The Politics of Unemployment: Employment policy, the Unemployed Workers Organisations and the State in Argentina (1991-2005)
Ana C Dinerstein
Download NGPA Research Paper 9| (PDF)
Abstract
This paper explores the contested relationship between the unemployed workers organisations (UWOs) and the state around employment policy reforms during the last decade. The paper argues that in addition to the UWOs experience of mobilisation and community work which is paramount in the history of NGPA in Argentina, the impact of UWOs action on policy-making cannot be ignored. First, they opened a public debate on unemployment, poverty and the inefficiency of focused policies and the conditions for the implementation of inclusive and universal policies engaging a variety of actors. Secondly, they have influenced policy-making in that the new broad policy framework embraces the principles of 'social economy' and a policy ethos based on the principles of solidarity and autonomy, key to the UWOs politics. Yet, the need for a different kind of engagement between UWOs and the government seems to be imperative.
About the author
Ana C Dinerstein [BA (Hons) Buenos Aires, MA and PhD (Warwick)] is a Lecturer in Political Sociology, Department of Social and Policy Sciences, University of Bath, UK. Her research focuses on the relationship between social and labour movements and state institutions and policy making in Latin America, with a particular focus on the transformation of labour Argentina.
For more information see Dr Dinerstein's personal web page| on the University of Bath website.
Contact: A.C.Dinerstein@bath.ac.uk|