The Politics of Labor Reform in Latin America: Between Flexibility and Rights

Abstract

The Politics of Labor Reform in Latin America: Between Flexibility and Rights. By Maria Lorena Cook. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2007. 231p. $45.00.This is a very ambitious work, meticulously researched and studiously written, often presenting a dazzling display of intricate information. It is quite unusual for a single author to show such mastery over various country contexts. The book could easily have been written by several authors as it carefully covers and interprets labor laws in six Latin American countries, focusing mainly on the period in which flexibilized labor policies were implemented. Maria Lorena Cook couples countries that share historical and institutional similarities, namely: Argentina and Brazil are chosen as having legacies of state corporate systems; Chile and Peru represent postradical regimes; and Mexico and Bolivia experienced revolutionary pasts. Introductory overviews on labor reform in Latin America and concluding comments on where these countries stand today between flexibility and rights act as bookends for the paired country chapters. This is a skillful exegesis of pertinent documents, voluminous secondary literature, and expert testimony concerning two decades of labor laws after the restitution of democracy in the postauthoritarian period in these countries—unfinished as that process continued to be in Peru and Bolivia (at the time of the book's completion in 2005).