The Democratic Aspects of Trade Union Recognition by Alan Bogg
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.2010.00814-4.x |
| Date | 01 July 2010 |
| Published date | 01 July 2010 |
| Author | Ruth Dukes |
contradiction between the author’s sensitivity towards underprivilegedcitizens in
the developing world and indige nous peoples, and his unquestio ning support for
an ethical consensus rooted in democracy, an ideology strongly associated with
western capitalism.While readers may initially sense Richardson’s wholesale dis-
dain for the neoliberal form of governance, his condemnation of state-centred,
socialist attempts to insert morality into growth-obsessed ¢nance is equally bit-
ing.With no target left untouched, Richardson’s conclusion is ultimatelyweak, as
he suggests a kind of synergy between market forces and clear rules as the only
way to establish socially responsible investment, a concept which itself remains
almost impossible to de¢ne for the purposes of either diagnosis or treatment.
Social Responsible Investment Law is a major achievement which o¡ers highly
instructive general commentary on environmental law and ¢nancial law. It will
undoubtedly remain the pri ncipal treatise on SRI as the body of work in this
exciting ¢eld continues to grow in conjunction with investors’ rising awareness
of the social consequences of their private ¢nancial decisions.
David Collins
n
Alan Bogg,The Democratic Aspects of Trade Union Recognition,Oxford:
Hart, 2009, 336 pp, hb d45.00.
The statedaim of Alan Bogg’s monograph is to o¡era sustained criticalanalysis of
the legal regulationof trade union recognition: the legal regulation, that is,of the
process by which an employer agrees to bargain collectively with a trade union.
The analysis is to be undertaken in three stages. Bogg will ¢rst use political phi-
losophy to elucidate the character of pastapproaches tosuch regulation in theUK.
He will then characterise the statutory recognition procedure introduced by the
¢rst Blair Government in 1999 with reference to the strand of political thought
which most signi¢cantly informed it: ‘State-neutral’ liberalism. Finally, he will
o¡er an alternative and superior basis for government policy in the ¢eld of trade
union recognition with reference to civic republican theories and, in particular,
the idea of deliberative democracy.
In fact,Bogg’s monographachieves muchmore than this. Inthe middle section
of the book, he broadens the discussion beyond trade union recognition to
include further aspects of Labour Government policy in the ¢eld of collective
labour relations: its refusal to amend Conservative laws prohibiting closed shop
agreements and secondary industrial action; its failure to take e¡ective steps to
protect the right of trade un ions to discipline no n-striking members. Discussion
of these policies is used by Bogg to con¢rm his characterisation of Labour’s
approach as State-neutral liberal: as based upon the principle that government
ought not to a⁄rm in law any particular vision of the good life, but ought,
instead, to be neutral toward the moral choices of its citizens. (So, for example,
the government ought not to ‘interfere’with the fre e choice of individuals to join
trade unions or not, by taking steps that would allow closed shop agreements to
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The City Law School, City UniversityLondon.
Reviews
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r2010The Authors. Journal Compilation r2010The Modern Law ReviewLimited.
(2010)73(4) 679^696
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