1st Edition

Social Regionalism in the Global Economy

Edited By Adelle Blackett, Christian Lévesque Copyright 2011
    366 Pages
    by Routledge

    366 Pages
    by Routledge

    Regional trade agreements have expanded exponentially over the past decade, and have become a significant, if controversial, factor in the expanse of economic globalization.  Social Regionalism in the Global Economy attempts to take a fresh, interdisciplinary approach to addressing labour regulation by drawing upon insights from industrial relations, comparative capitalism, and new governance schools of thought. It stands for the proposition that an interdisciplinary study of regional regulation holds the potential to offer a fuller account of social regionalism. Its focus is to consider how institutions and labour market actors reconstruct and renegotiate regulatory space in a changing economic environment characterized by regional impulses. It argues that there is a dynamic interplay between institutions and actors of social regulation. This interplay occurs at many levels. The book therefore maps both how actors shape institutions as well as how institutions shape social actors’ ability to affect regulatory processes.

    The editors bring together leading international specialists willing to move beyond textual analyses of regional agreements to offer alternative accounts of regional integration. The work emphasizes that institutional context and social actors at multiple governance levels are integral to the progressive construction and regulation of regional space. It further contributes to the literature by combining insights from overlooked regional entities in transition and developing countries with original analyses from the European Union and the NAFTA. These aims will be achieved by combining original research that is empirically grounded with theoretically informed analysis.

    Introduction: Social Regionalism in the Global Economy Adelle Blackett and Christian Lévesque  Part 1: The Multilateral Firm as a Vector of Integration  1. Asymmetric Integration and the Restructuring of Social Relations in Global Firms: Actors, Institutions and Norms Christian Lévesque and Gregor Murray  2. MNC Strategies and their Linkages with SMEs Clemente Ruis Duran and Jorge Carrillo  3. The Role of Mncs in Reshaping Employment Relations in China Christian Lévesque and Hu Hao  Part 2: Regulating Integration: Union and Civil Society Action  4. European Trade Unions and EU Labour Law Brian Bercusson  5. European Works Councils and Trade Union Networking: A New Space for Regulation and Workers’ Solidarity in Europe? Valéria Pulignano  6. Solidarity beyond Borders? Canadian Law and Trans-American Union Solidarity Action Pierre Verge  7. Does Social Embeddedness Still Matter? A Case Study in the Ghanaian Mining Sector Brice Adanhounme  Part 3: Regional Integration and the Nation State in Labour Law Reform  8. The Reformulation of Labour Law in Post-Communist Central and Eastern Europe Arturo Bronstein  9. Mapping the Social in Caribbean Regional Integration Rose-Marie Belle Antoine  10. Labour Reform from a Regional Perspective: Experiences in the Americas Graciela Bensusan  11. The Evolution of European Social Integration under Globalization: Some Reflections on Recent Developments Marie-Ange Moreau  Part 4: International Institutions and Actors in Regional Reform  12. The Paradox of OHADA’s Transnational, Hard Law, Labour Harmonization Initiative Adelle Blackett  13. Trade, Labor, Migration: The ‘NAFTA Corn’ Example Chantal Thomas  14. Putting International Labour Law on the (Right) Map Brian Langille  15. The Cartography of Transnational Labour Law: Projection, Scale, and Symbolism Judy Fudge

    Biography

    Adelle Blackett is Professor of Law at McGill University, Canada. She holds a doctorate in law from Columbia University where she taught as an Associate in Law for two years. She is a research coordinator for the Inter-university Research Centre on Globalization and Work (CRIMT), the convener of the Labour Law and Development Research Network (LLDRN) and the recent recipient of a Canadian Foundation for Innovation award to construct a Labour Law and Development Research Laboratory (LLDRL).

    Christian Lévesque is Professor of Human Resource Management at HEC Montréal, Canada. He received a Ph.D. in Industrial Relations from Laval University and did post-doctoral work at MIT in Cambridge, MA. He is an AIM visiting international fellow (Advanced Institute of Management). He is Co-director for the Inter-university Research Centre on Globalization and Work (CRIMT) and leads a research team on the evolution of employment relations within multinational firms in the global era.