Globalization and Policy Concertation Essay -- Global Economics Global

IntroductionMy argument in this paper is that globalization is not leading to a decay in the incidence ofpolicy concertation in Western Europe between governments, employers and trade unions,contrary to much accepted wisdom, and that this persistence of policy concertation can be bestunderstood in terms of a configurational model of policy concertation in which the mainvariables are perceived problems, the degree of agreement on economic policy among therelevant political actors, and the perceived implementation capacity of these actors.I take my definition of globalisation from that devised by David Held and his colleaguesA process (or castigate of processes) which embodies a transformation in the spatialorganisation of social relations and transactions assessed in terms of theirextensity, intensity, velocity and impact generating transcontinental orinterregional flows and networks of activity, interaction and the exercise of power(Held et al 1999 16).I focus in particular on e conomic globalisation, namely the increase in worldwide trade, theglobalisation of pecuniary markets and capital movements, and the multinationalisation ofproduction.By policy concertation is meant the making of public policy by means of national-level, intersectoralnegotiations leading to agreements as opposed to non-binding discussions - betweengovernment representatives and representatives of peak employer and/or trade unionconfederations about the formation of government policies. This phenomenon is sometimesreferred to as corporatism, but the term policy concertation is preferred for the sake of claritybecause the term corporatism is overly used to describe other types of phenomena Schmitterso... ...Traxler, Franz (1995a), Farewell to Labour Market Associations? Organized VersusDisorganized Decentralization as a Map for Industrial transaction, pp.3-19 in Colin Crouch andFranz Traxler (eds.), Organized Industrial Relations in Europe What Future? AldershotAvebury.Traxler, Fr anz (1997), The Logic of Social Pacts, in Social Pacts in Europe, ed. GiuseppeFajertag and Philippe Pochet. Brussels ETUI.Treu, Tiziano (1992). three-party Social Policy-Making An Overview, pp.1-25 in Tiziano Treu(ed.), Participation in Public Policy-Making The Role of Trade Unions and EmployersAssociations. Berlin and New York Walter de Gruyter.Wallerstein, Michael, Miriam Golden and Peter Lange (1997), Unions, EmployersAssociations, and Wage-Setting Institutions in Northern and rudimentary Europe, 1950-1992,Industrial and Labor Relations Review 50(3) 379-401.