Mobile Professional Voluntarism and International Development ─ Killing Me Softly?

This book poses a major revisionist challenge to 20th century British labour history, aiming to look beyond the Marxist and Fabian exclusion of working class experience, notably religion and self-help, in order to exaggerate ‘labour movement’ class cohesion. Instead of a ‘forward march’ to secular state-socialism, the research presented here is devoted to a rich diversity of social movements and ideas. In this collection of essays, the editors establish the liberal-pluralist tradition, with the following chapters covering three distinct sections. Part One, ‘Other Forms of Association’ covers subjects such as trade unions, the Co-operative Party, women’s community activism and Protestant Nonconformity. Part Two, ‘Other Leaders’, covers employer Edward Cadbury; Trades Union Congress leader Walter Citrine; and the electricians’ leader, Frank Chapple. Part Three, ‘Other Intellectuals’, considers G.D.H. Cole, Michael Young and left libertarianism by Stuart White. Readers interested in the British Labour movement will find this an invaluable resource.

Helen Louise Ackers holds a Chair in Global Social Justice at the University of Salford, UK. She has been actively involved in high impact social research for many years with a focus on the mobilities of the highly skilled and knowledge mobilisation processes. For the past eight years, she has been actively applying this expertise to the specific context of professional voluntarism and its impact on maternal and newborn health in Uganda.

James Ackers-Johnson holds a project management role at the University of Salford, UK. His background is in Business, Economics and Management. He has been involved in managing Global Health related projects in Uganda and India for the past seven years, focusing primarily on professional volunteer deployment, staff exchanges, capacity building, infrastructure development and the management of UK student elective placements.