Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book intends to make a contribution to fill the gap left by previous researchers on the European Union. It addresses the contexts in which the Iberian trade union confederations are operating. Both the making of global governance and the emergence of regional trading blocks will be analyzed carefully, so that one can be aware of the structure of opportunities and constraints that interest groups have to face today. The book analyses the transformation of the national systems of intermediation in the 1990s. It deals with subnational and supranational policies and strategies of Iberian trade union confederations. The book concludes by making some conclusions on the redesigning of European trade unionism in general, and Iberian trade unionism in particular, within the new structures of opportunities and constraints imposed by global and European Union governance.