Labour Regulation between neo-liberalism and statism An institutional approach and the example of the European Union

Concerning the impact of globalization on labor regulation there are many dichoto-mous approaches either being optimistic of the process and promoting more libera-lisation or being pessimistic of the process and advocating a critical or «progressive» standpoint. Both extremes reinforce each other while one is applauding and the other criticising de-regulation, de-nationalisation and commodification. As an alter-native to such dichotomous views the article proposes an approach of varying ins-titutional regimes at national and regional level of economies and societies. Five social institutions are proposed to structure labor and economy, and also labor re-gulation. Labor regulation in the European Union and in Germany are taken as examples of the complex interplay between globalization and labor regulation