Roundtable on "The Cambridge Handbook of Labor and Democracy"

Session Submission Type: Virtual Roundtable

Session Description

At a time of widespread democratic “backsliding” around the world, as well as a generalized weakening of organized labor's political strength, revisiting the complex relationships between labor and democracy can tell us much about the prospects and durability of democracy in a variety of countries. A forthcoming Cambridge Handbook on Labor and Democracy (edited by Angela Cornell and Mark Barenberg) is dedicated to that undertaking, exploring labor’s role across different world regions in: 1) constructing democratic regimes; 2) deepening democracy through the expansion of social and economic citizenship rights; and 3) defending democracy against authoritarian challenges. The proposed panel would include five of the contributing authors from the Cambridge Handbook, including both political scientists and legal scholars, with expertise in the study of labor and democracy in the U.S., Eastern Europe, and Latin America. Roundtable presentations will analyze the conditions under which organized labor is likely to join or spearhead democratizing movements, as well as the political contexts in which labor’s role, or its political alliances, are more ambivalent (or even anti-democratic) in their effects. Special attention is given to the intersection of labor with racial, ethnic, and national identities, and how that intersection shapes--positively or negatively-- labor's democratizing role.

Sub Unit

• Related Groups / Labor Politics

Cosponsors

• Division 7: Politics and History

• Division 12: Comparative Politics of Developing Countries

• Division 44: Democracy and Autocracy

Chair

• Kenneth M. Roberts Cornell University

Presenters

• Paul Frymer Princeton University

• Cynthia Estlund New York University

• Angela Cornell Cornell Law School

• David Ost Hobart and William Smith Colleges

• Kenneth M. Roberts Cornell University