Policy concertation - the determination of public policy by means of agreements struck between governments, employers and trade unions - continues to thrive in Western Europe despite the impact of liberalizing trends that were expected to lead to its demise. This volume brings together a team of 23 experts with the aim to undertake paired historical and political studies of policy concertation in ten West European countries, which were then subjected to systematic comparative analysis. It shows that overall the incidence of broad policy concertation in Western Europe can be explained by the changing configurations of just three variables.

Policy concertation - the determination of public policy by means of agreements struck between governments, employers and trade unions - continues to thrive in Western Europe despite the impact of liberalizing trends that were expected to lead to its demise. This volume brings together a team of 23 experts with the aim to undertake paired historical and political studies of policy concertation in ten West European countries, which were then subjected to systematic comparative analysis. It shows that overall the incidence of broad policy concertation in Western Europe can be explained by the changing configurations of just three variables.

This book provides a comparative assessment of social pacts between governments, labor unions and employer organizations in Western Europe. Using a dataset covering 16 European countries, as well as eight in-depth country case studies, the authors argue that governments’ choice of social pacts or legislation is less influenced by economic problems, but is strongly influenced by electoral competition.

There has been a marked trend towards decentralisation of labour market regulation in many European countries. This book assesses the impact of social partnership and social protection on the macroeconomic performance of member states of the EU.

Furthering our understanding of concrete and topical developments in the growth of social partnership economies, this text discusses the impact of potential triggers, such as wars and economic crises, on the development of consultative arrangements.

Social Pacts in Europe presents the first full-length theoretical and comparative empirical study of new social pacts in Europe. It brings a wide range of theory to bear on social pact bargaining and institutionalization, comparing cases across Europe, east and west, and provides in-depth studies of six countries.

Countries are treated separately.