Search

The essay addresses the question of labor market reform and union responses to market-oriented structural adjustment programs in two small open economies in the Southern Hemisphere. The leading questions are whether ideological militancy and unity or other factors matter when it comes to the labor movement’s ability to confront the challenges of market-oriented reform projects undertaken by new and well established democratic regimes. Political regime change and the history of interest group intermediation systems and labor market dynamics before and after the shift from state to market-oriented economies are reviewed in order to evaluate the data pertinent to each case. We conclude with some general comparisons and an argument in favor of the institutions and ideology thesis.

This is a revised version of a paper prepared for presentation at the conference on “The United States and Latin American Democracy,” University of Southern California, April 6-9, 1989. The Helen Kellogg Institute for International Studies, Working Paper #136 - April 1990 This paper analyzes the role played by organized labor in the formulation and conduct of US foreign policy in Latin America, with particular reference to the field of labor relations and the promotion of democracy in the region. It first traces the historical presence of US labor in Latin America, then moves to a disaggregated analysis of the ideological and economic bases of its foreign policy approach towards the region, an examination of the primary vehicles and instruments used in pursuit of its regional objectives, and brief case summaries as illustrative examples. The paper argues that for both ideological and economic reasons US labor has historically played a negative role in promoting democracy in the region, and in fact has actively engaged in subverting democratic regimes when these did not adhere to the type of economic and ideological guidelines advocated by the US government or the AFL-CIO. However, as a result of the adverse consequences of this traditional stance and of a changing international economic and political climate since the mid-1970s, organized labor has shifted towards a more consistent support for democracy for pragmatic rather than activist reasons. Consequently it now has the potential to be a major promoter of open government and democratic labor relations in Latin America.

http://archive.org/details/stateorganizatio00buch NA

http://archive.org/details/nationallaboradm8708buch NA

http://archive.org/details/stateterrorecono00buch NA

http://archive.org/details/relativemilitari00buch NA