Labor Politics in North Africa After the Uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia

The Arab Uprisings of 2010 and 2011 had a profound effect on labor politics in the region, with trade unions mobilizing to an extent never before seen. How did these formerly quiescent trade unions become militant? What linkages did they make to other social forces during and after the revolutions? And why did Tunisian unions emerge cohesive and influential while Egyptian unions were fractured and lacked influence? Following extensive interviews, Ian M. Hartshorn answers these questions and assesses how unions forged alliances, claimed independence, and cooperated with international groups. Looking at institutions both domestically and internationally, he traces the corporatist collapse and the role of global labor in offering training and new possibilities for disgruntled workers. With special attention to the relationship with rising Islamist powers, he also examines the ways in which political parties tried to use labor, and vice versa, and provides a detailed study of the role of labor in ousting the first Islamist governments.

1. Trade union politics before and after the Arab uprisings; 2. Corporatist collapse in Egypt; 3. Egypt's failures to reconsolidate corporatism; 4. Corporatist collapse in Tunisia; 5. Tunisia's struggle to reconsolidate; 6. Constitutional crises and Islamist competition; 7. Conclusion.

Ian M. Hartshorn is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Nevada, Reno. He holds a B.A. in Religion from Bucknell University and a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a former co-chair of the Labor Politics Group of the American Political Science Association and a member of the Middle East Studies Association. His work has appeared in Political Research Quarterly, Terrorism and Political Violence, and Global Governance. His interests are in comparative political economy, labor movements, and transnational migration, and his current research looks at speech acts in the Middle East and refugee resettlement in the United States.