FROM BAGHDAD TO THE BAYOU: Neoliberalism and the Shrinking of Democracy

Unsurprisingly, there is some evidence that employers may prefer migrant workers to hiring citizens returning to the city; to the extent that this is true, it is not merely a race issue-it's a preference for a labor force that is institutionally powerless, that will never organize a union or exercise political power in a way that might constrain the free hand of the employer.50 As in Iraq, the economic redesign of New Orleans has taken place largely without democratic participation. In October 2005, the mayor created the Bring New Orleans Back commission, an unelected group dominated by business interests and charged with developing the plan for what kind of city should be recreated.51 The Commission in turn invited the Urban Land Institute, a think tank funded by the real estate industry, to develop the detailed plan for the city's future.