How do social movements behave within EMU? The case of trade union reaction to EU austerity
Journal of European Integration
2021
43
3
263-277
trade union ; social movement ; economic recession ; europeanization
Trade unionism
https://doi.org/10.1080/07036337.2020.1730345
English
Bibliogr.
"There is much literature on the Europeanization of social movements, yet work tends not to theorize the influence of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) upon social movements. I examine the extent to which EU-imposed austerity in Southern Europe inspired European protests among German, Spanish and French trade unions. On the basis of an analytic framework which distinguishes between (i) Europeanization and (ii) continuing attachment to national institutions, I contend that degrees of Europeanization are contingent upon position within EMU. Unions in weak positions have incentives to undertake Europeanization, as in the case of Spain, whilst unions within strong positions have less incentive to undertake Europeanization, as in the case of Germany."
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