The behavior of trade unions, employers, and governments varies widely across the countries of western Europe. Colin Crouch tries to explain these differences and assess their significance. He considers 120 years of industrial relations history in 15 countries and ends by seeking explanations much further back in time than is usually considered necessary.

Industrial Relations and European State Traditions

Business & Money

CROUCH, COLIN

Economics

Oxford University Press

In some western European countries, trade unions and employers' organizations share responsibility with government for maintaining order and efficiency in the labor market as a matter of course. In other countries, such a role is seen as an unacceptable interference with either the free market or the prerogatives of the state, or both. This original and wide-ranging book sets out to explain these differences and assess their significance. Crouch draws on a combination of rational choice theory and historical analysis to consider the development of industrial relations systems in fifteen countries since the 1870s. Seeking explanations for differences further back in time, the author shows that longer-term historical explanations of contemporary institutions are more necessary than most exercises in policy analysis prefer to accept.

Industrial Relations and European State Traditions (Clarendon Paperbacks)

Clarendon Press

While the acquisition of skills has become a major public need, there is increasing dependence for their provision on individual firms. These firms can have no responsibility for general needs with government action being restricted to residual care for the unemployed rather than contributing at the leading edge of advanced skills policy. The authors argue that public agencies must find new ways of working with the business sector, acquiring expertise and authority through such means as supporting skills standards and taking the lead in the certification of employers as trainers.

Are Skills the Answer?: The Political Economy of Skill Creation in Advanced Industrial Countries

Finegold, David

Sako, Mari

What do European societies look like, at the end of a turbulent millennium which saw western Europe slowly rise to global domination, and then rapidly decline to its present position, prosperous but clearly behind the USA in world influence? This text makes a systematic and up-to-date comparison of virtually all west European countries across a wide range of social institutions. These include: work and occupations, the structure of the economy, the family, education, religion, nationality and ethnicity, and the mechanism of citizenship in the welfare state. Particular emphasis is placed on the place of gender and social class. By including basic details on Japan and the United States throughout, the author is able to draw attention to any shared west European specificities. The book also develops a theory of change in contemporary societies. Starting from a model of a mid-century social compromise based on certain balances between industrialism, capitalism, traditional community institutions and community, it traces its subsequent destabilization and places particular importance on the resurgence of capitalism.

Social Change in Western Europe

Politics & Social Sciences

Sociology

This book looks at European societies at the end of a turbulent millennium which saw western Europe slowly rise to global domination, and then rapidly decline to its present position, one that is prosperous but behind the USA in world influence. It is the only book by a single sociologist to make a systematic comparison of virtually all west European countries in relation to Japan and the USA, and across a wide range of social institutions.

Social Change in Western Europe (European Societies)

Social Sciences

It is increasingly accepted that "institutions matter" for economic organization and outcomes. The last decade has seen significant expansion in research examining how institutional contexts affect the nature and behavior of firms, the operation of markets, and economic outcomes. Yet "institutions" conceal a multitude of issues and perspectives. Much of this research has been comparative, and followed different models such as "varieties of capitalism", "national business systems", and "social systems of production". This Handbook explores these issues, perspectives, and models, with the leading scholars in the area contributing chapters to provide a central reference point for academics, scholars, and students.

The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Institutional Analysis (Oxford Handbooks)

Campbell, John

Morgan, Glenn

Whitley, Richard

Pedersen, Ove Kai

This is the first book to present a systematic analysis of the role of small manufacturing enterprises in the main European economies and to review different perspectives on industrial districts and clusters. Combining knowledge from case-study literature with original analyses of statistical data enables the authors to present full accounts of the role of these clusters in Britain, France, Germany, and Italy, showing the considerable diversity of forms they take.

Local Production Systems in Europe: Rise or Demise?

Le Galès, Patrick

Voelzkow, Helmut

Trigilia, Carlo

This book examines patterns of economic governance in three specific, contrasting, contexts: machinery-producing districts; declining steel cities; and clusters of high-technology activities. Building on the work of their previous book (Local Production Systems in Europe: Rise or Demise? OUP 2001), which charted the recent development of local clusters of specialized manufacturing among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom, the authors find patterns of economic governance far more complex and dynamic that usually described in a literature which insists on identifying simple national approaches. The machinery industries were often identifie in the literature of the 1980s as prominent cases of industrial district formation, which were then considerably weakened by the crises of the mid-1990's. Did clustering help these industries and their associated districts to respond to challenge, or only weaken them further? The case studies focus on the Bologna and Modena area of Emilia-Romagna, Stuttgart in Baden-Wurttemberg, Birmingham and Coventry in the English went midlands, but generally in France where there are very few local concentrations. Even while some thought local production systems were in crisis, national governments and the European Commission continued to recommend their approach to areas experiencing economic decline. This was particularily the case for cities that had been dependent on a small number of large corporations in industries that would no longer be major employers. Political and business leaders in these areas were encouraged to diversify, in particular therough SMEs. Could this be done in response to external prssure, given that successful local production systems depend on endogenous vitality? The authors ask these questions of former steel-producing cities St. Etienne, Duisburg, Piombino, and Sheffield. The idea that local production systems had had their day was challenged by clear evidence of clustering among SMEs in a number of flourishing high-tech industries in parts of the USA and Western Europe. Why do scientists, other specialists by examining the software firms at Grenoble, the mass media cluster in Cologne, the information technology sector around Pisa, and the Oxfordshire biotechnology region.

Changing Governance of Local Economies: Responses of European Local Production Systems

Capitalist Diversity and Change: Recombinant Governance and Institutional Entrepreneurs

Over the last decade the neo-institutionalist literature of comparative capitalism has developed into an influential body of work. In this book, Colin Crouch assesses this literature, and proposes a major re-orientation of the field. Crouch critiques and finds a way of modeling how creative actors trying to achieve change - institutional entrepreneurs - tackle these constraints. Central to the account is the concept of governance, as it is by recombining governance mechanism that these entrepreneurs must achieve their goals. In seeking how to analyze the spaces in which they operate, Crouch criticizes and deconstructs some dominant approaches in socio0political analysis: to typologies, to elective affinity and complementarity, to path dependence. He develops a theory of governance modes, which includes potentially decomposing them into their core components. Finally, he proposes a reorientation of the neo-institutionalist research program to take more account of detailed diversity and potentiality for change. The book is primarily theoretical, but it makes liberal use of examples, particularly from studies of local economic development and politics.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by CROUCH, COLIN. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by CROUCH, COLIN

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by CROUCH, COLIN. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Industrial Relations and European State Traditions

Industrial Relations and European State Traditions (Clarendon Paperbacks)

Are Skills the Answer?: The Political Economy of Skill Creation in Advanced Industrial Countries

Social Change in Western Europe

Social Change in Western Europe (European Societies)

The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Institutional Analysis (Oxford Handbooks)

Are Skills the Answer?: The Political Economy of Skill Creation in Advanced Industrial Countries

Local Production Systems in Europe: Rise or Demise?

Changing Governance of Local Economies: Responses of European Local Production Systems

Capitalist Diversity and Change: Recombinant Governance and Institutional Entrepreneurs