Theorising the State and economic democracy

Comparative studies of OECD countries indicate that, during the 1970s and 1980s, neo-corporatist economic policy models typified by formal labour institutional intervention had been instrumental in reducing unemployment and in raising the level of state welfare effort. However, from the late 1980s the fragility of the neo-corporatist agenda became increasingly exposed as business interests and international competitiveness undermined its principal regulatory supports and policy shifted in favour of neo-liberal economic nostrums. One important consequence was the enforced decline of the institutions of organized labour, with corresponding deleterious effects for workers as systems of universal rights gave way to expressions of market power. In turn, this shift has contributed to growing wealth and income inequality, reduced welfare provision, growing employment insecurity and reduced access to the public provision of training and skills development. The chapter concludes with a brief assessment of new forms of representation and systems of collective negotiation that are emergent in the contemporary neo-liberal environment