The Labor System in Crisis: The Limits of Mobilization

By 1943, the labor system was in crisis. The state switched its focus from the cities to the countryside, mobilizing people to work far from home. Hundreds of thousands of Central Asian peasants were sent to eastern towns. Factories, mines, and timber operations became multinational sites combining workers from more than fifty national and ethnic groups. By 1945, 70 percent of Russian women were engaged in waged labor. As the Red Army began liberating the occupied territories, more workers were needed to rebuild devastated towns and industries. Local soviets, collective farms, and industry fought fiercely over labor. Leaders of the Central Asian republics demanded the return of their citizens. The Committee to Enumerate and Distribute the Labor Force failed to meet the demands of industry, and vast backlogs undermined all semblance of planning. Hundreds of thousands of newly mobilized workers fled back home; others sickened and died from illness and starvation. The labor system, initially a powerful weapon in the struggle for defense production, reached an impasse.

The Public’s Health

The war saw a protracted mortality crisis among civilians. The movement of millions of refugees and evacuees with little access to sanitary facilities, clean water, or medical care led to widespread epidemics. Evacuation took an especially heavy toll on small children, who died from a measles epidemic as well as starvation, diarrhea, and pneumonia. Widespread hunger and nutritional deficits damaged the health of people of all ages. In 1943 and 1944 starvation and tuberculosis—a disease highly sensitive to malnutrition—together became the largest single contributor to adult mortality. Defense production exposed workers to new, toxic chemicals. The war made unprecedented demands on public health, but health officials and medical staff lacked almost everything they needed. After the majority of medical professionals were drafted, only a “skeleton staff” remained to treat the civilian population. Yet public health officials managed to contain the worst epidemic outbreaks. During the final years of the war starvation and malnutrition became the country’s primary health hazard.

A DPA for the 21st Century: Securing America's AI National Security Innovation Base

The Defense Production Act can be an effective tool to bring U.S. industrial might to bear on broader national security challenges, including those in technology. If updated and used to its full effect, the DPA could be leveraged to encourage development and governance of artificial intelligence. And debate about the DPA’s use for AI purposes can serve to shape and condition expectations about the role the law’s authorities should or could play, as well as to identify essential legislative gaps.

India’s Role as a Determinant in Pakistan-US Relations (2005-2015)

The United States adopted a policy of de-hyphenation in its relations with India and Pakistan in the post-09/11 period which continued to be operational in the period 2005-2015. This policy apparently meant that the United States would deal each of the two South Asian adversaries, India and Pakistan. The main reason for this phenomenon was that the policy-makers in the US saw India as a heavy-weight to counter the rising economic, political and military power of China in Asia. Pakistan could not be fitted in this strategic calculus. The United States changed its previous position on Kashmir and instead of calling for resolving this issue according to the United Nations resolutions, it stressed on bilateral negotiations. Similarly, the United States endorsed Indian stance that Pakistan was backing terrorist outfits that perpetrated acts of terrorism in India. Strategic partnership between The US and India extended cooperation in civil nuclear technology, missile defense, space technology and defense production. No such cooperation could be extended to Pakistan. Permanent membership in the UN Security Council for India was endorsed despite Pakistan’s objections.

Military-Political Cooperation between Japan and ASEAN: New Trends

The article covers key motives and characteristics of current Japan’s strategy in SEA. The new stage of Japan - ASEAN cooperation is based on Japan’s desire to counterbalance China’s influence, increase its presence in the sub-region and find opportunities to export its defense production.

The role of emergency institutes in countering the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States

This article deals with the role of emergency institutes in countering the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The author examines such types of emergency as Public Health Emergency, National Emergency, Major Disaster Regime and Emergency Regime. The entire layer of emergency legislation is analysed, including National Emergencies Act of 1976, Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act of 1988, Social Security Act of 1935, Public Health Service Act of 1944, Defense Production Act of 1950. Acts of the President of the United States and the Congress adopted directly during the pandemic and aimed at countering COVID-19 and protecting the rights of American citizens are considered as well. In conclusion it’s being argued that the formal availability of federal mechanisms of mobilization of assistance to state and local government in the conditions of emergency (especially in the sphere of public health protection) by itself doesn’t guarantee effective response of the state machine to this situation, adequate and timely funding of the corresponding efforts.