Organized Labour: Market, Democracy and Globalization

A Book Review: Kubicek P. 2004. Organized Labor in Postcommunist States: From Solidarity to Infirmity. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Abstract

The author of this article presents a critical review of the monograph «Organized Labor in Postcommunist States: From Solidarity to Infi rmity». The book, written by a famous researcher of labor movements P. Kubicek, includes the analysis of organized labor in Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, and Poland within postcommunist transformation. The book is written in a methodologically original way with a lot of data being used. The  author looked at organized labor within three dimensions: market, democracy and globalization. Comparative research is not confi ned to four mentioned states, but also involves the comparison of labor movement in Western and Eastern Europe. In spite of interesting fi ndings the study of organized labor in postcommunist states is mainly descriptive. The reasons and the results of declining of labor organizations are not thoroughly examined.