Crisis Corporatism or Corporatism in Crisis? Social Concertation and Social Pacts in Europe

• Applicants: Privatdozent Dr. Thomas Bahle, since 1/2017; Professor Jörg Timo Weishaupt, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research
• Term: from 2016 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 289769799

Has the global financial and economic crisis contributed to a renaissance of corporatism or to its erosion? The focus of the project is the question whether national governments or transnational institutions utilize social concertation with employer associations and trade unions as part of negotiating economic and social policies (social pacts). The objective is the further development and examination of the corporatist approach, which investigates tripartite interest intermediation in the course of increased economic integration and welfare state reforms since the 1990s. The project examines whether tripartite interest intermediation has been undertaken as part of the recent crisis policy, and if not, why not. The project addresses three questions: (1) Under what conditions do governments seek social consultation and when are social pacts likely? (2) How do the political and social actors interact in these negotiation processes? (3) What role does the EU social dialogue play in the European and national crisis management? In a systematic comparison (fsQCA), the contextual conditions for social concertation for the decade before and since the crash of 2008 will be analyzed for all EU member states as well as Norway and Switzerland. In addition, in-depth case studies of eight countries (Germany and other selected European countries) and a study of the European Union examine the (trans-)national actor strategies and negotiation processes with the help of interviews and document analyses. The focal point of the process analyses is the immediate crisis politics and the subsequent austerity phase. In cooperation with international experts, the project develops a database with indicators on the contextual conditions in Europe and compiles an edited volume (in English) with country chapters, an EU study and comparative analyses. Thus, the project contributes to the public debate on whether the involvement of social partners during the height of the crisis and subsequent austerity period has slowed down or reversed a gradual erosion of social partnership.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Bernhard Ebbinghaus, until 1/2017