This introduction to the changing nature and context of industrial relations in contemporary Europe shows how different national systems of industrial relations offer varying models of relations between employers and workers as well as between states, companies, markets and interest organizations. The dynamics of change in individual countries and in specific aspects are reviewed, in particular: the significance of the political climate of neo-liberalism; technological change; the international context of European industrial relations; the transformation of Eastern Europe; and developments in the Eastern Union.
Traditions and Transitions in Industrial Relations - Jelle Visser A European View From Pluralism to... Where? Industrial Relations in Great Britain - Jelle Visser and Joris Van Ruysseveldt Contestation and State Intervention Forever? Industrial Relations in France - Joris Van Ruysseveldt and Jelle Visser Robust Corporatism, Still? Industrial Relations in Germany - Jelle Visser and Joris Van Ruysseveldt Corporatism beyond Repair? Industrial Relations in Sweden - Jelle Visser Weak Corporatisms Going Different Ways? Industrial Relations in the Netherlands and Belgium - Joris Van Ruysseveldt and Jelle Visser A Truly Mixed Case - Jelle Visser Industrial Relations in Italy Aspiring Corporatism? Industrial Relations in Spain - Marc van der Meer The Transformation of Industrial Relations in Some Central and Eastern European Countries - Hans Slomp, Jacques van Hoof and Hans Moerel Revised Diversity - Colin Crouch From the Neo-Liberal Decade to beyond Maastricht
`Each chapter is tidily and logically sectionalised. Text-boxes highlight key features of any given system, such as the voluntaristic tradition in the UK, the central role of state involvement in France, the strength of German employers' associations, or the scala mobile inflation-adjustment mechanism in Italy. The tables covering single countries in the chapters themselves are supplemented by a table appendix providing comparative data for all the countries on 30 or so dimensions. I estimate the bibliography at just under 600 items, most of them very or fairly recent, with what a quick sampling suggests is a very high degree of documentary accuracy.... What a staggering people the Dutch are when it come to languages! If only some of us wrote so fluently in English as this team does. Multiple library copies all round please, and a three-star rating on reading lists' - BUIRA Newsletter
