Documents Baccaro, Lucio 37 results

"Based on quantitative indicators for fifteen advanced countries between 1974 and 2005, and case studies of France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Sweden, and Ireland, this article analyzes the trajectory of institutional change in the industrial relations systems of advanced capitalist societies, with a focus on Western Europe. In contrast to current comparative political economy scholarship, which emphasizes the resilience of national institutions to common challenges and trends, it argues that despite a surface resilience of distinct national sets, all countries have been transformed in a neoliberal direction. Neoliberal transformation manifests itself not just as institutional deregulation but also as institutional conversion, as the functions associated with existing institutional forms change in a convergent direction. A key example is the institution of centralized bargaining, once the linchpin of an alternative, redistributive and egalitarian, model of negotiated capitalism, which has been reshaped in the past twenty years to fit the common imperative of liberalization."

"Gli autori analizzano i dati che mostrano la crisi di rappresentanza dei sindacati europei. Ritengono che questa sia una buona ragione perche i sindacati aumentino l'attenzione a meccanismi di coinvolgimento democratico dei lavoratori, dal momento che gli associati sono molto spesso, come nella realtà italiana, una minoranza. Nel caso italiano gli autori ritengono maturo il passaggio a regole generali per la misurazione della rappresentatività. Ritengono anche utile la introduzione, dosata e selettiva, di meccanismi di più estesa partecipazione democratica."

"A dispetto di perduranti differenze istituzionali, i sistemi nazionali tendono a convergere in direzione di policies neoliberiste. Sotto l'assedio della globalizzazione, i sindacati perdono iscritti, la contrattazione collettiva si decentra, il conflitto industriale crolla. Pur dove i mutamenti sono stati meno intensi e drammatici (tipo GB e USA), vi è stata una 'conversione istituzionale' e funzionale dei vecchi assetti garantisti. Così in Germania, Svezia o Italia, dove concession bargaining, decentramento e individualizzazione stanno lentamente erodendo il potere sindacale"

"Using archival sources, the authors study strategic and organizational change in the International Labour Organization (ILO) over the last twenty years. They focus specifically on the ILO's efforts to incorporate certain elements of the "new governance" model into its policies and organizational practices, which include the shift from standards expressed as detailed legal norms to "soft law"; the active involvement of civil society organizations other than trade unions and employer associations in regulatory activities; and the introduction of quantitative indicators of compliance with labor standards. They argue that the efforts of the ILO leadership have been waylaid by the organization's corporatist structure, which gives employer associations and trade unions veto power over policy developments at a time in which these actors are increasingly unable to agree on concrete policy measures. Finally, the authors ask whether this corporatist structure accurately reflects the ILO's self-defined mission: providing "decent work for all.""

"This article makes three interrelated arguments: first, the sovereign debt crisis is more complex than a simple story about fiscally irresponsible governments which now are being forced by international financial markets to tighten their belts. Ultimately, it is the result of a political decision to create a currency union among economically non-homogenous countries without making any provision for the use of democratically legitimated fiscal transfers to correct asymmetric shocks. Second, the internal devaluation policy which is being imposed on Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain is ineffective and counterproductive. Internal devaluation depresses growth, and the absence of growth requires further austerity for government to regain their fiscal credibility, thus generating a vicious cycle. Third, while national governments continue to be held electorally accountable by citizens, they have lost any meaningful ability to choose among alternative policy options and, as a result, implement everywhere pretty much the same, deeply unpopular austerity package. This situation threatens not just the future viability of the Euro but of the European project as a whole. "

"This article focuses on the European governments' decision to involve unions and employers in the design and implementation of public policy. Based on new measures of the phenomenon, the authors argue that between 1974 and 2003, no convergence on a pluralist model of policy formation is visible. They then use these measures to identify and analyze the clearest cases of adoption or demise of concertation, namely, the contrasting responses of the British and Irish governments to wage policy and of the Austrian and Italian governments to pension reform. They argue that governments are willing to share their policy-making prerogatives when they are politically weak and when unions, while still representing a credible threat to policy implementation, have been declining in the recent past. A combination of partisanship and policy learning reinforces the push for change."

"Using information collected by the ILO/WB Inventory of policy responses to the financial and economic crisis on 44 countries, this paper identified conditions under which there was a social dialogue response to the financial crisis between 2008 and 2010. For that purpose, they use a particular definition of social dialogue, e.g. the emergence of tripartite nationallevel agreements or major agreements at the sector level; and rely on a Boolean analysis, e.g. a statistical method to detect relationships between variables, for example between answers to a questionnaire. Based on this definition, 13 out of 44 countries adopted national level agreement or major sector level agreement in formulating their crisis response, including seven in Europe, three in Americas, two in Asia, and one in Africa. Explanatory factors for the emergence of social dialogue include freedom of association, the severity of the crisis, and the strength of trade unions."

"The term 'corporatism' simultaneously designates a particular interest group structure, characterized by monopolistic, centralized and internally non-democratic associations, and a particular policy-making process, also known as 'concertation' or 'social partnership'. This paper argues that structure and process may no longer be closely associated. By focusing on the Irish and Italian cases, it shows that concertation is perfectly compatible with a non-corporatist structure of the interest representation system. Inter- and intra-organizational co-ordination remains important for the viability of concertation. However, it can be achieved, even in relatively fragmented systems like the Irish and the Italian, through alternative mechanisms relying on democracy and discussion."

"One important common theme of our five-country research is that all union movements see political engagement as essential in their efforts at revitalization. Specific forms of political action, however, vary according to national context. If unions find or build adequate political and institutional supports, they have less incentive to mobilize the membership, organize the unorganized, build coalitions with other groups, or give support to grass-roots initiatives. The irony is that a strong institutional position can reduce incentives to organize, which may be essential to sustain long-term influence; yet organizing unions in America and Britain are hard pressed to sustain gains in the absence of adequate institutional supports."