Book reviews : LABOUR ORGANISATION AND DEVELOPMENT: CASE STUDIES Edited by Michael Hess. NCDS Asia Pacific Press, Australian National University, Canberra, 1998, 168 pp., $20 (paperback)
Abstract
Book reviewsLABOUR ORGANISATION AND DEVELOPMENT: CASE STUDIES Edited by Michael Hess. NCDS Asia Pacific Press, Australian National University, Canberra, 1998, 168 pp., $20 (paperback) SAGE Publications, Inc.1999DOI: 10.1177/002218569904100410 Katherine Hutchings QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY With the growing interest in working conditions in the developing world in recent years, there has been a spate of books that examine industrial relations in the Asia-Pacific region. Many of these have been written by traditional experts in industrial relations in developed nations and often fail to grasp the nuances of the socio-cultural, legislative and political situations in Asian nations and the implications these have for their style of industrial relations. Fortunately, the same cannot be said for this particular text; it contains chapters written by a range of both established and new authors to the field of industrial relations in developing nations, and all the contributors grapple well with the complexities of industrial relations in nations in the process of modernisation and emerging political participation and democracy. Unlike many editorial overviews that do little more than summarise the chapters contained in the volume, Hess's introductory chapter serves as a very valuable comment on industrial relations and the changing role of union -