Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Caraway 2012

Caraway T.L. 2012. "Pathways of dominance and displacement the varying fates of legacy unions in new democracies". World Politics. 64 (2): 278-305.
                               
  • the most important element of the transition context is the widespread mobilization of workers outside of state-sponsored unions early in the transition (279)
  • compares exclusionary corporatist (South Korea and Indonesia) and transmission belt (Russia and Poland) unions
  • not a path dependent argument, but a historical-institutionalist argument:
    • institutions shape the political context without being the sole cause, and
    • entrenched institutions are hard to dislodge
  • new unions that acquired a substantial membership quickly could compete with legacy unions
  • In Russian example, legacy union still organizes 95% of workforce
  • new unions can overcome legacy unions
    • attrition pathway:  need a good start, new unions slowly make up ground over time
    • rupture pathway:  state smashes corporate model, legacy unions weakened before transition, new unions on more even footing
    • BUT competition between new and legacy unions not enough to break power of legacy unions

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