Conclusion: Explaining Cross National Variance in Labour Politics

Abstract

At present, there is a strong belief amongst policy-makers and academics that nations can somehow “choose” their own development strategies and economic outcomes. In particular, it is proposed that a country’s insertion in the global chain of production is something that can be manufactured or manipulated, rather than something that is dictated by geographical location and natural resource base.¹ Our analysis of labour politics in five small open democracies confirms that the ideological programmes, the organisational strategies of key socio-economic groups, and choices between institutional frameworks can make a difference in determining economic success and failure. Yet we have also found that a nation’s location in the world economy does heavily determine outcomes, focusing specifically on the fortunes of organised labour in this case. Contrary to the argument that States have considerable freedom of choice when formulating economic policy in the context of globalisation of production, in the field of labour politics nations such as these have a more circumscribed room for manoeuvre due to their vulnerability to international market trends. Overall, we find that the scope and depth of policy reform, and consequently, the status and welfare of trade unions and their members, is shaped by both external and internal factors, the specifics of which we will elaborate here.