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3 - Labor’s Obstacles and Democracy’s Demise

from Part I - Labor and Democracy: Theory and Practice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2022

By
Angela B. Cornell
Edited by
Angela B. Cornell  and
Mark Barenberg
Angela B. Cornell
Affiliation:
Cornell University, New York
Mark Barenberg
Affiliation:
Columbia University, New York
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Summary

Labor’s role in forging and sustaining democracies has long been recognized in international human rights law and social science literature, but union rights and density are declining around the globe, and unfavorable domestic law jurisprudence in many parts of the globe has undermined collective rights. This chapter explores the juxtaposition of labor’s exalted place in international human rights law with its subordinate position in domestic law. In international human rights instruments and jurisprudence, labor unions hold a special position, and freedom of association is the critical foundational right upon which other rights and interests are advanced. In social science literature labor unions have pro-democracy attributes. This chapterexplores whether the decline in union strength has created a political void that has been filled by more authoritarian tendencies.

Keywords

labor unionsdemocracyILOinternational human rights lawauthoritarian tendencies
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Labor and Democracy , pp. 49 - 65
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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