Robin Archer
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198295389
- eISBN:
- 9780191598722
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198295383.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This book argues that by pursuing the goal of economic democracy, socialism can return to the centre of political life in the advanced capitalist countries. It seeks to demonstrate, to socialists and ...
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This book argues that by pursuing the goal of economic democracy, socialism can return to the centre of political life in the advanced capitalist countries. It seeks to demonstrate, to socialists and non‐socialists alike, that there is both a strong moral case for economic democracy and a feasible strategy for achieving it. In an economic democracy, companies operate in a market economy, but are governed by their workers. The argument that economic democracy is a morally desirable goal rests on an appeal to the value of individual freedom. Since workers are the only individuals who are subject to the authority of companies, it is workers, and not capitalists, who should exercise direct decision‐making control over those companies. The argument that economic democracy is a feasible goal rests on an appeal to the advantages of a corporatist industrial relations system. Corporatism enables workers to pursue economic democracy through a series of trade‐offs in which they exchange wage rises or other goods for incremental increases in control. But rational capitalists and governments—even social democratic governments—will only agree to these trade‐offs if certain conditions are met. The book sets out these conditions and shows that they have in fact been met in recent years.Less
This book argues that by pursuing the goal of economic democracy, socialism can return to the centre of political life in the advanced capitalist countries. It seeks to demonstrate, to socialists and non‐socialists alike, that there is both a strong moral case for economic democracy and a feasible strategy for achieving it. In an economic democracy, companies operate in a market economy, but are governed by their workers. The argument that economic democracy is a morally desirable goal rests on an appeal to the value of individual freedom. Since workers are the only individuals who are subject to the authority of companies, it is workers, and not capitalists, who should exercise direct decision‐making control over those companies. The argument that economic democracy is a feasible goal rests on an appeal to the advantages of a corporatist industrial relations system. Corporatism enables workers to pursue economic democracy through a series of trade‐offs in which they exchange wage rises or other goods for incremental increases in control. But rational capitalists and governments—even social democratic governments—will only agree to these trade‐offs if certain conditions are met. The book sets out these conditions and shows that they have in fact been met in recent years.
Colin Crouch
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198279747
- eISBN:
- 9780191599019
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198279744.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
For more than a century of development, the industrial relations systems of Western European countries grew in very diverse and changing ways. The forms they adopted can be mapped against a set of ...
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For more than a century of development, the industrial relations systems of Western European countries grew in very diverse and changing ways. The forms they adopted can be mapped against a set of basic types, and this study moves between historical detail and theoretical typology in order to capture the complexity of that mapping. The book traces the development of trade unions, organized employers, the state's role, and patterns of industrial conflict in 15 countries. It concludes by linking contemporary industrial relations systems to a longue durŽe of relations between states and societies reaching back to the Reformation.Less
For more than a century of development, the industrial relations systems of Western European countries grew in very diverse and changing ways. The forms they adopted can be mapped against a set of basic types, and this study moves between historical detail and theoretical typology in order to capture the complexity of that mapping. The book traces the development of trade unions, organized employers, the state's role, and patterns of industrial conflict in 15 countries. It concludes by linking contemporary industrial relations systems to a longue durŽe of relations between states and societies reaching back to the Reformation.
Bernhard Ebbinghaus
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199286119
- eISBN:
- 9780191604089
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199286116.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Three major regime typologies are compared: welfare regimes, production systems (or ‘varieties of capitalism’), and labor relations between employers and trade unions. These ideal type ...
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Three major regime typologies are compared: welfare regimes, production systems (or ‘varieties of capitalism’), and labor relations between employers and trade unions. These ideal type classifications are compared with empirical indicators for eight European countries, Japan, and the USA. The institutional affinities between protection, production, and partnership institutions, and the consequences they have are considered.Less
Three major regime typologies are compared: welfare regimes, production systems (or ‘varieties of capitalism’), and labor relations between employers and trade unions. These ideal type classifications are compared with empirical indicators for eight European countries, Japan, and the USA. The institutional affinities between protection, production, and partnership institutions, and the consequences they have are considered.
Christopher Candland and Rudra Sil
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199241149
- eISBN:
- 9780191598920
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199241147.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
The increasingly rapid transnational movement of capital, commodities, services, information, and technology force labour institutions everywhere to respond to new challenges and pressures. This is ...
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The increasingly rapid transnational movement of capital, commodities, services, information, and technology force labour institutions everywhere to respond to new challenges and pressures. This is evident in the effects of structural adjustment on political unionism in countries such as India and Mexico, in the shifts in employment practices and labour processes accompanying the privatization of state‐owned enterprises in post‐communist Europe and in China, and even in unanticipated shifts in industrial relations in Japan. This introductory chapter sets the stage for the rest of the volume by considering how the analysis of recent changes in industrial relations under conditions of economic transformation also serves to illuminate the social forces that frequently influence the politics of economic reform while helping to more effectively bridge the fields of comparative industrial relations and political economy. The chapter also emphasizes how the comparison of the changing experiences of workers and labour institutions in late‐industrializing and post‐socialist settings can be employed to systematically explore the meaning and limits of the currently fashionable concept of “globalization” in settings with different historical inheritances and institutional structures. Four specific points are highlighted in terms of the distinctiveness of the studies collected here. First, by comparing post‐socialist and late‐industrializing countries within a framework that combines industrial relations and political economy, this volume goes beyond the experiences of advanced industrial economies. Second, this volume elaborates the various historical process and social structures that shaped the distinctive formal and informal institutional arrangements designed to manage the complex relationships between labour, management, and the state, in very different kinds of economies. Third, in contrast to those comparative studies of industrial relations that ignore external effects, it explores how transformations in the global economy have affected existing institutions related to labour‐management relations while posing certain common challenges and opportunities for key economic factors in each country. Finally, in contrast to those who view “globalization” as a dominant force leading to the erosion of distinctive national economic institutions, this study focuses on labour institutions in order to detail how historical legacies and external constraints and opportunities are incorporated into distinctive strategies employed by labour and by other economic factors as they negotiate new pacts and reconsider existing institutional arrangements.Less
The increasingly rapid transnational movement of capital, commodities, services, information, and technology force labour institutions everywhere to respond to new challenges and pressures. This is evident in the effects of structural adjustment on political unionism in countries such as India and Mexico, in the shifts in employment practices and labour processes accompanying the privatization of state‐owned enterprises in post‐communist Europe and in China, and even in unanticipated shifts in industrial relations in Japan. This introductory chapter sets the stage for the rest of the volume by considering how the analysis of recent changes in industrial relations under conditions of economic transformation also serves to illuminate the social forces that frequently influence the politics of economic reform while helping to more effectively bridge the fields of comparative industrial relations and political economy. The chapter also emphasizes how the comparison of the changing experiences of workers and labour institutions in late‐industrializing and post‐socialist settings can be employed to systematically explore the meaning and limits of the currently fashionable concept of “globalization” in settings with different historical inheritances and institutional structures. Four specific points are highlighted in terms of the distinctiveness of the studies collected here. First, by comparing post‐socialist and late‐industrializing countries within a framework that combines industrial relations and political economy, this volume goes beyond the experiences of advanced industrial economies. Second, this volume elaborates the various historical process and social structures that shaped the distinctive formal and informal institutional arrangements designed to manage the complex relationships between labour, management, and the state, in very different kinds of economies. Third, in contrast to those comparative studies of industrial relations that ignore external effects, it explores how transformations in the global economy have affected existing institutions related to labour‐management relations while posing certain common challenges and opportunities for key economic factors in each country. Finally, in contrast to those who view “globalization” as a dominant force leading to the erosion of distinctive national economic institutions, this study focuses on labour institutions in order to detail how historical legacies and external constraints and opportunities are incorporated into distinctive strategies employed by labour and by other economic factors as they negotiate new pacts and reconsider existing institutional arrangements.
Colin Crouch
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198279747
- eISBN:
- 9780191599019
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198279744.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Changes in relations between states, organized employers, and trade unions in western European countries are tracked through a series of 'snapshots’, concentrating on the situation reached around ...
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Changes in relations between states, organized employers, and trade unions in western European countries are tracked through a series of 'snapshots’, concentrating on the situation reached around 1870, 1900, and 1914. At each moment there is a review, partly quantitative, of the position of trade union and employer organization, the role of the state, industrial conflict, and the development of relations among the partners. These data are used to map national cases against the theoretical scheme developed in Part I.Less
Changes in relations between states, organized employers, and trade unions in western European countries are tracked through a series of 'snapshots’, concentrating on the situation reached around 1870, 1900, and 1914. At each moment there is a review, partly quantitative, of the position of trade union and employer organization, the role of the state, industrial conflict, and the development of relations among the partners. These data are used to map national cases against the theoretical scheme developed in Part I.
Colin Crouch
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198279747
- eISBN:
- 9780191599019
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198279744.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Changes in relations between states, organized employers and trade unions in western European countries are tracked through a series of 'snapshots’, concentrating on the situation reached around 1950 ...
More
Changes in relations between states, organized employers and trade unions in western European countries are tracked through a series of 'snapshots’, concentrating on the situation reached around 1950 and 1962. At each moment there is a review, partly quantitative, of the position of trade union and employer organization, the role of the state, industrial conflict and the development of relations among the partners. These data are used to map national cases against the theoretical scheme developed in Part I.Less
Changes in relations between states, organized employers and trade unions in western European countries are tracked through a series of 'snapshots’, concentrating on the situation reached around 1950 and 1962. At each moment there is a review, partly quantitative, of the position of trade union and employer organization, the role of the state, industrial conflict and the development of relations among the partners. These data are used to map national cases against the theoretical scheme developed in Part I.
Colin Crouch
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198279747
- eISBN:
- 9780191599019
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198279744.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Changes in relations between states, organized employers, and trade unions in western European countries are tracked through a series of 'snapshots’, concentrating on the situation reached around ...
More
Changes in relations between states, organized employers, and trade unions in western European countries are tracked through a series of 'snapshots’, concentrating on the situation reached around 1925 and 1938. At each moment there is a review, partly quantitative, of the position of trade union and employer organization, the role of the state, industrial conflict and the development of relations among the partners. These data are used to map national cases against the theoretical scheme developed in Part I.Less
Changes in relations between states, organized employers, and trade unions in western European countries are tracked through a series of 'snapshots’, concentrating on the situation reached around 1925 and 1938. At each moment there is a review, partly quantitative, of the position of trade union and employer organization, the role of the state, industrial conflict and the development of relations among the partners. These data are used to map national cases against the theoretical scheme developed in Part I.
Colin Crouch
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198279747
- eISBN:
- 9780191599019
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198279744.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Changes in relations between states, organized employers and trade unions in western European countries are tracked through a series of 'snapshots’, concentrating on the situation reached around 1975 ...
More
Changes in relations between states, organized employers and trade unions in western European countries are tracked through a series of 'snapshots’, concentrating on the situation reached around 1975 and 1990. At each moment there is a review, partly quantitative, of the position of trade union and employer organization, the role of the state, industrial conflict and the development of relations among the partners. These data are used to map national cases against the theoretical scheme developed in Part I.Less
Changes in relations between states, organized employers and trade unions in western European countries are tracked through a series of 'snapshots’, concentrating on the situation reached around 1975 and 1990. At each moment there is a review, partly quantitative, of the position of trade union and employer organization, the role of the state, industrial conflict and the development of relations among the partners. These data are used to map national cases against the theoretical scheme developed in Part I.
Bernhard Ebbinghaus
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199286119
- eISBN:
- 9780191604089
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199286116.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Since the 1970s, early exit from work has become a major challenge in modern welfare states. Governments, employers, and unions alike once thought of early retirement as a peaceful solution to the ...
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Since the 1970s, early exit from work has become a major challenge in modern welfare states. Governments, employers, and unions alike once thought of early retirement as a peaceful solution to the economic problems of mass unemployment and industrial restructuring. Today, governments and international organizations advocate the postponement of retirement and an increase in activity among older workers. Comparing eight European countries, the USA, and Japan, this book demonstrates significant cross-national differences in early retirement across countries and over time. The study evaluates the impact of major variations in welfare regimes, production systems, and labor relations. It stresses the importance of the ‘pull factor’ of extensive welfare state provisions, particularly in Continental Europe; the ‘push factor’ of labor shedding strategies by firms, particularly in Anglo-American market economies; and the role of employers and worker representatives in negotiating retirement policies, particularly in coordinated market economies. Over the last three decades, early retirement has become a popular social policy and employment practice in the workplace, adding to the fiscal crises and employment problems of today’s welfare states. Attempts to reverse early retirement policies have led to major reform debates. Unilateral government policies to cut back on social benefits have not had the expected employment results due to resistance from employers, workers, and their organizations. Successful reforms require the cooperation of both sides. This study provides comprehensive empirical analyses and a balanced approach to both the pull and the push factors needed to understand the development of early retirement regimes.Less
Since the 1970s, early exit from work has become a major challenge in modern welfare states. Governments, employers, and unions alike once thought of early retirement as a peaceful solution to the economic problems of mass unemployment and industrial restructuring. Today, governments and international organizations advocate the postponement of retirement and an increase in activity among older workers. Comparing eight European countries, the USA, and Japan, this book demonstrates significant cross-national differences in early retirement across countries and over time. The study evaluates the impact of major variations in welfare regimes, production systems, and labor relations. It stresses the importance of the ‘pull factor’ of extensive welfare state provisions, particularly in Continental Europe; the ‘push factor’ of labor shedding strategies by firms, particularly in Anglo-American market economies; and the role of employers and worker representatives in negotiating retirement policies, particularly in coordinated market economies. Over the last three decades, early retirement has become a popular social policy and employment practice in the workplace, adding to the fiscal crises and employment problems of today’s welfare states. Attempts to reverse early retirement policies have led to major reform debates. Unilateral government policies to cut back on social benefits have not had the expected employment results due to resistance from employers, workers, and their organizations. Successful reforms require the cooperation of both sides. This study provides comprehensive empirical analyses and a balanced approach to both the pull and the push factors needed to understand the development of early retirement regimes.
Xiaobo Lu
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199241149
- eISBN:
- 9780191598920
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199241147.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
For nearly three decades, industrial relations in the People's Republic of China were characterized by what were common in state socialist systems—an economy dominated by state‐owned enterprises, ...
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For nearly three decades, industrial relations in the People's Republic of China were characterized by what were common in state socialist systems—an economy dominated by state‐owned enterprises, employee dependence on the enterprise, state‐controlled union organizations, and relative labour peace. Despite sporadic working class protests in PRC history since 1949, there were no organized labour movements. Labour disputes were usually described as ‘contradictions between different parts of the same organization’ by the communist authorities. With the economic reforms launched in 1979, Chinese industrial relations entered a period of change. This chapter proceeds on the premise that political choices as well as institutional legacies of the past, in state socialist countries such as China, affect the sequence and methods of transformation of industrial relations. It aims at laying out some basic features of industrial relations under state socialist regimes and in transition economies with a focus on China. It argues that although the internationalization of the Chinese economy has had a major impact over the past decade, the character and direction of change in Chinese industrial relations is best understood within the framework of the general transition from state socialism to market socialism. Neither the changing international political economy nor the transition from state socialism has diminished the significant role of the state in redefining and managing industrial relations. The pace, scope, and sequence of changes in industrial relations are thus determined not only by choices by key factors responding to a global economy but also significantly by structural constraints derived from the entrenched danwei (work‐unit) system that stood at the core of the pre‐reform Chinese industry.Less
For nearly three decades, industrial relations in the People's Republic of China were characterized by what were common in state socialist systems—an economy dominated by state‐owned enterprises, employee dependence on the enterprise, state‐controlled union organizations, and relative labour peace. Despite sporadic working class protests in PRC history since 1949, there were no organized labour movements. Labour disputes were usually described as ‘contradictions between different parts of the same organization’ by the communist authorities. With the economic reforms launched in 1979, Chinese industrial relations entered a period of change. This chapter proceeds on the premise that political choices as well as institutional legacies of the past, in state socialist countries such as China, affect the sequence and methods of transformation of industrial relations. It aims at laying out some basic features of industrial relations under state socialist regimes and in transition economies with a focus on China. It argues that although the internationalization of the Chinese economy has had a major impact over the past decade, the character and direction of change in Chinese industrial relations is best understood within the framework of the general transition from state socialism to market socialism. Neither the changing international political economy nor the transition from state socialism has diminished the significant role of the state in redefining and managing industrial relations. The pace, scope, and sequence of changes in industrial relations are thus determined not only by choices by key factors responding to a global economy but also significantly by structural constraints derived from the entrenched danwei (work‐unit) system that stood at the core of the pre‐reform Chinese industry.
Chris Wrigley
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199212668
- eISBN:
- 9780191712807
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199212668.003.0010
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Financial Economics
British industrial relations changed very markedly during the 20th century. The ‘frontier of control’ between managements and workforces oscillated greatly. The lines of demarcation lay were often ...
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British industrial relations changed very markedly during the 20th century. The ‘frontier of control’ between managements and workforces oscillated greatly. The lines of demarcation lay were often affected by the changing role of the state, as during the two world wars, and by major changes in international and national economies. There were often notably different conditions between the private and the public sectors, between large and small workplaces, between predominantly male and predominantly female workforces, as well as a myriad of variations between different industries and services.Less
British industrial relations changed very markedly during the 20th century. The ‘frontier of control’ between managements and workforces oscillated greatly. The lines of demarcation lay were often affected by the changing role of the state, as during the two world wars, and by major changes in international and national economies. There were often notably different conditions between the private and the public sectors, between large and small workplaces, between predominantly male and predominantly female workforces, as well as a myriad of variations between different industries and services.
Rudra Sil
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199241149
- eISBN:
- 9780191598920
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199241147.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
While the attempt to integrate the Russian economy into global capitalism has produced several market‐oriented economic institutions that formally appear to converge with those in the advanced ...
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While the attempt to integrate the Russian economy into global capitalism has produced several market‐oriented economic institutions that formally appear to converge with those in the advanced industrial West, ‘globalization’ has had far less of an impact on the prevalent norms and attitudes of key economic factors at the local and regional level where many of the most successful enterprises are focusing their energies. This chapter may be summarized in terms of three tentative claims designed primarily to raise some questions concerning the prevailing assumptions concerning the nature and direction of the post‐Soviet transformation. First, the privatization program and other market‐oriented reforms under Yeltsin, while certainly ushering in a new set of institutions in the post‐Soviet era, do not represent a steady, unidirectional process of change leading towards the integration of Russia into the global economy and society. Second, the framework of ‘globalization’ works even less to capture the transformation of industrial relations in the post‐Soviet period, as evident in the failed attempt to develop a tripartite corporatist framework for bargaining on key issues, and in the increasing evidence of bilateral dealings and alliances between pro‐ and anti‐reform segments that cut across the business/labour divide and contact between government officials and the most influential trade unions and business associations across different regions. And finally, while the old system of industrial relations may not be much in evidence today, a substantial number of industrialists and Russian workers appear to be responding to the transformation of the post‐Soviet economy by focusing on regionally based, enterprise‐level survival strategies nested in informal ‘moral’ understandings that emerged in the context of enterprise paternalism in the Soviet era and that continue to survive within the context of new economic institutions.Less
While the attempt to integrate the Russian economy into global capitalism has produced several market‐oriented economic institutions that formally appear to converge with those in the advanced industrial West, ‘globalization’ has had far less of an impact on the prevalent norms and attitudes of key economic factors at the local and regional level where many of the most successful enterprises are focusing their energies. This chapter may be summarized in terms of three tentative claims designed primarily to raise some questions concerning the prevailing assumptions concerning the nature and direction of the post‐Soviet transformation. First, the privatization program and other market‐oriented reforms under Yeltsin, while certainly ushering in a new set of institutions in the post‐Soviet era, do not represent a steady, unidirectional process of change leading towards the integration of Russia into the global economy and society. Second, the framework of ‘globalization’ works even less to capture the transformation of industrial relations in the post‐Soviet period, as evident in the failed attempt to develop a tripartite corporatist framework for bargaining on key issues, and in the increasing evidence of bilateral dealings and alliances between pro‐ and anti‐reform segments that cut across the business/labour divide and contact between government officials and the most influential trade unions and business associations across different regions. And finally, while the old system of industrial relations may not be much in evidence today, a substantial number of industrialists and Russian workers appear to be responding to the transformation of the post‐Soviet economy by focusing on regionally based, enterprise‐level survival strategies nested in informal ‘moral’ understandings that emerged in the context of enterprise paternalism in the Soviet era and that continue to survive within the context of new economic institutions.
Rudra Sil and Christopher Candland
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199241149
- eISBN:
- 9780191598920
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199241147.003.0011
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This concluding chapter considers what is gained by juxtaposing the varied analyses within a common framework intended to analyse the effects of distinctive institutional legacies on the responses to ...
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This concluding chapter considers what is gained by juxtaposing the varied analyses within a common framework intended to analyse the effects of distinctive institutional legacies on the responses to common pressures frequently associated with ‘globalization.’ The chapter begins by considering some of the shared features of industrial relations that emerged in the course of industrialization in late developing and socialist states, noting some factors that make it difficult to apply models based on the experiences of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (O.E.C.D.) countries to the analysis of labour regimes elsewhere. The comparisons also reveal important differences that distinguished industrial relations in socialist countries from those in post‐colonial contexts, and the ways in which these differences may contribute to different patterns and outcomes in the transformation of industrial relations in the two contexts. The remainder of the chapter highlights similarities and differences in trends across the cases considered in the contributions to this volume, and goes on to inductively construct a theoretical scheme for tracing how varied historical inheritances in the late‐industrializing and post‐socialist economies create different sets of expectations, pressures, and challenges for economic reformers as well as for workers and organized labour. The role of unique historical factors and institutional structures is also considered, with new questions raised on the basis of specific variations that occur within or cut across the categories of post‐socialist and post‐colonial settings. The chapter concludes by suggesting that the concept of globalization is most useful when it is employed not as a universal model for projecting trajectories of institutional change but as a more restricted framework for capturing the common challenges facing labour and other economic factors in the process of economic adjustment.Less
This concluding chapter considers what is gained by juxtaposing the varied analyses within a common framework intended to analyse the effects of distinctive institutional legacies on the responses to common pressures frequently associated with ‘globalization.’ The chapter begins by considering some of the shared features of industrial relations that emerged in the course of industrialization in late developing and socialist states, noting some factors that make it difficult to apply models based on the experiences of Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (O.E.C.D.) countries to the analysis of labour regimes elsewhere. The comparisons also reveal important differences that distinguished industrial relations in socialist countries from those in post‐colonial contexts, and the ways in which these differences may contribute to different patterns and outcomes in the transformation of industrial relations in the two contexts. The remainder of the chapter highlights similarities and differences in trends across the cases considered in the contributions to this volume, and goes on to inductively construct a theoretical scheme for tracing how varied historical inheritances in the late‐industrializing and post‐socialist economies create different sets of expectations, pressures, and challenges for economic reformers as well as for workers and organized labour. The role of unique historical factors and institutional structures is also considered, with new questions raised on the basis of specific variations that occur within or cut across the categories of post‐socialist and post‐colonial settings. The chapter concludes by suggesting that the concept of globalization is most useful when it is employed not as a universal model for projecting trajectories of institutional change but as a more restricted framework for capturing the common challenges facing labour and other economic factors in the process of economic adjustment.
Colin Crouch
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198279747
- eISBN:
- 9780191599019
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198279744.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
Starting from a formal rational choice model of the employment relationship, this part goes on to develop a basic typology of forms of industrial relations system: contestation, pluralistic ...
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Starting from a formal rational choice model of the employment relationship, this part goes on to develop a basic typology of forms of industrial relations system: contestation, pluralistic collective bargaining, authoritarian corporatism, and neo‐corporatism.Less
Starting from a formal rational choice model of the employment relationship, this part goes on to develop a basic typology of forms of industrial relations system: contestation, pluralistic collective bargaining, authoritarian corporatism, and neo‐corporatism.
Colin Crouch
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198279747
- eISBN:
- 9780191599019
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198279744.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
The overall trajectory of developments outlined in the previous chapters, covering the whole period from 1870 to 1990, is described for all 15 countries.
The overall trajectory of developments outlined in the previous chapters, covering the whole period from 1870 to 1990, is described for all 15 countries.
Eileen M. Doherty
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199241149
- eISBN:
- 9780191598920
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199241147.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
During the post‐war period, Irish labour unions have been characterized by fragmentation at the local level (with multiple unions competing for members, industrial unrest at the local level, and ...
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During the post‐war period, Irish labour unions have been characterized by fragmentation at the local level (with multiple unions competing for members, industrial unrest at the local level, and tensions between unions), but centralization at the national level. Labour unions have been clustered into large umbrella organizations, and the country has had a strong history of corporatism in industrial relations. The three stages of “globalization” in Ireland—the decision to embrace an open economic policy in the 1950s, Ireland's 1973 entry into the EEC, and the deepening of European integration in the 1980s and 1990s—have generated continuous pressures on Ireland to embrace new strategies to accommodate the pressures of market forces. Ireland's response to ‘globalization’ has not involved a disintegration of corporatist bargains or the weakening of unions, but rather a renewed focus on social partnership and consensus policy making in which unions have played a distinct role. The result of this social partnership has been impressive growth rates since 1987, but a lingering problem of structural unemployment. To address this issue, Dublin has committed itself to the continuation and strengthening of corporatist bargaining, but with an increased emphasis on addressing the problem of social exclusion. It remains to be seen whether social partnership mechanisms can effectively address the problems associated with long‐term unemployment and social exclusion, or whether Ireland is evolving toward a bifurcated economy, characterized by expanding jobs for skilled workers, but declining prospects for less‐educated workers.Less
During the post‐war period, Irish labour unions have been characterized by fragmentation at the local level (with multiple unions competing for members, industrial unrest at the local level, and tensions between unions), but centralization at the national level. Labour unions have been clustered into large umbrella organizations, and the country has had a strong history of corporatism in industrial relations. The three stages of “globalization” in Ireland—the decision to embrace an open economic policy in the 1950s, Ireland's 1973 entry into the EEC, and the deepening of European integration in the 1980s and 1990s—have generated continuous pressures on Ireland to embrace new strategies to accommodate the pressures of market forces. Ireland's response to ‘globalization’ has not involved a disintegration of corporatist bargains or the weakening of unions, but rather a renewed focus on social partnership and consensus policy making in which unions have played a distinct role. The result of this social partnership has been impressive growth rates since 1987, but a lingering problem of structural unemployment. To address this issue, Dublin has committed itself to the continuation and strengthening of corporatist bargaining, but with an increased emphasis on addressing the problem of social exclusion. It remains to be seen whether social partnership mechanisms can effectively address the problems associated with long‐term unemployment and social exclusion, or whether Ireland is evolving toward a bifurcated economy, characterized by expanding jobs for skilled workers, but declining prospects for less‐educated workers.
Colin Crouch
- Published in print:
- 1994
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198279747
- eISBN:
- 9780191599019
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198279744.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
The renewal of public interest in industrial relations and conflict during the inflationary crises of the 1970s, and the differences in different national experiences, stimulated intellectual ...
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The renewal of public interest in industrial relations and conflict during the inflationary crises of the 1970s, and the differences in different national experiences, stimulated intellectual interest in modelling different forms taken by those relations.Less
The renewal of public interest in industrial relations and conflict during the inflationary crises of the 1970s, and the differences in different national experiences, stimulated intellectual interest in modelling different forms taken by those relations.
Colin Crouch
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198296393
- eISBN:
- 9780191599002
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198296398.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, European Union
As nation states lose a number of monetary and fiscal policy powers through the introduction of European monetary union, national industrial relations systems may acquire a new importance. Within ...
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As nation states lose a number of monetary and fiscal policy powers through the introduction of European monetary union, national industrial relations systems may acquire a new importance. Within those countries where neo‐corporatist collective bargaining survives, it becomes a means whereby wages can adapt to different levels of productivity and competitiveness when devaluation and variable interest rates are no longer an option.Less
As nation states lose a number of monetary and fiscal policy powers through the introduction of European monetary union, national industrial relations systems may acquire a new importance. Within those countries where neo‐corporatist collective bargaining survives, it becomes a means whereby wages can adapt to different levels of productivity and competitiveness when devaluation and variable interest rates are no longer an option.
Robin Archer
- Published in print:
- 1998
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198295389
- eISBN:
- 9780191598722
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198295383.003.0010
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
A case study of Australia and the Prices and Incomes Accord that was initiated there between the Labour Party and the unions. The evidence shows that both during the period of stagflation and during ...
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A case study of Australia and the Prices and Incomes Accord that was initiated there between the Labour Party and the unions. The evidence shows that both during the period of stagflation and during the period of structural adjustment the conditions for an incremental increase in workers’ control were met, and the predicted kind of control trade‐off took place. The chapter also shows that the establishment of corporatism is feasible even in a country that is heavily marked by the liberalism of Anglo‐Saxon traditions of industrial relations.Less
A case study of Australia and the Prices and Incomes Accord that was initiated there between the Labour Party and the unions. The evidence shows that both during the period of stagflation and during the period of structural adjustment the conditions for an incremental increase in workers’ control were met, and the predicted kind of control trade‐off took place. The chapter also shows that the establishment of corporatism is feasible even in a country that is heavily marked by the liberalism of Anglo‐Saxon traditions of industrial relations.
Christopher Candland and Rudra Sil (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199241149
- eISBN:
- 9780191598920
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199241147.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This book analyses and compares recent shifts in patterns of industrial relations across late-industrializing and post-socialist economies. The book features chapters on labor relations at national, ...
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This book analyses and compares recent shifts in patterns of industrial relations across late-industrializing and post-socialist economies. The book features chapters on labor relations at national, local, and workplace levels, as economic and political actors cope with the similar challenges associated with economic adjustment measures and the impact of “globalization”. The book reveals that while globalization has threatened the position of organized labor and prompted business and state elites to accommodate greater labor market flexibility, the legacies of past institutions remain evident in destinctive trends in labor politics within and across late-industrializing and post-socialist settings. The comparisons suggest that globalization is best understood not as a source of covergence but as a set of common pressures that are mediated by specific historical inheritances, that spur varied responses on the part of industrial relations actors, and that facilitate quite diverse institutional outcomes.Less
This book analyses and compares recent shifts in patterns of industrial relations across late-industrializing and post-socialist economies. The book features chapters on labor relations at national, local, and workplace levels, as economic and political actors cope with the similar challenges associated with economic adjustment measures and the impact of “globalization”. The book reveals that while globalization has threatened the position of organized labor and prompted business and state elites to accommodate greater labor market flexibility, the legacies of past institutions remain evident in destinctive trends in labor politics within and across late-industrializing and post-socialist settings. The comparisons suggest that globalization is best understood not as a source of covergence but as a set of common pressures that are mediated by specific historical inheritances, that spur varied responses on the part of industrial relations actors, and that facilitate quite diverse institutional outcomes.
