Table Of ContentDocument1 11/12/04 3:23 PM Page 1
Globalisation
contested
An international
political economy of work
LOUISE AMOORE
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Globalisation contested
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Globalisation contested
An international political economy of work
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LOUISE AMOORE
Manchester University Press
Manchester and New York
Distributed exclusively in the USA by Palgrave
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Copyright © Louise Amoore 2002
The right of Louise Amoore to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by
her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
Published by Manchester University Press
Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9NR, UK
and Room 400, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA
http://www.manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk
Distributed exclusively in the USA by
Palgrave, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010, USA
Distributed exclusively in Canada by
UBC Press, University of British Columbia, 2029 West Mall,
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6T 1Z2
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data applied for
93-50558
ISBN 0 7190 6096 6 hardback
First published 2002
10 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 02 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Typeset in Minion and Minion Display
by Koinonia, Manchester
Printed in Great Britain
by Biddles Ltd, Guildford and King’s Lynn
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Dedicated to Mary Elizabeth Amoore
and John Arthur Gregory,
in memory and with much love.
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Contents
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List of figures and tables page viii
Acknowledgements ix
List of abbreviations xi
Introduction 1
1 Globalisation, restructuring and the flexibility discourse 14
2 International political economy and global social change 38
3 Producing hyperflexibility: the restructuring of work in Britain 67
4 Producing flexi-corporatism: the restructuring of work in Germany 93
5 The ‘contested’ firm: the restructuring of work and production
in the international political economy 115
6 Globalisation at work: unheard voices and invisible agency 137
Conclusion: an international political economy of work 158
Bibliography 166
Index 188
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List of figures and tables
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Figure
2.1 Susan Strange’s ‘determinants of choice’ page 48
Tables
1.1 The OECD’s ‘Jobs Strategy’ recommendations 30
3.1 Key legislative reforms of industrial relations in Britain, 1980–99 84–5
3.2 Workers involved in strikes and lockouts 89
4.1 Average hourly labour costs in manufacturing industry, 1999 107
4.2 Standardised rates of unemployment (as % of civilian labour force) 110
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Acknowledgements
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During the course of the research and writing of this book I have discovered that
matters ‘global’ are truly close to people’s everyday lives. Barely a day has passed
when someone somewhere has not challenged my thinking. The influences and
signposts along the route have been numerous – not only scholars, but also
corporate managers, workers and trade unionists – I hope to recall at least some of
them here. The book reached its first draft stage as a Ph.D thesis, researched and
written between 1995 and 1998, and submitted in the Department of Politics,
University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Particular thanks go to Phil Daniels, Ronen
Palan, Randy Germain and Andrew Gamble for their inspirational comments and
challenges. During this period the Newcastle Working Group on Globalisation
provided an important source of intellectual challenge, debate and criticism.
Particular thanks to Barry Gills, Richard Dodgson, Don Marshall, Iain Watson
and Paul Langley. For providing inspiration and support during fieldwork travels,
I am grateful to the staff and students at the Center for German and European
Studies, Georgetown, and to all at the Max Planck Institute, Cologne, especially to
Wolfgang Streeck. The research for this book would not have been possible
without the assistance and enthusiasm of managers and workers in firms across
three countries. I can only hope that I have done some justice to their extra-
ordinary insights into the ‘globalness’ of their everyday lives. Their number is too
great to thank them all by name here, but their contributions have been invalu-
able. That said, my profound thanks to Bob Reid, Peter Rostock and Richard
Gibbs for their support of the project.
During the later stages of research I have had invaluable inspiration and criti-
que from ongoing debates and discussion with scholars and friends. Special thanks
to Jeff Harrod (for warning me of the hazards of studying work and labour!),
Robert O’Brien, Dimitris Stevis, Roger Tooze, Matt Davies, Chris May, Tony
Payne, Magnus Ryner, Rebecca Harding, Gigi Herbert, Kim Hutchings and Mark
Boyer, and to the anonymous reviewers of the articles from which some of the
material is drawn. My former colleagues at the University of Northumbria
supported this project in many ways: thanks to Phil Garrahan, Lynn Dobbs, Rosie
Cunningham, Doug Miller, John Fenwick and Keith Shaw. My colleagues in the
Department of Politics, University of Newcastle have provided much encourage-
ment in the final stages of the work. Thanks to Peter Jones, Tony Zito and Ella
Ritchie for support and encouragement. The discussions taking placein two reading
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