Mangan, D.

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              City, University of London Institutional RepositoryCitation: Mangan, D. (2018). 'The rise of the illiberal workforce?'. Regulating for Globalization Trade, This is the accepted version of the paper. This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link:  http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/20241/Link to published version: Copyright and reuse: City Research Online aims to make research outputs of City, University of London available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the author(s) and/or copyright holders. URLs from City Research Online may be freely distributed and linked to.City Research Online:            http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/            publications@city.ac.ukCity Research OnlineThe rise of the illiberal workforce?Regulating for Globalization14/08/2018David Mangan (City, University of London)Please refer to this post as: David Mangan, ‘The rise of the illiberalworkforce?’, Regulating for Globalization, 14/08/2018,http://regulatingforglobalization.com/2018/08/14/the-rise-of-the-illiberal-workforce/New York Stock ExchangeIn 1997, Fareed Zakaria wrote of illiberal democracies. His concern centredaround the freedoms (such as speech, assembly, religion, property) thatZakaria termed ‘constitutional liberalism’. These natural rights held byhuman beings were to be respected by government. Illiberal democraciescasually ignore constitutional limitations and undercut the aforementioned‘basic’ rights. Zakaria’s observation has offered insight for contemporaryevents: ‘Constitutional liberalism has led to democracy, but democracy doesnot seem to bring constitutional liberalism.’The illiberal workforceCircumstances in Western politics have given rise to the idea that there is arejection of liberalism; but a particularised version in which basic rightsare being curbed for a segment of the population based upon economic worries.The workforce has been closely aligned with this refutation. (It was not toolong ago that ‘the resilience of neoliberalism’ was the focus.) The narrativeis that they are seeking their part of the growth that liberalism wassupposed to have provided. This failing to have transpired, workers are nowcalling time and demanding their share through the right of franchise;seeking to put in place politicians who will address their concerns. It maybe that workers have reached a breaking point in which they see the gains ofothers coming at their expense. When this arises, as the authors of The Clashof Rights identify, attitudes towards the rights of others change.Economic concerns of the workforcePart of the difficulty with a view of the workforce as illiberal is that itdismisses the nuanced nature of circumstances. One difficulty is that theworkforce is not comprised of a homogenous group of individuals. The fears ofworkers with regards to liberalism can be linked to the economic,particularly as a reverberation from The Great Recession. This in itself isa contested point because there are also social considerations.Publications in the last few years include those which investigatethe decline or even failure of liberalism. A proponent of liberalism, TheEconomist has run a series on its origins. The collection of publicationsspeaks to the on-going impact of The Great Recession. The perception ofoutcomes linked to that period of time (correctly or otherwise) include: theincrease in the wealth of the world’s richest and the rising cost of livingwith wage increases that do not match. There has been a growing sense offrustration localised within the workforce.A difficulty with a simple alignment between workers and illiberalism is onethat has been seen with trade unions. It was a notable point in Britishlabour history when Tony Blair wrote in his foreword to Fairness at Work thathis government’s policies will ‘draw a line under the issue of industrialrelations law.’ The insinuation was that trade unions had held up progress.A view that workers support illiberal stances carries the potential for asimilar affiliation; that is, being an obstacle to innovation and change.

'The rise of the illiberal workforce?'

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'The rise of the illiberal workforce?'

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