ABSTRACT
The definition of European transnational solidarity and how to measure it will be elaborated on in this chapter. The character of European solidarity is actually a subject of inductive analysis. Nevertheless, a basic definition of solidarity and its expression needs to be elaborated on first. I will contrast the understanding of solidarity in this study with the implicit assumptions made by other scholars. I will argue in favour of a context-sensitive consideration of solidarity in contrast to the national bias contained in other studies. Another objective of this chapter is to present how one can generalize on the findings. The case selection criteria correspond to the theoretical assumptions made by other scholars. I will summarize the debate with a focus on the factors that are supposed to hinder transnational engagement. The first subchapter includes a presentation of the present literature on the
cooperation of trade unions within the context of European integration. The obstacles to cooperation have been taken into account for case selection. Furthermore, I will outline the conceptualization of cooperation and integration in Europeanization theories to highlight my own contribution. I will present my arguments in favour of conceptualizing solidarity as action and relations between trade unions instead of assessing it based on analysis of institutional or legal measures or survey-like questions on attitudes. Then I will discuss the appropriateness of the case study method in answering my research questions and reveal rationales behind choosing the cases. The correspondence of my cases to the present literature on trade union cooperation will be further highlighted. Then I will explain the generalizability of the findings by describing the epistemology, presentation of data and representativeness of cases. Finally, a short description of data sources and interview method will be presented.
