Table Of ContentNON-GOVERNMENTAL PUBLIC ACTION SERIES
TRANSNATIONAL ACTIVISM,
GLOBAL LABOR
GOVERNANCE, AND CHINA
Sabrina Zajak
Non-Governmental Public Action
Series Editor
Jude Howell
Department of International Development
London School of Economics
London, United Kingdom
Non-governmental public action (NGPA) by and for disadvantaged and
marginalized people has become increasingly significant over the past two
decades. This series is designed to make a fresh and original contribution
to the understanding of NGPA. It presents the findings of innovative and
policy-relevant research carried out by established and new scholars work-
ing in collaboration with researchers across the world. The series is inter-
national in scope and includes both theoretical and empirical work. The
series marks a departure from previous studies in this area in at least two
important respects. First, it goes beyond a singular focus on developmen-
tal NGOs or the voluntary sector to include a range of non-g overnmental
public actors such as advocacy networks, campaigns and coalitions, trade
unions, peace groups, rights-based groups, cooperatives and social move-
ments. Second, the series is innovative is stimulating a new approach to
international comparative research that promotes comparison of the so-
called developing world, thereby querying the conceptual utility and rel-
evance of categories such as North and South.
More information about this series at
http://www.springer.com/series/14728
Sabrina Zajak
Transnational
Activism, Global
Labor Governance,
and China
Sabrina Zajak
Institute for Social Movements
Ruhr-University Bochum
Bochum, Germany
Non-Governmental Public Action
ISBN 978-1-349-95021-8 ISBN 978-1-349-95022-5 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/978-1-349-95022-5
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016959500
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub-
lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the
material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made.
Cover image © Tse Hon Ning / Getty
Printed on acid-free paper
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature
The registered company is Nature America Inc.
The registered company address is: 1 New York Plaza, New York, NY 10004, U.S.A.
A
cknowledgments
I am grateful to the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies,
Cologne, for the fellowship and the encouragement for my research proj-
ect. The institute supported me in my extensive fieldwork and provided
an environment of vibrant exchange with other researchers. I thank my
colleagues, especially the members of my research group “Institution
Building across Borders”, for all the lively and inspiring discussions we had.
I am particularly grateful to Sigrid Quack and Dieter Rucht for provid-
ing guidance to my work and sharing their knowledge and experiences
with me. Their help and encouragement has been crucial on this long
journey. Quack in particular contributed to the structure and arguments
of the book by commenting on my work several times. I also give thanks
to Wolfgang Streeck for his helpful comments.
I also thank the many people I met during my fieldwork in Europe,
the USA, and China, as this study would not have been possible without
their generosity, openness, kindness, and assistance. In China, in many
instances interviews turned into discussions that lasted for hours, during
which I gained a deeper understanding of the life and work of my inter-
view partners. In addition, many people were so kind as to introduce me
to their networks and invited me to meetings and discussions which were
not always open to outsiders. This made an enormous contribution to my
project and opened up my research perspective.
I have also benefited immensely from feedback and discussions with
friends and colleagues of which I only want to name a few who found
time for making comments on earlier versions or parts of this book: Britta
Baumgarten, Sigrid Baringhorst, Chris K.C. Chan, Veronika Kneip,
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Nicole Helmerich, Phillip Mader, Jeroen Merk, Olga Malets, Ludger
Pries, members of the Nachwuchsnetzwerk Neue Perspektiven auf soziale
Bewegungen und Protest, members of the International Max Planck
Research School on the Social and Political Constitution of the Economy
(IMPRS-SPCE), members of the research group Civil Society, Citizenship,
and Political Mobilization in Europe at the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin,
members of the Institute for Protest and Social Movement Research in
Berlin, and members of the CSR study group Berlin. I also thank the
Department of Sociology and the Center for European Studies, Harvard
University—particularly Frank Dobbin and Peter Hall—for providing me
with a vibrant and inspiring working environment and the possibility to
present and discuss my work during my six months stay in Cambridge,
USA. Finally I thank my current colleagues at the Institute for Social
Movements, Ruhr-University Bochum, in particular Stefan Berger for his
helpful suggestions and advices during the production process of the book.
My final and special thanks go to my husband, family, and close friends,
who continuously gave me moral and emotional support throughout this
project, which was sometimes challenging not only scientifically but also
personally. This helped me to evolve at a personal level along with my
work.
c
ontents
1 Introduction: Multilevel Labor Activism, Transnational
Institutions, and China 1
2 Defining the Shadow of the Dragon: China’s Internal
and External Strength 35
3 Transnational Activism within the International-
Organizational Pathway. The Case of the ILO 65
4 The Bilateral Pathway: The European Union and China 103
5 The Market Pathway 151
6 The Civil Society Pathway 207
7 Conclusion: Labor Transnationalism in Global Capitalism
and Plural Institutional Settings 251
Appendix 267
Index 275
vii
l f
ist of igures
Fig. 1.1 Framework for studying transnational pathways of influence 11
Fig. 3.1 The ILO path in detail 94
Fig. 4.1 Opportunities for influence in the EU–China pathway 106
Fig. 5.1 Varieties of activism in the market path 153
Fig. 5.2 Actors and organizations of the Play Fair Campaign 2008 170
Fig. 6.1 Different labor-support organizations 210
Fig. 6.2 Between inside and outside the accepted: organizational
forms and repertoires in a changing Chinese environment 218
Fig. 6.3 Positioning of organizations within boundary lines 223
Fig. 7.1 Timeline of events 254
Fig. 7.2 Transnational activism, institutional co-evolution, and
interaction 260
ix
l t
ist of Ables
Table 1.1 Sensitivity of transnational activism in different path to domestic
factors 18
Table 1.2 Analytical dimensions and sub-dimensions for studying
multilevel activism 19
Table 1.3 Analytical dimensions, cases and data sources 26
Table 2.1 Comparing international, national rules and factory practices 44
Table 2.2 Volume of mass incidents (protest and strikes) 45
Table 3.1 Overview ILO complaints against China 74
Table 4.1 Labor-related demands in the Trade CSDs (2006–2010) 122
Table 4.2 Institutions, actors, and access points in EU–China relations 136
Table 5.1 Opportunities for participation of labor advocates in private
regulatory organizations 162
Table 5.2 Demands of the Play Fair Campaign 168
Table 6.1 Overview mediation Xiao Xiao Niao January–June 2009 230
Table 7.1 Major forms and outcomes of transnational labor activism
in different pathways 258
xi
