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    Unions against governments: explaining general strikes in Western Europe, 1980-2006

    Kelly, John and Hamann, K. and Johnston, A. (2013) Unions against governments: explaining general strikes in Western Europe, 1980-2006. Comparative Political Studies 46 (9), pp. 1030-1057. ISSN 0010-4140.

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    Abstract

    Across Western Europe, unions have increasingly engaged in staging general strikes against governments since 1980. This increase in general strikes is puzzling as it has occurred at the same time as economic strikes have been on the decline. We posit that theories developed to explain economic strikes hold little explanatory power in accounting for variation in general strikes across countries and over time. Instead, we develop a framework based on political variables; in particular, whether governments have included or excluded unions in framing policy reforms; the party position of the government; and the type of government. Our empirical analysis, based on a conditional fixed-effects logit estimation of 84 general strikes between 1980 and 2006, shows that union exclusion from the process of reforming policies, government strength, and the party position of the government can provide an initial explanation for the occurrence of general strikes.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Article
    Additional Information: Embargoed until one year from date of publication
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Business and Law > Birkbeck Business School
    Research Centres and Institutes: Birkbeck Centre for British Political Life
    Depositing User: John Kelly
    Date Deposited: 19 Oct 2011 10:25
    Last Modified: 02 Aug 2023 16:56
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/4247

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