Work and Global Conflict: Labour, Social Reproduction and the World of Work In War Zones

Wars, armed conflicts and humanitarian crises define the contemporary global landscape. Across conflict-affected regions, workers are exposed to violence, displacement, insecurity, exploitation, often in conflicts they did not choose. The last four years offer too many cases. Sudan, the world’s largest displacement crisis, where every humanitarian worker killed so far has been Sudanese. Gaza, where more than 1,700 health workers and a record number of journalists have been killed. The Strait of Hormuz closure has stranded 20,000 seafarers. The Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, where armed groups impose forced labour in captured mines. The Sahel, Myanmar, Haiti, Lebanon, the Red Sea region, Iran, Russia, Ukraine, and elsewhere show how war reshapes labour far beyond the battlefield. Yet discussions of conflict focus on states, militaries, security and humanitarian emergencies, while paying less attention to workers whose labour sustains societies during war. We invite theoretical and empirical papers on how conflict transforms the world of work. Possible themes include employment relations, wages and labour rights for workers in and fleeing war zones; social protection and displacement; seafarers and global supply chains; informal and survival economies; humanitarian and volunteer labour; care, health and reproductive work, the gendered division of survival labour and transactional coercion; occupational safety and security; forced and conscripted labour in war economies; journalists and media workers as targeted labour; reconstruction labour and who profits from it; and the long-term effects of conflict on labour markets, skills and unions. We welcome diverse methods and contributions, particularly from the Global South.