Comparative Employment Relations 2018 – 9

 

1. To what extent can governments either change or maintain national employment relations regimes and labour markets in the face of global market pressures, and can they control the negative impacts of globalisation on their citizens? Please give examples from at least two countries, including at least one CME and one LME.

This essay topic focuses on the impact of globalisation on the lives of the population of the western industrialised countries and on the ability of national governments to protect national ER regimes and labour markets as a result. Globalisation here is understood as the greater integration of the world economy and the increased power of MNCs, although you may look at other aspects as well.  Students should examine the negative effects of globalisation on ordinary people as well as the policies and actions of governments, focusing on the extent of constraints on national governments (and parties in government) on the ability to regulate the economy and employment relations.  You may look at one or more countries, or examine these issues globally or regionally. Readings from weeks 1, 2 and 6 are particularly relevant, along with readings on particular varieties of capitalism in weeks 3 – 5.

Suggested readings:

Avdagic, S. and Baccaro, L. (2014) ‘The Future of Employment Relations in Advanced Capitalism: Inexorable Decline? ’, in  A. Wilkinson et al (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Employment Relations, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Baccaro, L. and Howell, C. (2011) ‘A Common Neoliberal Trajectory: The Transformation of Industrial Relations in Advanced Capitalism’, Politics and Society, 39(4): 521-63.

Brown, W. (2008) The Influence of Product Markets on Industrial Relations, in P. Blyton et al (eds.) The Sage Handbook of Industrial Relations, London: Sage.

Crouch, C. (2005) Capitalist Diversity and Change: Recombinant Governance and Institutional Entrepreneurs, Oxford: Oxford University Press, Chap 2. Reprinted in Hancké, B. (2010).

Crouch, C. (2014) ‘The Neo-Liberal Turn and the Implications for Labour’, in A. Wilkinson et al (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Employment Relations, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Freeman, R.B. (2008) ‘Labor Market Institutions Around the World’, in P. Blyton et al (eds.) The Sage Handbook of Industrial Relations, London: Sage.

Frege, C.M. and Kelly, J. (eds) (2013) Comparative Employment Relations in the Global Economy, Abingdon: Routledge, Chaps 1 (Kelly and Frege, Global challenges) and 20 (Kuruvilla and Lakhani, Globalization).

Howell, C. (2016), “Regulating class in the neoliberal era: the role of the state in the restructuring of work and employment relations”, Work Employment & Society, 30(4), 573-589.

Hyman, R. (2008) ‘The State in Industrial Relations’, in P. Blyton et al (eds) The Sage Handbook of Industrial Relations, London: Sage, pp. 258 -83.

Kelly, J. (2011) ‘The Political Economy of Comparative Employment Relations’, in M. Barry & A. Wilkinson (eds) Handbook of Comparative Employment Relations, Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

Glyn, A. (2006) Capitalism Unleashed: Finance, Globalization, and Welfare, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Held, D. & McGrew, A. (2007) Globalization/Anti-Globalization, 2^nd edn, Cambridge: Polity Press.

Held, D. and McGrew, A. (eds) (2003) The Global Transformations Reader, 2^nd edn, Cambridge: Polity Press.

Hirst, P. and Thompson, G. (2005) Globalization in question: the international economy and the possibilities of governance, Cambridge: Polity 3^rd edition.

Meardi, G. (2014) ‘The State and Employment Relations’, in  A. Wilkinson et al (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Employment Relations, Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Meardi, G., Donaghey, J. and Dean, D. (2016) ‘The Strange Non-Retreat of the State: Implications for the Sociology of Work’, in Work, Employment And Society, vol. 30 no. 4,  559-572.

Stiglitz, J. (2002) Globalization and its Discontents, Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Sklair, L. (2001) The Transnational Capitalist Class, Oxford: Blackwell, Chap. 2.

Weiss, L. (2003) ‘Introduction: Bringing Domestic Institutions Back In’, in L. Weiss (ed.) States in the Global Economy, New York: Cambridge University Press.

Wright, C.F. and Kaine, S. (2015) Supply Chains, Production Networks and the Employment Relationship, Journal of Industrial Relations, 57(4): 483-501.

 

Additional web sources:

European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions http://eurofound.europa.eu/index.htm

European Observatory of Working Life http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/observatories/eurwork

International Labour Organisation (ILO) www.ilo.org

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) www.oecd.org

Routledge.