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Movements of the World Unite! Assessing Prospects for Social Movement Unionism in Canada.
- Source :
-
Conference Papers -- International Studies Association . 2008 Annual Meeting, p1-20. 20p. 4 Charts. - Publication Year :
- 2008
-
Abstract
- Within the field of critical political economy exists a literature urging a re-conceptualization of democracy (Munck 2002, Cox 1997, Webster and Adler 1998). Liberal, particularly neo-liberal, political systems are critiqued for their binary separation of economics and politics leading to substantive disenfranchisement and elitest governance. Robert Cox (1997) has called this âlimited democracyâ and argues that consumer choice and infrequent elections cannot be equated with democratic citizenship. One theorized response to this problem builds on the work of Karl Polanyi (1944) and his concepts of âembeddednessâ and the âdouble movementâ. Democracy can be deepened and strengthened by asserting social control over the economy and society at multiple levels and across issue areas. This is accomplished by a movement of social forces forcing a re-embedding in response to periods of increasing economic and elite consolidation. A problem in this literature has consistently been the agent or agents of change.This paper critically explores the argument that Social Movement Unionism (SMU), the organizational and theoretical blend of trade unionism and social movements, can and may serve as the agent of a Polanyian double movement in Canada. While theorists of SMU argue that labour necessarily needs to branch out laterally as a response to neo-liberal policies, I explore the tensions between âoldâ labour and contemporary social movements in Canada, such as the environmental movement. I ask: to what extent is organized labour taking on issues beyond their narrow collective-bargaining interests? Is there significant personnel overlap between labour and social movement organizations such as environmental, womenâs or anti-war groups? In answering these questions I intend to draw out the tensions between various actors these theories look to for change and assess their relevance in the Canadian context. By bringing together literature on transnational social movements, labour studies, political economy and international relations this paper takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding these challenges. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *DEMOCRACY
*ECONOMICS
*POLITICAL science
*ELITE (Social sciences)
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Conference Papers -- International Studies Association
- Publication Type :
- Conference
- Accession number :
- 42976754