Friday, November 10, 2006
[IWS] IILS: Policy Concertation in Europe: Explaining Government Choice
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LABOUR STUDIES (IILS) at the ILO
Discussion paper
DP/168/2006
Decent Work Research Programme
Policy concertation in Europe: Explaining government choice
Lucio Baccaro, Marco Simoni
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inst/download/dp16806.pdf
[full-text, 35 pages]
Abstract
This paper focuses on the European governments' decision to involve union and
employment representatives in the design and implementation of public policy. It begins by
elaborating and plotting over time a measure of the phenomenon at hand (1974-2003), based on
coding of textual sources. This reveals no secular growth (or decline) of government willingness
to involve or devolve, and consequently no convergence on a pluralist model of interest
representation. The measure is then used to identify the clearest cases of policy change by
governments. We analyze the contrasting responses of the British and Irish governments as
regards incomes policies, and of the Austrian and Italian governments as to pension reform,
against the backdrop of several plausible hypotheses about government choice. We find that
only two factors account for both increase and increase in government willingness to involve:
the role of government's parliamentary strength (the stronger the government the greater its
ability to withstand social opposition on its own) and the trade unions' organizational and
mobilization capacities: strong unions seem to discourage government's decision to cooperate,
weak(ened) unions to favor it.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction .............................................................................................................................................1
The trajectory of policy concertation between 1974 and 2003.................................................................2
Preliminary conclusions ...........................................................................................................................7
Understanding government's demand for concertation............................................................................8
Case selection........................................................................................................................................11
Case study analysis................................................................................................................................11
(1) Government weakness ...............................................................................................................11
(2) Problem load ..............................................................................................................................12
(3) Negative policy feedback...........................................................................................................13
(4) Unions' declining organizational strength..................................................................................13
(5) The role of partisanship..............................................................................................................14
(6) Changes in employer preferences ..............................................................................................15
(7) The role of the macroeconomic regime......................................................................................15
Overview of findings.............................................................................................................................16
Concluding remarks ...............................................................................................................................17
Bibliography..........................................................................................................................................19
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR LABOUR STUDIES (IILS) at the ILO
Discussion paper
DP/168/2006
Decent Work Research Programme
Policy concertation in Europe: Explaining government choice
Lucio Baccaro, Marco Simoni
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inst/download/dp16806.pdf
[full-text, 35 pages]
Abstract
This paper focuses on the European governments' decision to involve union and
employment representatives in the design and implementation of public policy. It begins by
elaborating and plotting over time a measure of the phenomenon at hand (1974-2003), based on
coding of textual sources. This reveals no secular growth (or decline) of government willingness
to involve or devolve, and consequently no convergence on a pluralist model of interest
representation. The measure is then used to identify the clearest cases of policy change by
governments. We analyze the contrasting responses of the British and Irish governments as
regards incomes policies, and of the Austrian and Italian governments as to pension reform,
against the backdrop of several plausible hypotheses about government choice. We find that
only two factors account for both increase and increase in government willingness to involve:
the role of government's parliamentary strength (the stronger the government the greater its
ability to withstand social opposition on its own) and the trade unions' organizational and
mobilization capacities: strong unions seem to discourage government's decision to cooperate,
weak(ened) unions to favor it.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction .............................................................................................................................................1
The trajectory of policy concertation between 1974 and 2003.................................................................2
Preliminary conclusions ...........................................................................................................................7
Understanding government's demand for concertation............................................................................8
Case selection........................................................................................................................................11
Case study analysis................................................................................................................................11
(1) Government weakness ...............................................................................................................11
(2) Problem load ..............................................................................................................................12
(3) Negative policy feedback...........................................................................................................13
(4) Unions' declining organizational strength..................................................................................13
(5) The role of partisanship..............................................................................................................14
(6) Changes in employer preferences ..............................................................................................15
(7) The role of the macroeconomic regime......................................................................................15
Overview of findings.............................................................................................................................16
Concluding remarks ...............................................................................................................................17
Bibliography..........................................................................................................................................19
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 12:49 PM
