The Politics of Labor Reform in Latin America

Between Flexibility and Rights

Bibliographic Data

ID6322201
AuthorsPeter Ranis (0000-0002-8191-9865, City University of New York, corresponding author)
Year2008
Volume6
Issue1
Pages186-187
Publication date2008-03-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenuePerspectives on Politics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1537-5927 • E-ISSN: 1541-0986
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s153759270808033x
OpenAlexW2120299283
LanguageEN
Citations received20

The Politics of Labor Reform in Latin America: Between Flexibility and Rights. By Maria Lorena Cook. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2007. 231p. $45.00. This is a very ambitious work, meticulously researched and studiously written, often presenting a dazzling display of intricate information. It is quite unusual for a single author to show such mastery over various country contexts. The book could easily have been written by several authors as it carefully covers and interprets labor laws in six Latin American countries, focusing mainly on the period in which flexibilized labor policies were implemented. Maria Lorena Cook couples countries that share historical and institutional similarities, namely: Argentina and Brazil are chosen as having legacies of state corporate systems; Chile and Peru represent postradical regimes; and Mexico and Bolivia experienced revolutionary pasts. Introductory overviews on labor reform in Latin America and concluding comments on where these countries stand today between flexibility and rights act as bookends for the paired country chapters. This is a skillful exegesis of pertinent documents, voluminous secondary literature, and expert testimony concerning two decades of labor laws after the restitution of democracy in the postauthoritarian period in these countries—unfinished as that process continued to be in Peru and Bolivia (at the time of the book's completion in 2005

Democracy · Economic history · Economics · Flexibility (engineering · Latin Americans · Management · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science · Employment, Labor, and Gender Studies · History · International Labor and Employment Law · Labor Movements and Unions · Law

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