When Mobilization is Not Enough: Political Mediation,Framing, and the Use of Direct Democracy Devices by the Labor Movement in Response to Anti-Union Legislation

ABSTRACT

The political context of the United States has become increasingly anti-union, and legislation that threatens the ability of unions to collect dues and collectively bargain has been introduced and passed in many states. In an increasingly hostile political climate, mobilization is not sufficient for the labor movement to achieve success in the policy arena. Labor movement campaigns that arose in 2011 in Ohio and Wisconsin in response to legislation curtailing collective bargaining rights of public employees provide two important examples of responses to anti-union legislation. Neither campaign was able to prevent the passage of the legislation through mobilization, but the labor movement campaign in Ohio still achieved a successful outcome by repealing the legislation through a binding referendum. This paper discusses how social movement theories—political mediation and framing—can help us to understand what led to the success of the movement in Ohio but not Wisconsin. I argue that the movement in Ohio was successful because in an unfavorable political context they were able to take advantage of a key opening in the political opportunity structure – the referendum – and were also able to exploit a framing opportunity provided by the scope of the legislation.     

Freedom of association in the Bangladeshi garment industry: A policy schizophrenia in labour regulation

The right to freedom of association is fundamental for the establishment of labour unionism as an institution. While the Government of Bangladesh requires enabling legal provisions for unionization in its garment industry, regulation to ensure the right to freedom of association has proved ineffective in upholding labour unionism. This article highlights the need for legislation capable of drawing on the complementary skills and resources of the Government, factory owners, labour unions and global brands to secure a sustained commitment and contribution towards the socio-economic and political dimensions of labour relations in Bangladesh's ready-made garment industry.     

Ready Rhetorics: Political Homophobia and Activist Discourses in Malawi,Nigeria, and Uganda

Since the late 1990s political leaders in several African countries have pursued legislation to expand criminal penalties for same-sex sex. Yet, much of the research on efforts to expand criminalization of same-sex sexualities in Africa has focused on individual country cases, neglecting the role of national and transnational sociopolitical contexts and economic flows. Focusing on discourses present in news media data from 2000 to 2014 in three African countries pursuing regressive policies targeting homosexuality—Malawi, Nigeria, and Uganda—we examine: 1) the different antihomosexual discourses and constellations of actors that emerge over time; 2) the linkages among antihomosexual discourses and other social or cultural logics that allow individuals and collective actors to make sense of antihomosexual discourses in a particular historical moment; and 3) the relationships among discourses vying for power in a given discursive field. In these data we observe episodic public debates around homosexuality that engage different arguments and constellations of actors over time. The intensity of public debates has increased since the mid-2000s in each country, and debates reflect strong linkages among transnational and national actors. Ultimately, we contend that the particular debates occurring around the regulation of same-sex sex in Malawi, Nigeria, and Uganda reflect larger conflicts over social change, political power, and global status hierarchies. We conclude with implications for the study of homophobia and LGBT movements in sub-Saharan Africa.     

Multiculturalism and Disability: a critical perspective

In an effort to counter discrimination and powerlessness, the disability community has espoused sociopolitical and cultural factors as defining characteristics of disability identity. This view of disability has replaced the historical medical model of disability as a deficit, and has had important implications for social action, political agendas, legislation and overall quality of life for individuals with disabilities. This article reviews current multicultural thinking, and offers a critical view of the advantages and disadvantages of positioning disability within the emergent multicultural discourse. Implications for future thinking and action to promote equal opportunity and self-determination for persons with disabilities as a cultural group with a political agenda are then advanced.     

Political change,rape, and pornography in post-apartheid South Africa

Women in post-apartheid South Africa face greater constitutional privileges than ever before; however, political change has been accompanied by an acceleration of direct and indirect violence against women. The legalization (on the grounds of the right to freedom of expression) of pornography represents an incitement to such violence. Moreover, political and social changes associated with the change to a new regime have exacerbated some men's sense of insecurity. Rape and violence, fueled by pornography, represent a means for men to re-establish personal control. Although South Africa passed a Domestic Violence Bill in 1998, the links between violence and pornography have not been discussed. There has been a failure to recognize that pornography degrades and disempowers women in the home, workplace, and broader society. Like prostitution, pornography contributes to the creation of an image of women as objects--a view that facilitates rape and domestic violence. The pornography industry both creates and feeds on men's need to control women. The contradiction between the Bill of Right's Freedom of Speech clause that permits pornography and commitments made in other sections of the document to gender equality must be addressed.     

The Venezuelan Government and the Global Field: The Legislative Battle over Foreign Funding for Nongovernmental Organizations

In recent years, several governments have targeted nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) by enacting legislation that prohibits foreign funding for them. This article uses diplomatic cables, newspaper articles, and interviews with representatives from NGOs and donors to explain the Venezuelan government's passage of legislation prohibiting foreign funding for political NGOs in 2010. Existent political, sociological, and globalization‐oriented theories fail to explain the passage and timing of this legislation. Instead, I utilize and extend global fields theory to examine the Venezuelan government's redirection of its foreign relations, which I argue generated the political opportunity for the government to pass this legislation. I show that the government initially remained keyed into a global subfield involving groups that successfully pressured it to reconsider a more radical form of legislation prohibiting direct foreign funding for all NGOs when it came up for discussion in 2006, including the U.S. and Western European governments, and domestic NGOs. By 2010, however, the government had become embedded within a global subfield involving authoritarian and anti‐imperial governments that had already passed similar legislation, and domestic community councils. These newfound relations insulated the government from reconsideration and allowed it the political opportunity to pass a new, less radical piece of legislation.     

The personal is political: a feminist reflection on a journey into participatory arts-based research with sex worker migrants in South Africa

ABSTRACT

This article offers a personal reflection of my journey into participatory arts-based research with sex work migrants in South Africa. It begins by sharing some background information of how my own experience as a migrant woman, and my layered (sometimes conflicted) identities, have continued to shape and influence much of my scholarly work, including my commitment to engaging in research that supports (or at least tries to support) social justice. Through this article, I offer an example of how the ‘personal is political’ is entwined in feminist values of research and engagement. Those who experience the issues under investigation must be considered equal partners in research processes. Collaborative forms of knowledge production can support social justice, particularly if efforts strive to shift the centre from which knowledge is traditionally generated and disseminated.     

International guidelines and the inclusion of disabled people. The Ugandan story

Uganda has made much progress towards including disabled people in its mainstream development, particularly in the political agenda. The exact process by which this has been achieved and the relationship between this and international guidelines and legislation are not known. This study undertakes to examine this from two specific perspectives: (1) How do international documents relevant to disabled people relate to national legislation in Uganda? (2) What can this comparison, together with the perceptions of stakeholders, tell us about how the legislation and services could improve? International legislation and Ugandan legislation is reviewed and compared. Data from 5 semi‐structured key informant interviews and 6 focus group discussions involving a total of 38 people are collected and analysed. The themes arising from the data are related to the documents, legislation, policies and other relevant literature. The results examine the barriers to service provision; the role of change; the importance of representation; policy and legislation issues; and the effects of devolution. Five specific findings relate to how legislation and services can improve: more resources to increase access for disabled people; strong leadership and collaboration between Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) funding bodies and governments; awareness raising and training; representation from all impairment groups; and raising the profile of disabled people through further legislation.     

The Need for Mandatory Legislations to Enhance Services to People with Disabilities in Nigeria

The promises concerning the provision of services to individuals with disabilities contained in Nigeria's National Policy on Special Education have not been implemented due to the absence of a legislative mandate to support their implementation. Consequently, the majority of individuals with disabilities in the country are not receiving educational and other relevant services. Based on the evidence of the positive impacts of legislation on special needs provision from several countries, this paper advocates for the enactment of mandatory laws in Nigeria in order to ensure that the right services would be provided to individuals with disabilities in the country. Although the process of enacting legislation on special needs provision could be problematic due to the prevailing political and economic crises in the country, it is argued, however, that effective advocacy activities by patient and professional organisations in the field of special needs could influence the government to take the needs of citizens with disabilities into consideration in policyformulation and legislative mandates.     

Emergent migration policy in a democratic South Africa

This article sets recent debates on migration policy in South Africa against broader historical realities that have shaped patterns of population movement on the subcontinent since the end of the nineteenth century. During the course of the last century, most forms of population movement were the result of disjointed regional economic development which can be traced to two epochal events at the end of the nineteenth century: the creation of the modern African state system and the discovery of mineral wealth in Southern Africa. Although regulation of migrant labour was a fundamental feature of the colonial period, it was only after 1950, when independent states began to define specific migration priorities, that states began to restrict significantly the flow of transnational labour. From this point notions such as internally displaced person, refugee and illegal immigrant become increasingly appropriate to the study of regional migration.
Particular attention is given to current debate on the definition of refugee which forms part of a broader international debate. A number of South African writers have argued that, given the structural imbalances contained in the regional economy, the term "refugee" should be redefined to include economic migrants. This position is not shared by the South African Government, and an analysis of current policy and legislation demonstrates a growing tendency to restrict the influx of undocumented migrants. This is due, in part, to the recent political transition and the institutional compromises that it produced as well as the growth of negative sentiment towards illegal immigrants at both mass and elite levels, as demonstrated by two recent research findings. The article concludes with a summation of recent trends in South African migration policy and an evaluation of the ambiguous position that South Africa occupies within Southern Africa.     

The political influence of unions and corporations on COPE votes in the U.S. senate, 1979–1988

The political influence of unions and corporations is examined by analyzing Senate roll-call votes on COPE-identified legislation for the period 1979–1988. Union PAC contributions and union membership both have significant positive effects on three different types of COPE legislation: Narrow Union, General Labor, and Non-Labor. In addition, corporate PAC contributions to senators’ opponents reduce their pro-union voting behavior on Narrow Union and General Labor bills. There is no evidence that the political influence of unions in the U.S. is declining.     

U.S. firms and black labor in South Africa: Creating a structure for change

Some have argued that U.S. firms should disinvest from South Africa as a means of putting pressure on the South African government to end apartheid. This argument, however, may ignore a dynamic of change in South Africa in which U.S. firms have played and are playing a large role: South African industrial relations have undergone significant evolution since 1979, the year in which major changes were introduced in that country’s labor legislation. Partly a result of these changes, black trade union membership has increased by 800 percent since 1979. By virtue of its unique exposure to varied constituencies, the multinational subsidiary in both home and host countries can be viewed as an agent of sociopolitical change in South Africa. The author wishes to thank Professors Herbert R. Northrup and Richard L. Rowan for helpful discussion.     

Changing Meanings, Changing Institutions: An Institutional Analysis of Patent Legislation

Conceptions of patents have changed significantly over the past two centuries, reflecting broad changes in state structures and the international system. In the late eighteenth century, the creation of democratic states such as the United States and France encouraged the conceptualization of patents as an economic and political right belonging to an individual, rather than to a corporate body such as a guild. A second conception of patents arose in the nineteenth century in which patents become a state-based mechanism for motivating economic growth. In the late twentieth century, patents have become conceptualized as an essential part of the economic infrastructure of a state, for both industrialized and less developed countries. This conceptualization has allowed international development organizations to become central in the diffusion of patent legislation to less developed countries. These changes in conceptions about patents did not always occur smoothly, however. Major controversies over the role and usefulness of patents occurred in each century, implying that the diffusion of patent legislation was by no means inevitable. This paper illustrates these arguments with a historical discussion of patents and a statistical analysis that models the adoption of patent legislation for all countries from 1790–1984.     

Regional Organizations and Intra-Regional Migration in Sub-Saharan Africa: Challenges and Prospects

Africa is a region of diverse migration circuits relating to origin, destination and transit for labour migrants, undocumented migrants, refugees and brain circulation of professionals.
This article outlines major migration configurations in the region, and the role of two vibrant subregional organizations — Economic Community of West African States and South African Development Community — in facilitating, containing or curtailing intra-regional migration which takes place within diverse political, economic, social and ethnic contexts; the transformation of brain drain into brain circulation; and commercial migration in place of labour migration within the region.
Despite overlapping membership, wavering political support, a poor transportation network, border disputes and expulsions, these subregional organizations are crucial for the region's collective integration into the global economy, and to enhance economic growth and facilitate labour intraregional migration.
Free movement of persons without visa, adoption of ECOWAS travellers' cheques and passports, the creation of a borderless Community; and the granting of voting rights and later citizenship and residence permits by South Africa to migrant workers from SADC countries are positive developments.
These organizations need to foster cooperation between labour-exporting and recipient countries, implement the protocols on the right of residence and establishment; promote dialogue and cooperation in order to harmonize, coordinate and integrate their migration policies as envisioned by the 1991 Abuja Treaty establishing the African Economic Community.     

‘Entering the territory of incitement’: oppositionality and Africa South

Africa South was an anti‐apartheid journal edited by Ronald Segal which was published in South Africa in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This article explores the historical and political significance of Africa South and considers its implications for an understanding of ‘oppositionality’ in the post‐apartheid present. The central challenge which Africa South offered to its own context was its transnational perspective. Africa South was an important meeting place in the global routes of the developing pan‐African movement. It is also noteworthy for its effort to bring disparate areas of history and experience – both within the African continent and across the African diaspora – into revealing alignment with one another. The principle of conjuncture, I argue, initiated an important analytical move: the opportunity for illuminating comparison, the re‐conceptualisation of an often fragmented political and social landscape and an unusual glimpse of the whole. In tension with this totalising vision is the journal’s generic eclecticism, its flexible political identity and its collaborative construction. In both its unity and its fragmentation, Africa South offers an important point of departure for activist journalism and oppositional intellectual endeavours in the present.     

The Devil Rejoiced: Volk,Devils and Moral Panic in White South Africa, 1978–1982

The first four years of P.W. Botha's premiership in apartheid South Africa were plagued by intra‐party politicking, renewed anti‐apartheid resistance, economic instability, and Satan. Between 1978 and 1982, the heavy political rhetoric of “total onslaught” inflected perceived “moral onslaught” in a virulent moral panic over Satanism in white, and particularly Afrikaner, South Africa. With attention to its discursive and socio‐political context, this paper seeks to explore the emergence of this distinct satanic moral panic in white South African history, arguing that it reflects the intense political and moral ambiguity of white society as the edifices of apartheid began to fracture.     

When Should Differences Make a Difference:

This study criticizes the Supreme Court's current approach to constitutional gender equality and suggests a new type of review for gender-based classifications under the equal protection clause. The debate over acceptable gender classification hsa forced the Court to decide whether distinctions on the basis of gender-specific physical characteristics discriminate on the bsais of gender, whether legislation on the basis of generalized physical characteristics is discriminatory when applied to individuals who deviate from the average, whether states reinforce sex role stereotypes when legislating on the basis of gender-specific physical characteristics, and whether legislation that purports to benefit women actually serves to further inequality. In wrestling with this issues, especially the last, the Court has also been forced to explain both logically and legally why racial classifications are different from gender classifications The purpose of this study is twofold: the first objective is to argue that the Supreme Court should adopt an approach to legally sanctioned gender differentiation that would review gender classifications with the same hostility as racial classifications; related to this is the second objective, which is to show that a strict-scrutiny equal protection analysis is compatible with a special treatment approach for pregnancy benefits legislation. The two tasks will be undertaken by presenting critiques of the Court's current approach to gender equity and by suggesting an alternative direction for gender-based equal protection doctrine, one that will accomodate positive pregnancy legislation.     

Dealing with Institutional Abuse in a Multicultural South African Society

SUMMARY

The climate of socio-political transformation in South Africa together with a society of complex multicultural diversities creates enormous challenges regarding the care of the elderly in institutions. Institutional abuse in South Africa may present in a unique way, as a result of issues relating to policy and legislation and care delivery systems. The need for previously segregated groups to integrate and understand the various cultural practices of people from different socio-economic backgrounds further compounds the opportunity for abuse in homes for the aged which are undergoing transformation.     

Anything to Declare? The Struggle for Inclusive Education and Children's Rights

This paper argues for a clear and unequivocal message from those who advocate Inclusive Education. It suggests that the compulsory segregation of children with 'special needs' will continue until the Law underwrites their right to an equal choice of education. The message to advocates is to make the affirmation of children's rights their primary goal, before resorting to detailed educational debates. It also highlights the plight of David McKibben and his family who have taken on the East Belfast Education Board to fight for David's right to attend his local mainstream high school. David experienced further discrimination and rejection by the independent special needs tribunals. David and his family have welcomed the opportunity to have their predicament highlighted in this paper, which asserts that the independent special needs tribunals and current United Kingdom education legislation are fundamentally at odds with the human rights of disabled and non-disabled children.