Islamists against the class cleavage: identity formation and interest representation in the case of Hak-İş in Turkey

One of the central characteristics of current Middle Eastern politics is the weakness of class-based political organizations. While structural explanations of this pattern abound, hegemonic struggles of Islamists to erode the class cleavage have so far been largely overlooked. In order to bring this perspective into the literature, this article studies discourses, affects and policies promoted by the Islamic trade unions confederation of Turkey, Hak-??. After the introduction, I first demonstrate that the identity of Hak-?? has consistently been based on a fantasy of social cohesion and aversion to class-based politics. Building on this, I detail how Hak-?? has developed new economic and political practices, in a deliberate effort to overcome class-based unionism. Finally, I argue that the role of Hak-?? has evolved into representing workers' interests within the framework of the corporatist regime built by pro-Islamic AKP government.     

美国工会对中美经贸关系的影响

近年来,美国工会对国际经贸乃至世界经济的影响日益凸现,我国政府和企业应积极采取相应措施积极应对。本文分析了美国工会的特点及对中美经贸活动的影响,并提出了一些应对之策。     

新加坡2009:经济、政治与外交

本文是对2009年新加坡国内形势的简单回顾,主要分为经济与贸易、政府与政治以及外交与国际关系三大部分,最后对新加坡与中国的关系以及2009年国内出现的新加坡研究进行了简单介绍.     

Development of Labour Organisation in Singapore, 1800-1960

This paper looks at the long-term development of labour relations in Singapore. Firstly, it suggests a periodisation for the history of the Singapore labour movement. Secondly, the paper examines the shifting nature of industrial relations and the ability or lack thereof for labour to organise. One consistent theme emerges, that is the question of identity and consciousness among labour. Unless workers were able to identify themselves as labour, as opposed to capitalists, it was difficult for them to maintain a sustained effort to press for their own interests. In the nineteenth century, labourers were organised under patriarchal groups based on surnames or lineages. In the twentieth century, unions were part of the political movements for independence. Within the tripartite framework of labour, business and government, labour almost always found itself subordinated by the partnership of the state and capital, or government and business.     

The Second Wave of Incorporation in Latin America: A Conceptualization of the Quest for Inclusion Applied to Argentina

Between 1996 and 2009, a process of struggle for and (after 2002) partial achievement of the second incorporation of the popular sectors took place in Argentina. This process involved a combination of routine and contentious political dynamics that reformulated state‐society relations in the postcorporatist period. As a continuation of the first incorporation (1943–55), the second incorporation displayed some similar features; other attributes were specific to this second process, mainly that it was not corporatist but territorial and that the central agents of transformation were not trade unions but the disincorporated popular sectors, which were territorially organized into a “reincorporation movement.” This article conceptualizes these dynamics and analyzes the role played by the main political actor related to this historical process, the piquetero (picketer) movement.     

Resilience and Renewal: The Enforcement of Labor Laws in Brazil

What happens to a country's system of labor laws when its government embraces market‐oriented reforms? In a twist on the prediction that labor regulations will be repealed, researchers find that laws remain in place but are not faithfully enforced, a phenomenon known as de facto flexibility. This article examines the case of Brazil to understand its near‐opposite; namely, resilience and renewal in the enforcement of labor regulations. It finds that labor unions have combined the corporatist authority they gained under state control with the autonomy they acquired under democratization to devise new modes of action and to safeguard existing regulations. Meanwhile, labor inspectors and prosecutors rely on existing laws to combat precarious work conditions and promote formal employment relations, which strengthen the unions. This mutually supportive arrangement is neither perfect nor free of tension, but it shows how workers can be protected even when employers are subjected to global competition.     

从“均势主义”看新美关系

从均势主义理论出发 ,阐述新加坡政府对美外交政策在安全领域的具体表现。     

Conference report

The apologetic literature on capitalist development has been quite unrelenting in its advocacy of free markets to produce “the right conditions” for economic growth. Invariably, however, the only freedom preserved under so-called free-market policies is the economic freedom of international capital to sell, invest, and repatriate profit. Furthermore, “a favourable investment climate” is created only with the systematic repression of unruly students, trade unionists, the free press, and other democratic processes. Dubbed as a necessary precondition for industrialisation, and vindicated by outsiders in the West, many states in the Third World readily accede to the stern government that is necessary to implement these market-oriented policies. It is this issue that provides the focus of debate in this paper, and special attention is devoted to the experience of Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew.     

Indian Public Sector Trade Unionism in Context: Gujarat and West Bengal Compared

Using qualitative research methods and comparing two Indian states (Gujarat and West Bengal), the authors examine the relative power and influence of trade unions in three parts of the public sector, viz., state government employment, municipal bus and tram services, and telecommunications. The distinctive methodology and the findings emphasise the importance of caution in generalising about trade unionism and industrial relations in India as a whole; and indicate that the context of particular Indian states is a vital ingredient of trade union analysis. The authors identify a complex web of explanatory factors for the relative power and influence of the unions under study, within the distinctive political, economic and historical contexts of Gujarat and West Bengal. Thus, they demonstrate the largely untapped potential for primary, qualitative and comparative research to expand our understanding of industrial relations in India.     

The Making of a Corporatist State in Hong Kong: The Road to Sectoral Intervention

Extant Hong Kong studies have under-stated the corporatist nature of the Hong Kong state. From the 1980s, as part of its political strategy, the Chinese government had helped to build a corporatist state in Hong Kong that incorporated various sectoral elites, leading to a change in the role of the state after 1997. Through an empirical study of the behaviour of functional constituency legislators and policy outputs after 1997, this article shows that the functional constituencies as a corporatist structure introduced many sector-oriented demands. These sectoral representatives lobbied for favourable polices, increased representation for their sectors, and more state resources. This drove the post-1997 Hong Kong state to sectoral intervention, as resources were diverted to selected sectors, creating new legitimacy problems for the regime.     

Between the street and Aso Rock*: the role of Nigerian trade unions in popular protests

The trade unions’ instrumental role in four decades of successful popular resistance against subsidy removals is widely recognised, but insufficiently understood due to inadequate consideration of the particularities of labour. The subsidy contestations are considered a barometer of Nigerian politics, and the 2012 subsidy protests – often referred as Occupy Nigeria – was one of the largest popular mobilisations in Nigerian history. Whereas unionists described the outcome as a successful demonstration of popular sovereignty, other protesters blamed the unions for unfulfilled democratic opportunities and for succumbing to bribery. With labour theoretical perspectives, this article critically examines the trade unions’ positions, actions and relations during those protests. The article demonstrates, in practice, not only how the unions’ capacities to mobilise, strike and negotiate, were instrumental to the reinstatement of the subsidy, but also how trade unions’ agency is both enabled and constrained by labour's multiple embeddedness in state, civil society and the market.     

Trade unions and politics in Cyprus: a historical comparative analysis across the dividing line

This article is the first comparative study on the historical development of trade unions in Cyprus. It assesses the impact of the historical trajectory and ethnic division on the contemporary condition of the trade unions, which substantially diverge from each other. It compares and contrasts the framework, conditions and forms of trade unionism across the dividing line, focusing on the current conjuncture and accounts for them using a historical institutionalist approach. It concludes that disparity is likely to persist although recent austerity policies have been posing similar challenges to the trade unions on both sides of the divide.     

日本实施FTA战略的进展和挑战

20世纪90年代末,日本对外贸易政策发生了重大转变。日本政府在1999年发表的《通商白皮书》中首次提出了要在坚持多边主义立场的同时,与其他国家或地区签定自由贸易协定(FTA)或与亚洲大多数国家签定经济伙伴协定(EPA)。日本实施FTA战略在经济上的主要原因是日本看到了美国欧盟都在积极开展区域合作,感到自己有被边缘化的危险,政治上的原因是要抵消中国的影响。目前日本正在实施与新加坡和墨西哥的FTA,同时又正在与马来西亚、菲律宾、泰国、印度尼西亚和韩国进行FTA谈判,并考虑与澳大利亚、越南、瑞士和海湾合作委员会六国进行FTA谈判。日本实施FTA战略对国内农业政策和人员流动政策提出了挑战,在国际上对美国尤其是中国提出了挑战。本文通过对日本实施 FTA战略进展作出较为全面的概述,使我们更加感到中国实施FTA战略的必要性和急迫性。     

《美国-新加坡自由贸易协定》及其影响

谈判过程历时两年半之久、今年1月1日正式生效的<美国-新加坡自由贸易协定>不仅是当代双边自由贸易协定的新代表,而且在海关程序、知识产权保护、政府采购、资金流动控制等诸多方面的规定都有所创新和突破,势必会对未来的同类协定产生影响.它的产生与中国有着密不可分的关系,而它的实施也同样会对中国、东盟、亚太地区乃至全球的未来贸易发展产生重要影响.     

2011年新加坡:政治、经济与外交

2011年,新加坡顺利举行国会大选和总统大选,完成新老领导班子交接,但是大选结果也凸显了民众对政府的不满,赢回民心是新一届政府的首要任务。在经济方面,新加坡经济增长步伐整体放缓,政府逐步出台系列措施进行经济重整,给长期依赖外来劳动力的行业带来阵痛。在外交上,新加坡继续加强与周边国家的良好关系,加深与中美的双边经贸、安全防务等领域的合作,积极推动中美在亚洲地区良性合作的关系。最后,本文对2011年境内外出版的关于新加坡的中文学术研究成果进行简要回顾与介绍。     

美国与东盟国家自由贸易协定计划的提出与实施

美国出于政治和经济需要提出了"发起东盟事业倡议"计划,其实质是美国准备与东盟国家签署一系列的自由贸易协定.美国与东盟关系中存在着显而易见的"中国因素".美国"发起东盟事业倡议"是要巩固美国在东盟的存在,抵消中国的影响.在东盟的对外经贸关系中,美国占据重要地位.美国希望借助"发起东盟事业倡议",与东盟国家签署一系列自由贸易协定,来进一步扩大与东盟经贸关系.新加坡是东盟国家和亚洲国家中第一个与美国签署自由贸易协定的国家,目前美国还正在与泰国和马来西亚进行自由贸易协定的谈判.本文的目的是通过这一情况的介绍使我们更加深刻理解中国与东盟建立自由贸易区的必要性和急迫性.     

Vietnam’s and China’s Diverging Industrial Relations Systems: Cases of Path Dependency

ABSTRACT

This article explains why Vietnam and China, one-party states that allow only one official trade union, are traversing different paths in their trade unions’ institutional structures, the state’s and trade union’s attitudes towards strikes, their willingness to allow independent trade unions and willingness to engage with the international labour union movement. These will be examined in terms of the path dependency of their recent histories, in which changes have been incremental on a path laid down by pre-existing entrenched institutions, until each national system no longer operated properly and new contingencies obliged the leadership to revamp the system. As a consequence of China’s and Vietnam’s divergent path dependencies, when external contingencies finally forced institutional change, countries have veered onto divergent trajectories – the Trans-Pacific Partnership energising Vietnam to debate the acceptance of autonomous trade unions, while Xi Jinping in China has intensified Party control over industrial relations.     

Die Ordnung des Konsenses

For some time now, the welfare state crisis has been at the centre of the academic and political debate. But not only the analysis of crisis is omnipresent, the solution seems to be a matter of course, as well. Reasonable and united actors, who initiate the so-called “necessary” reforms are in great demand. Competitive corporatist co-operation of trade unions, employer organisations and governments, which emerged in several European countries since the late 1980s, are considered successful examples of a consensus-based crisis management. The most popular example is the Dutch Polder model that became world famous as a consensus model by the mid-1990s. However, in spite of its popularity, consensus has neither been formalized as an analytical concept nor has its creation been thoroughly scrutinized. In fact the question remains unanswered as to how and under what conditions it could happen that different and initially antagonistic actors started to regard the same solution of the stated crisis as the only conceivable option. Referring to the Dutch case and starting out from an interpretative perspective based on the Governmentality approach of Michel Foucault and the Symbolic Institutionalism of Karl-Siegbert Rehberg, the article raises the question why supply-sided strategies came to be seen as necessary and sensible and how power relations are embedded in the process of consensus creation.     

Champions of the poor or “militant fighters for a better pay cheque”? Teacher unionism in Mexico and South Africa, 1979–2013

There are some fascinating historical parallels between Mexico’s giant teacher union, the Mexican National Education Union, and the South African Democratic Teachers Union. Although both teacher unions played an important role in challenging political oligarchies at certain points in their history, they became increasingly protectionist. Through their close affiliation to ruling parties, they were able to wield substantial political influence. In both of these cases, the unions played a controversial role in preventing central government surveillance and intervention in schools. Arguably, this often allowed not only for corruption in appointments and promotions, but also the protection of negligent teachers. There is some evidence to suggest that in protecting their sectional interests, both unions have frequently alienated parents and students at the community level. This paper addresses broader debates about the impact of powerful teacher unions on the quality of public schooling.     

Co-creating life histories

This paper argues that the 2008 economic crisis was particularly deep in Estonia and Iceland because non-corporatist neo-liberal political features were essential endogenous factors deepening it. A lack of corporatist features also formed the basis for responses to the crisis and the political aftermath in both cases. Furthermore, the paper argues that adding new institutionalist aspects to the corporatist model – in particular the juxtaposition of compound and simple polities – helps deepen our understanding of political dynamics in societies that lack clear-cut corporatist features. It makes a big difference whether or not a country enters the neo-liberal era with an already corporatist set of structures.