Since Charles Tilly’s path-breaking work on the emergence of the modern pro- test politics during the historical transformation from an old to a new repertoire of contention (Tilly 1984, 1986 and 1995), social movements have been conceptualised as being inherently national or sub-national phenomena. Now, things seem to have changed. Over the past few years, transnational contention has increased considerably and a new collective actor has emerged. This new collective actor – which is defined variously as the no-global movement, anti-globalisation movement, alter-globalisation movement, global justice movement (GJM), movement for a globalisation from below, among other labels – includes a wide range of groups, mobilises various social networks and addresses many different, albeit interrelated issues relating to the struggle against neoliberalism (Sommier 2003). The most salient issues bear on social and economic injustice, North-South inequalities, international trade rules and barriers, fair trade, global environmental problems, sustainable development and so forth.1 We use the label ‘global justice movement’ as we think that what unites the various organisations and groups mobilising on these issues is their willingness to bring about a new world order based on justice.
As sociological neo-institutionalist theories have shown, social and political institutions are not only a set of rules, procedures, organizational routines and governance structures (see March and Olsen 1984), but they also provide norms and habits that determine individual choices and behaviours. in this chapter, we would like to apply this line of reasoning to propose a theoretical framework for the study of collective action in the field of unemployment politics. We propose a framework for analysis based on the idea that the form and content of political claim-making on issues relating to unemployment are influenced in important ways by the prevailing conceptions of the welfare state and the consequent institutional approaches to unemployment.
