The turn to transnational labor history and the study of global trade unionism (original) (raw)
Related papers
Reflections on Writing Comparative and Transnational Labour History
History Compass, 2009
Calls to reposition both Australian and New Zealand history in a broader regional and global context are not new, but have intensified in more recent times. The turn toward transnational narratives in the contemporary academy is a valuable complement to comparative analysis, and both are important in thinking beyond traditional notions of bounded local space. Two areas in which transnational methodology has been particularly to the fore are the ‘new’ imperial history and American history that looks beyond the conventional paradigm of national exceptionalism. The networks of mobility and exchange sketched out by scholars working in these fields offer some useful insights for the transnational labour history project which is still at an early phase of development. This paper highlights the possibilities and potential problems attending the writing of transnational and comparative labour history, and in so doing offers some reflections on the broader question of knowledge production.
The Local in the Global: The Value in Transnational History
To do transnational or international histories of empire may not obscure the local so much as render it intelligible, locating local developments within an imperial framework. 1 This is not only because the protagonists often thought of themselves as living and working in this broader world, but also because of the crucial role played by imperialism in inaugurating a world where the spread of both ideological formations and the world economy has created a globalised interdependence that, in different ways, implicates us all within historicised social relations. Here we need to interrogate, as Ann Stoler and Frederick Cooper suggest, 'the hierarchies of production, power and knowledge that emerged in tension with the extension of the domain of universal reason, of market economics, and of citizenship'. 2 These hierarchies and the institutions that both reflected and produced them were produced in imperial contexts. Many transnational histories tend to naturalise the nation--state -assuming borders and valorising their crossing -rather than conceiving of the world system inaugurated by imperialism as one of differentiated unities. 3 The difference is central to the politics of postcolonialism, and reflects the distinction between a strategic colonial retreat and the decolonising vision of pan--African, pan--Pacific and other broader movements.
Theorizing the transnational: a historical materialist approach
Theorizing the transnational: a historical materialist approach Bastiaan van Apeldoorn Department of Political Science, Vrije Universiteit Amterdam, De Boelelaan 1081, 1081 HV Amsterdam, The Netherlands E-mail: E.B.van.Apeldoorn@vu.nl Although transnational relations is a frequently employed phrase in International Relations (IR) since the early debates of the 1970s, the literature in fact still shows surprisingly little theorization of the concept. Seeking to theorize ‘the transnational’ beyond what is currently on offer in mainstream IR discourse, this article argues that the field of transnational relations has in fact much to gain from the insights articulated by the transnationalist perspective elaborated within ‘transnational historical materialism’, and in particular by the ‘Amsterdam Project’ in International Political Economy. After presenting a critical review of what are interpreted as liberal, ahistorical and actor-centred perspectives on transnational relations dominating the mainstream, this article elaborates and builds upon this alternative transnationalist perspective by showing how it is grounded in a historical materialism emphasising the constitutive power of transnational (economic) structures, whilst at the same time re-claiming the role of class agency. Briefly sketching on this basis the development of transnational relations in the global political economy, the article examines the theoretical implications of such a historical (materialist) analysis for a theory of transnational relations. Rather than viewing transnational relations as moving us beyond international relations altogether, it will be concluded that the question is rather how the former gives content to the latter. Critical here, it will be argued is the process of transnational class formation and the role of capitalist class strategy beyond national borders in restructuring global capitalist social relations. Keywords: agency-structure; globalisation, historical materialism; IR theory; social relations; transnational relations
Global Labour Journal
In the 1980s and 1990s, a significant number of rank-and-file trade union activists in Canada became actively engaged in various forms of international labour solidarity. This activity, the end of the Cold War and the increasing impacts of neo-liberal globalisation combined to spark hopes for greatly expanding practices of labour transnationalism. This vision of transnationalising trade union organisation has not materialised and, in fact, inside Canadian unions there has been declining faith in the possibilities of building transnational solidarity. Starting with an analysis of the dominant dichotomies underlying the literature on labour transnationalism, I suggest that stepping outside these dichotomies can provide a different way of assessing the role of transnational labour solidarity within broader struggles for workers’ justice. In this article, drawing upon the case of transnational political solidarities built by workers inside Canadian unions in the 1980s and 1990s, I argue...
Introduction: transnationalism in the 1950s Europe, ideas, debates and politics
History of European , 2019
This special issue re-evaluates the 1950s as a period of transnationalism in ideas and political practices, offering innovative insights into political history and political ideas. Without setting the national and transnational spheres against each other, the issue argues that the dialectics between the two was a defining element of Europe in this period. The articles explore transnational cooperation and exchanges among intellectuals, politicians and trade unionists, showing how they were changing in their interaction. The editorial sets out from the research on the postwar configuration of Europe based on the retake of the nation state, combining it with new research of transnational history and putting out some methodological innovations. The editorial also highlights some significant themes across the articles: the central role of translation and localisation, the interaction with local interests and disputes, the Cold War, the acceleration of European integration, the rise of the Third World, the tensions between hope and fear or between nihilism and rebirth of Europe, the centrality of science.