In the Interest of Others
In the Interest of Others
develops a new theory of organizational leadership
and governance to explain why some organizations expand their scope of action in ways that
do not benefit their members directly. John Ahlquist and Margaret Levi document eighty
years of such activism by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union in the United
States and the Waterside Workers Federation in Australia. They systematically compare the
ILWU and WWF to the Teamsters and the International Longshoremen's Association, two
American transport industry labor unions that actively discouraged the pursuit of
political causes unrelated to their own economic interests. Drawing on a wealth of
original data, Ahlquist and Levi show how activist organizations can profoundly transform
the views of members about their political efficacy and the collective actions they are
willing to contemplate. They find that leaders who ask for support of projects without
obvious material benefits must first demonstrate their ability to deliver the goods and
services members expect. These leaders must also build governance institutions that
coordinate expectations about their objectives and the behavior of members.
In the Interest of Others reveals how activist labor unions expand the
community of fate and provoke preferences that transcend the private interests of
individual members. Ahlquist and Levi then extend this logic to other membership
organizations, including religious groups, political parties, and the state itself.
List of Figures ix List of Tables xi Acknowledgments xiii
Chapter 1: Beyond Economism 1 Our Argument 5 The Cases 10 Alternative Accounts 15 The
Chapters 18
Chapter 2: Building an Encompassing Community of Fate and Winning Consent 22 Leaders,
Governance, and Organizational Performance 25 Modeling Organizational Scope and Governance
28 From Leadership Rents to Organizational Governance Institutions 38 Summary and
Conclusions 43 Appendix 45
Chapter 3: Pork, Perks, and Predation 53 International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT)
55 The ILA 71 Discussion 77
Chapter 4: An Injury to Anyone Is an Injury to All 79 Commonalities Between the ILWU
and WWF 80 ILWU 84 WWF 103 Tension between Political and Industrial Commitments 113
Continuity Over Time 114 Conclusion 118
Chapter 5: Managing Heterogeneity 120 Managing the Heterogeneity of Locals 121 Managing
Individual Heterogeneity 135 Conclusion 152
Chapter 6: Provoking Preferences 155 The Literature 157 Preference Provocation 162
Evidence of Preference Provocation 168 Evidence of Contingent Consent 181 Conclusions 183
Chapter 7: Political Attitudes and Behavior among ILWU Members, with Amanda B. Clayton
185 Employment, Compensation, and Shipping Volumes on the U.S. West Coast 187
International Trade and Public Opinion 189 The ILWU's Organizational Principles and
International Trade 192 ILWU Members' and Affiliates' Attitudes Toward Trade 199 ILWU
Affiliates' Political Behavior 212 Robustness Considerations 216 Conclusion 219 Appendices
220
Chapter 8: Signaling Solidarity? 230 Bargaining, Strikes, and Politics 233 The ILWU 238
The WWF 251 Conclusion 256 Appendix 259
Chapter 9: Conclusions and Implications 261 Union Behavior 262 Other Membership
Organizations 265 Firms 268 The State 269 Other Implications 272 Communities of Fate 276
Bibliography 279 Index 303
336 pages, Paperback