Organized Labor and US Foreign Policy
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Florida International University FIU Digital Commons FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations University Graduate School 11-1-2012 Organized Labor and U.S. Foreign Policy: The Solidarity Center in Historical Context George Nelson Bass III Florida International University, [email protected] DOI: 10.25148/etd.FI12113003 Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Bass, George Nelson III, "Organized Labor and U.S. Foreign Policy: The oS lidarity Center in Historical Context" (2012). FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 752. https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/etd/752 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the University Graduate School at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY Miami, Florida ORGANIZED LABOR AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY: THE SOLIDARITY CENTER IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in POLITICAL SCIENCE by G. Nelson Bass III 2012 To: Dean Kenneth G. Furton College of Arts and Science This dissertation, written by G. Nelson Bass III, and entitled Organized Labor and U.S. Foreign Policy: The Solidarity Center in Historical Context, having been approved in respect to style and intellectual content, is referred to you for judgment. We have read this dissertation and recommend that it be approved. _______________________________________ Guillermo J. Grenier _______________________________________ Felix Martin _______________________________________ Nicol C. Rae _______________________________________ Richard Tardanico _______________________________________ Ronald W. Cox, Major Professor Date of Defense: November 1, 2012 The dissertation of G. Nelson Bass III is approved. _______________________________________ Dean Kenneth G. Furton College of Arts and Sciences _______________________________________ Dean Lakshmi N. Reddi University Graduate School Florida International University, 2012 ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I wish to first thank my parents, Carolyn and Nelson Bass Jr., for their constant support, guidance and encouragement, which has given me the drive to achieve my goals. In addition, I owe a special debt of gratitude to my amazing and wonderful wife, Lindsay, who always believed in me. I could have never done this without her support, inspiration, and love. I am enormously thankful to the members of my dissertation committee: Dr. Ronald W. Cox, Dr. Guillermo Grenier, Dr. Felix Martin, Dr. Nicol C. Rae, and Dr. Richard Tardanico, whose comments and feedback were of invaluable assistance to me in the process of writing and completing my dissertation. I am eternally grateful to Dr. Cox, who has been a source of guidance for the last six years, both intellectually and as a role model for what every professor should strive to be. Finally, I would like to thank the Department of Politics and International Relations at Florida International University for granting me a Graduate Teaching Assistantship, which provided me with the opportunity to attend graduate school and allowed me to gain valuable experience with excellent professors. iii ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION ORGANIZED LABOR AND U.S. FOREIGN POLICY: THE SOLIDARITY CENTER IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT by G. Nelson Bass III Florida International University, 2012 Miami, Florida Professor Ronald W. Cox, Major Professor During the Cold War the foreign policy of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), was heavily criticized by scholars and activists for following the lead of the U.S. state in its overseas operations. In a wide range of states, the AFL-CIO worked to destabilize governments selected by the U.S. state for regime change, while in others the Federation helped stabilize client regimes of the U.S. state. In 1997 the four regional organizations that previously carried out AFL- CIO foreign policy were consolidated into the American Center for International Labor Solidarity (Solidarity Center). My dissertation is an attempt to analyze whether the foreign policy of the AFL-CIO in the Solidarity Center era is marked by continuity or change with past practices. At the same time, this study will attempt to add to the debate over the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the post-Cold War era, and its implications for future study. Using the qualitative “process-tracing” detailed by of Alexander George and Andrew Bennett (2005) my study examines a wide array of primary and secondary sources, including documents from the NED and AFL-CIO, in order to analyze the iv relationship between the Solidarity Center and the U.S. state from 2002-2009. Furthermore, after analyzing broad trends of NED grants to the Solidarity Center, this study examines three dissimilar case studies including Venezuela, Haiti, and Iraq and the Middle East and North African (MENA) region to further explore the connections between U.S. foreign policy goals and the Solidarity Center operations. The study concludes that the evidence indicates continuity with past AFL-CIO foreign policy practices whereby the Solidarity Center follows the lead of the U.S. state. It has been found that the patterns of NED funding indicate that the Solidarity Center closely tailors its operations abroad in areas of importance to the U.S. state, that it is heavily reliant on state funding via the NED for its operations, and that the Solidarity Center works closely with U.S. allies and coalitions in these regions. Finally, this study argues for the relevance of “top-down” NGO creation and direction in the post-Cold War era. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. .......................................................................................................................................... 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................... 1 THE AFL & AFL-CIO FOREIGN POLICY AND BUSINESS UNIONISM: COLD WAR SCHOLARSHIP ................................................................................................... 6 BUSINESS UNIONISM ................................................................................................. 9 ANTI-COMMUNISM, LABOR ELITES, CAPTURE, OR ALL THREE… .............. 14 COLD WAR SCHOLARSHIP ON AFL-CIO FOREIGN POLICY ............................ 14 SUMMARY OF COLD WAR LITERATURE............................................................. 29 CENTRAL PROPOSITION .......................................................................................... 30 METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................ 31 Case Selection ............................................................................................................ 31 Process Tracing and Historical Explanation as Methodology ................................... 32 Plan of Dissertation: ................................................................................................... 35 II. ....................................................................................................................................... 37 FEDERATION FOREIGN POLICY DURING THE COLD WAR ............................. 37 Gompers and the Early Roots of AFL Foreign Policy ............................................... 39 The Institutional Evolution of the Labor-State Relationship ..................................... 41 The Federation Foreign Institutes: A Primer .............................................................. 49 The AFL and AFL-CIO & the Cold War: Stabilization............................................. 55 The AFL and AFL-CIO & the Cold War: Destabilization ......................................... 76 Shifting Funding Flows: Labor, the NED, and “Democracy Promotion” ................. 84 The Creation of the National Endowment for Democracy ........................................ 87 The NED and Democracy Promotion as “Limited Democracy” or Polyarchy .......... 91 Chapter Summary ....................................................................................................... 94 III....................................................................................................................................... 96 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 96 THE SOLIDARITY CENTER CREATION AND EFFORTS TO OPEN THE BOOKS ....................................................................................................................................... 98 The ACILS AND FUNDING ...................................................................................... 103 THE SOLIDARITY CENTER AND THE NED ........................................................ 109 ACILS-NED EUROPEAN GRANTS 2001-2009 ...................................................... 114 ACILS-NED MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA (MENA) GRANTS 2001-2009 121 ACILS-NED LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN GRANTS 2001-2009 ........ 125 ACILS-NED ASIA AND CHINA GRANTS 2001-2009 ........................................... 128 IMPLICATIONS OF THE SOURCES OF SOLIDARITY CENTER FUNDING .... 131 CHAPTER SUMMARY ............................................................................................. 132 vi IV. ..................................................................................................................................