Abstract
After globalization has led to what can, by drawing on Karl Polanyi, be referred to as a disembedding of the labor market from its nationally segmented settings, recent decades bring about a development which has by a range of scholars been identified as a countermovement in the Polanyian sense. Drawing on the cases of international co-determination in Volkswagen, as well as the European minimum wage, the article draws three conclusions, with regards to the emergence of a transnational countermovement in the Polanyian sense. In order to understand if international resistance against neoliberal globalization can transform into a transnational countermovement, research has to be conceptualized from an action theoretical angle (1), take on a constructivist perspective (2), and establish a multidimensional understanding of space (3).
Notes
2. At the same time, the centralist structure of South African trade unions dates back into the time of apartheid, as well. As resistance to the racist regime required the crafting of political coalitions across companies and economic sectors, South African trade unions are still known to be reluctant to transfer power down to local representatives and shop steward councils.