Globalisation and the social contract
Description
Globalisation has become one of the most politically-charged subjects of our times. Mass demonstrations and protests have become routine when the institutions of the global economy gather together, with trade union activists expressing their concerns alongside environmentalists, development NGOs and others for whom economic globalisation denotes insecurity, inequality and environmental degradation.
This book is the result of a conference of researchers working closely with trade unions, and who are therefore aware, as they seek to analyse one or other facet of globalisation, of the particular place occupied by trade unions in the debate. On the one hand unions are part of the coalition of protesters seeking to limit and shape, if not oppose outright, the process of globalisation. On the other, they represent workers whose livelihoods are tied up with the success of the global economy. They have a stake in economic success. This differentiates them from many of the others who marched in Seattle and Genoa. The resulting concern with strategies to shape globalisation is perhaps the most obvious common thread to the contributions in this book.
