This book analyses the conflicts that emerged from the Brazilian labour movement’s active participation in a rapidly changing political environment, particularly in the context of the coming to power of a party with strong roots in the labour movement. While the close relations with the Workers' Party (PT) have shaped the labour movement’s political agenda, its trajectory cannot be understood solely with reference to that party’s electoral fortunes. Through a study of the political trajectory of the Brazilian labour movement over the last three decades, the author explores the conditions under which the labour movement has developed militant and moderate strategies. The chapters analyse the labour movement’s role in the democratization process in the late 1970s and 1980s, the effects of economic crisis and reforms in the 1990s (including privatization and monetary stabilization), and the turbulent relationship with the PT government in the 2000s and 2010s. Using labour and social movement theories as well as the literature on the new Latin American left, the study argues that the polarizing combination of rapid economic and political change provoked labour militancy but also heightened internal conflicts regarding the desired direction of political change, which in turn led to political fragmentation and moderation in a movement representing a wide variety of political ideas and socio-economic interests.
- ISBN: 978-3-319-60308-7
- Editorial: Palgrave Macmillan
- Encuadernacion: Cartoné
- Fecha Publicación: 11/01/2018
- Nº Volúmenes: 1
- Idioma: Inglés