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Political opportunity theory suggests that social movement organizations will increase political action efforts during times of opportunity, such as economic crises. On the other hand, business cycle theory predicts that economic crisis will be detrimental to unions, reducing membership and subsequently dues and power. This dissertation involves historical case studies of innovative and conservative labor unions, comparing organizational behavior during the Great Depression and the economic crisis of 2008. The dissertation also includes a QCA analysis of ten labor unions' political, organizing, and bargaining activity during the crisis of 2008. How do labor unions adjust their organizing strategies during an economic crisis? What tactics do unions use to redefine their role in the economy through social policy? What organizational characteristics define unions' varied responses to the crisis? This research found that characteristics consistent with organizational flexibility were consistent with the ability to identify and respond to the political opportunity present in economic crisis. While some unions decreased bargaining and organizing activity to shift resources towards political activity, this was not always the case. It also contributes a systematic description and analysis of typical labor union political activity. The data suggest that leader-based political action is a primary locus of activity, demanding further investigation into the varied campaigns and strategies unions take. More research is necessary to understand the interaction between the organizational political activity of labor unions and the political beliefs of union members.

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Labor unions have played an important role in Latin American society. This is particularly true in Argentine, where the labor union movement gained strength in 1946 under the populist government of Juan Domingo Peron. When Carlos Menem, from the Peronist party, assumed presidency in 1989, the CGT, Argentina's labor confederation, expected traditional populism to return. Instead, Menem abandoned populism and aligned with the Conservative right to implement a neoliberal agenda. This thesis explores the processes by which Argentine labor unions lost strength during the dual processes of democratization and market reforms. By analyzing the CGT since Menem become president, this study attempts to explain the role of labor unions under democracy, and the relationship between organized labor and government in the context of economic reforms and political transformation. Furthermore, this thesis argues that the decline of the CGT resulted form the implementation of neoliberal reforms.

The crisis of unity in multiethnic societies may be indicative of strained relations among various ethnic groups. Economic competition by a minority arouses resentment and envy in the dominant group. When the political development lags behind social and economic development, ethnicity is introduced into politics. If the system fails to resolve issues through institutional arrangements violence may become a mode of communication among these groups and the minority may attempt to secede. The case of India provides an excellent example of particularistic associations. The Sikhs have played a significant role in the division of the subcontinent and the development of the economy, Tensions have resulted in violence and counter-violence by both minority and majority groups. India has failed to introduce institutional changes to fulfill the promises made by the secular constitution. The Hindu dominance and discrimination in case of Sikhs can not be denied. While the issues still remain, India faces the risk of secessionist movements not only by Sikhs but also by other regions where minorities feel having been discriminated.

National identity in South Africa is, and has been, a complex concept, with diverse and contested attempts at its embodiment. This research extends the discourse of identity politics in the post 1994 democratic South Africa to beyond the discourse of racial politics, and notions of oppressor and oppressed to the complexities of resistance and the eventual establishment of a democratic South Africa. The research draws on the views and experiences of young South Africans, born after 1990, regarding what constitutes a South African identity. The research participants represent the socio-cultural and economic spectrum of the city of Cape Town, in the Western Province of South Africa. Schools were chosen across this spectrum to allow for heterogeneity of research sample to reflect the different population groups that comprise the South African population. The areas the schools were chosen from included those that existed during the apartheid era and those that have since been developed. Schools included were those historically delineated according to apartheid-constructed racial groups, and one that was established after 1994 as a non-state school. The exploration of the data reveals a population of young people who have moved beyond the imposed identities created by the apartheid system to an actively inclusive conception of what it means to be a South African in a post-apartheid context. Additionally, the research shows that this inclusive national identity also allows for the acknowledgement and expression of the diversity of cultures and languages existent in South African society. There is also an understanding that socio-economic issues such as poverty, poor education and continued imbalances from the Apartheid era need to be addressed to ensure a stable and unified South Africa. Therefore, the research found that this research contends that young people born after 1990 are committed to a respectful and representative national identity that affords all South Africans an equal place in society.

The question of how subordinated groups in democratic states set about shifting their political relationship with their encompassing societies has received little attention among political scientists in Canada. Groups which lack significant political, legal, and economic resources, and which are stigmatized by an inferior status (reinforced by law and policy) do not enjoy the level playing field predicted by pluralist interest group theory. Yet they are sometimes able to overcome these obstacles and to renegotiate their political and legal status. The question is how some groups are able to do this, and what strategies are available to or obligatory for groups wishing to initiate political bargaining. According to the theory of symbolic politics developed here, disadvantaged minorities seeking political benefits from the state will typically conduct politics at the symbolic level. That is, they tend to invoke a range of political symbols and myths: first, to build in-group solidarity by presenting an analysis of a common past and present, as well as a vision of the future society, and thereby legitimate their political aspirations. In the first stage of minority politicization, such groups must: (a) build a sense of community of interests and goals which can be said to represent the reference group as a whole; (b) reverse the stigmatic identity ascribed to them by the dominant society; and (c) find ways of competing with the dominant society, not on the latter's terms, but on alternative ideological grounds. In the second stage of politicization, minorities must: (a) create appropriate demands; (b) learn to use the mechanisms, methods and institutions of the mainstream political process; and (c) eventually routinize conflict by negotiating stable norms to guide on-going relations with government. Subordinated groups do not normally seek purely material benefits. They usually seek symbolic benefits in the form of rights, and a redefined status within society. Thus, much of their politicking is conducted in public, and is largely devoted to capturing public sympathy which can be used as a resource against government. The political myths and symbols employed are characteristically emotive and imprecise. Political goals are presented in symbolic terms, and are advanced at the level of principle rather than substance. When applied to the case of Native Indian politics in the Canadian context, the evidence confirms the accuracy of these hypotheses. Indians have pursued the symbolic strategies predicted by the model: the essence of their political aspirations has been captured in the symbols of aboriginal title/aboriginal rights, land claims, and ultimately, self-government; at the macro level, they have sought predominantly symbolic benefits, as represented by legislative and constitutional recognition of certain rights and privileges; and they have attempted to win public support to use as a bargaining chip vis-a-vis government. However, they have not been entirely successful in their use of the symbolic strategies outlined, and the evidence suggests that they have reached a public opinion impasse. Despite their efforts, public opinion on native and native issues has remained remarkably stable over the last twenty years, so that further effort in this area is likely to bring diminishing returns. In the end, symbolic politics, while necessary for subordinated groups in their fledgling stages of politicization, must eventually give way to more conventional political methodologies as groups become institutionalized in the mainstream political process. / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

The Canadian Union of Students (CUS) was Canada's national postsecondary student organisation from its founding in September 1963 as the successor to the National Federation of Canadian University Students (NFCUS), until its dissolution in October 1969. This thesis recounts the political history of CUS by tracing the development of CUS policies on access to higher education and on student involvement in the governance of postsecondary institutions. The central argument of this thesis is that over time CUS policies and activities became increasingly "left wing," causing CUS to become ever more isolated from the mainstream students who constituted its membership. The loss of confidence by the members resulted in campus student associations withdrawing support from the organisation, leading to the dissolution of CUS in October 1969. This thesis is not strictly an historical policy analysis, although such an analysis appears throughout. This thesis also offers comparative discussions, recounting developments in the Quebec student movement, in the Canadian anti-nuclear and social justice movements, and in the American civil rights and student movements. To a lesser extent, this thesis also contains elements of social history, collective biography and organisational history. This variety of approaches helps in more fully explaining CUS's changing politics. As demonstrated by the developments in policies on access to higher education and institutional governance, CUS was not content with merely treating the symptoms of educational inequity, but increasingly sought to identify the causes of such inequity and eliminate them. This put the organisation in conflict with prevailing social, political and economic arrangements and divided the CUS leadership from its membership. Although a significant minority of disaffected youth and students challenged the norms of the day, they were unable to bring large numbers of people to their cause and thus unable to sustain pressure for change. The CUS leadership's attempt to reverse the course of the organisation to save it from collapse was unsuccessful and CUS folded under the weight of a rapidly declining membership. / Education, Faculty of / Educational Studies (EDST), Department of / Graduate

[No abstract] / Arts, Faculty of / Political Science, Department of / Graduate

This dissertation examines the popular politics of the anticolonial struggle in Algiers from the perspective of people who participated in the Algerian Revolution at a grassroots level. It is largely the product of interviews conducted with 30 women and men who participated in the revolution in and around Algiers. Their participation in the struggle took diverse forms, including armed combat, material or logistical support to those fighting, participating in strikes or protests, and so on. In examining Algerians' anticolonial struggle 'from below,' I have sought to illuminate different and more plural perspectives of this period of history. In presenting this new material, I put forward a number of critiques on the existing historiography of the Algerian Revolution. My goal has been not only to include those who have been excluded from larger narratives in order to fold them into the political history of the revolution, but to demonstrate how these perspectives challenge those narratives. Finally, I have taken the experiences and perspectives of these Algerians to be a legitimate and productive vantage point from which to reflect on larger theoretical questions of popular politics and revolutions in the colonized world. These include questions about revolution, the diverse political imaginaries of what constitutes liberation and freedom, the means that can justly be used to attain such ends, the blurry lines between resistance and collaboration, the relationship between avant-garde parties and the masses that lend them support, and the different iterations of Islamic politics in modernity.