NAFTA and the Politics of Labor Transnationalism

Tamara Kay is Associate Professor of Sociology at Harvard University, Massachusetts and Co-Director of Harvard's Transnational Studies Initiative. Her work centers on the political and legal implications of regional economic integration, transnationalism, and global governance. She is interested in how organizations and social movements - particularly labor and environmental movements, NGOs, and non-profits - respond and adapt to processes of regional economic integration and globalization. Professor Kay has published in the American Journal of Sociology and the American Sociological Review. She has worked as a consultant to the International Labour Organization, the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, and the United Farmworkers of America. At Harvard, she has affiliations with the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, and the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations.

• 1. Introduction: NAFTA and labor transnationalism; Part I. The Emergence of Transnationalism: 2. Labor nationalism: diplomacy and distance among unions prior to NAFTA; 3. NAFTA as catalyst: constituting transnational actors and interests; 4. Constituting transnational labor rights; 5. Seizing the opportunity NAFTA provided; Part II. Variations in Transnationalism: 6. Missing the opportunity NAFTA provided; 7. Explaining variation in the emergence of labor transnationalism; Part III. Conclusions: 8. Global governance and labor transnationalism.

“In the bourgeoning interdisciplinary field of transnational studies, Professor Kay once again has demonstrated that she is the leading sociologist of transnationalism of her generation with this pathbreaking book. A must-read!” —Sanjeev Khagram, University of Washington