages 780-803, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. W. Nathan Green, 2020. "Regulating Over‐indebtedness: Local State Power in Cambodia's Microfinance Market," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 51(6), pages 1429-1453, November.
    2. Maryann Bylander & Phasy Res, 2021. "‘If You Fall, Stand Up Again’: The Moral Nature of Financial Literacy in the Global South," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 52(1), pages 26-53, January.
    3. Baccar, Mariem & Raynal, Hélène & Sekhar, Muddu & Bergez, Jacques-Eric & Willaume, Magali & Casel, Pierre & Giriraj, P. & Murthy, Sanjeeva & Ruiz, Laurent, 2023. "Dynamics of crop category choices reveal strategies and tactics used by smallholder farmers in India to cope with unreliable water availability," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 211(C).
    4. Thomas Brenner & Matthias Duschl, 2018. "Modeling Firm and Market Dynamics: A Flexible Model Reproducing Existing Stylized Facts on Firm Growth," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 52(3), pages 745-772, October.
    5. repec:ilo:ilowps:369852 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. Simon Zaby, 2019. "Science Mapping of the Global Knowledge Base on Microfinance: Influential Authors and Documents, 1989–2019," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-21, July.
    7. Maryann Bylander & Erin Hamilton, 2015. "Loans and Leaving: Migration and the Expansion of Microcredit in Cambodia," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 34(5), pages 687-708, October.
    8. Michal Lyons & Colman Titus Msoka, 2010. "The World Bank and the Street: (How) Do ‘Doing Business’ Reforms Affect Tanzania’s Micro-traders?," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 47(5), pages 1079-1097, May.
    9. Hayter, Susan., 2005. "The social dimension of global production systems : a review of the issues," ILO Working Papers 993749973402676, International Labour Organization.
    10. Yasuyuki Sawada, 2009. "The immiserizing growth: an empirical evaluation," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(13), pages 1613-1620.
    11. repec:hal:cepnwp:hal-01368948 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Willem Paling, 2012. "Planning a Future for Phnom Penh: Mega Projects, Aid Dependence and Disjointed Governance," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(13), pages 2889-2912, October.
    13. JieYeon Celes Moon & Lewis Seagull, 2020. "Addressing Cambodia’s Clean Water Infrastructure," Proceedings of the 18th International RAIS Conference, August 17-18, 2020 023jym, Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies.
    14. Thath, Rido, 2018. "Microfinance in Cambodia: Development, Challenges, and Prospects," MPRA Paper 89969, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Mongi Lassoued, 2021. "Control of corruption, microfinance, and income inequality in MENA countries: evidence from panel data," SN Business & Economics, Springer, vol. 1(7), pages 1-19, July.
    16. Navas-Alemán, Lizbeth & Pietrobelli, Carlo & Kamiya, Marco, 2012. "Inter-Firm Linkages and Finance in Value Chains," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 4067, Inter-American Development Bank.
    17. Seng, Kimty, 2019. "The Poverty-Reducing Effects of Financial Inclusion: Evidence from Cambodia," MPRA Paper 95726, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 26 Aug 2019.
    18. Katarzyna Cieslik & Marek Hudon & Philip Verwimp, 2019. "Unruly entrepreneurs–investigating value creation by microfinance clients in rural Burundi," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/287266, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    19. Cuervo-Cazurra, Alvaro & Pananond, Pavida, 2023. "The rise of emerging market lead firms in global value chains," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    20. Punlork Men & Lyda Hok & Panchit Seeniang & B. Jan Middendorf & Rapee Dokmaithes, 2024. "Identifying Credit Accessibility Mechanisms for Conservation Agriculture Farmers in Cambodia," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-26, June.
    21. Raphael Kaplinsky & Mike Morris, 2016. "Thinning and Thickening: Productive Sector Policies in The Era of Global Value Chains," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 28(4), pages 625-645, September.
    22. Malikov, Emir & Hartarska, Valentina, 2018. "Endogenous scope economies in microfinance institutions," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 162-182.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:devchg:v:52:y:2021:i:2:p:241-264. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0012-155X .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.