Authoritarian Innovations in Labour Governance

In the context of a global crisis of democracy and the emergence of new forms of despotism, the concept of authoritarian innovations provides a way to understand institutional changes and governance practices that claim to be reformist but which by design actually restrict democratic participation and voice in established democracies and hybrid regimes, as well as in openly authoritarian contexts. Within labour studies, this concept provides a pathway for examining anti-worker and anti-union “reforms” across a range of regime types, as governments seek to limit the power of organised labour while maintaining a level of internal and/or international legitimacy.

This session proposes to advance our knowledge of authoritarian innovations in labour governance across a spectrum of political regime types and in a variety of international and regional contexts. Paper submissions might address questions such as:

• What forms of authoritarian innovation in labour governance are emerging in various national contexts?
• What are the impacts of specific tactics – such as changing processes of union registration and recognition, collective bargaining, wage-setting or the regulation of industrial disputes – on the democratic participation of workers and unions?
• How is the discourse of democracy and of institutional “reform” deployed to subvert worker participation and voice?
• How do trade unions contest and push back against authoritarian innovations?
• What is the relationship between authoritarian innovations and stronger and more coercive forms of state intervention to pacify workers and labour movements?