When Solidarity Works
Labor-Civic Networks and Welfare States in the Market Reform Era

Lee explains development and retrenchment of the welfare states in developing countries through an explanatory model based around 'embedded cohesiveness'.

Cheol-Sung Lee (Author)

9781107174047, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 18 October 2016

432 pages, 29 b/w illus. 23 tables
23.5 x 15.2 x 2.8 cm, 0.72 kg

'One of the book's strengths is its direct engagement with and combination of literatures on both social movements and welfare state development. The former offers an understanding of the importance of organizational structure in enacting social change, and the latter contributes a comparative framework for understanding variation in welfare state regimes.' Mikaela Smith, Mobilization

Why do some labor movements successfully defend the welfare state even under the pressures of neo-liberal market reform? Why do some unions (and their allied parties and civic associations) succeed in building more universal and comprehensive social policy regimes, while others fail to do so? In this innovative work, Cheol-Sung Lee explores these conundrums through a comparative historical analysis of four countries: Argentina, Brazil, South Korea and Taiwan. He introduces the notion of 'embedded cohesiveness' in order to develop an explanatory model in which labor-civic solidarity and union-political party alliance jointly account for outcomes of welfare state retrenchment as well as welfare state expansion. Lee's exploration of the critical roles of civil society and social movement processes in shaping democratic governance and public policies make this ideal for academic researchers and graduate students in comparative politics, political sociology and network analysis.

List of figures
List of tables
Preface
Abbreviations
Part I: 1. Introduction
2. Revisiting the theories of welfare states in developing countries
3. Theoretical discussion: the structures of associational networks and labor politics
Part II: 4. The origin of top-down solidarity in South Korea
5. Embeddedness, cohesiveness, and the politics of social policy expansion in South Korea: universal vs. selective reforms
6. The survival and decline of embeddedness under retrenchment drives: the politics of retrenchment under market reforms: Part III: 7. Comparative case studies I: market-orientated reforms of welfare states and union responses in Argentina and Brazil
8. Comparative case studies II: market-orientated reforms of welfare states and union responses in South Korea and Taiwan
9. Comparative case studies III: associational networks and welfare states in Argentina, Brazil, South Korea and Taiwan
10. Conclusion
Appendix A. Interviewee profiles
Appendix B. Measurement of associational networks
Appendix C. Game theoretical models
Appendix D. Supplementary analyses: the structure of South Korean civic networks in the 2000s
Appendix E. Generalization: findings from the cross-national quantitative analyses
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Welfare economics [KCR], Political economy [KCP], Regional government policies [JPRB], Regional government [JPR], Comparative politics [JPB], Political science & theory [JPA], Politics & government [JP], Society & social sciences [J], History of the Americas [HBJK], Asian history [HBJF]