The Changing Political Economies of Small West European Countries

• Main Author: Becker, Uwe (auth)
• Format: Electronic Book Chapter
• Language: English
• Published: Amsterdam University Press 2011
• Series: Changing Welfare States
• Subjects: Sociology & anthropology; sociology; sociologie; Austria; Belgium; Corporatism; Denmark; Finland; Labour economics; Netherlands; Sweden; Switzerland; Welfare state
• Online Access: OAPEN Library: download the publication; OAPEN Library: description of the publication

The literature on changing varieties of capitalism concentrates on the big economies, particularly the US, Japan and Germany. This important volume sheds light on the group of smaller European countries that share a high degree of corporatism - Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. Most of them have recently been praised as alter native models to the route exemplified by the US. The authors investigate the trajectories of these countries welfare systems, corporate governance, labour markets and industrial relations from about 1990 until the economic crisis in 2008. The volume also tracks their position in the processes of European integration and asks whether their particular brands of capitalism might be a viable candidate for the European socio-economic model.

De discussie over het veranderende kapitalisme gaat vooral over de grote landen: de Verenigde Staten, Japan en Duitsland. Deze bundel richt zich vooral op kleine landen in Noordwest-Europa: België, Denemarken, Finland, Nederland, Noorwegen, Oostenrijk, Zweden en Zwitserland. De meeste landen werden recentelijk geprezen als alternatieven voor de uitgesproken liberale koers zoals ingeslagen door de Verenigde Staten. Dit boek maakt inzichtelijk in welke mate deze landen zijn meegegaan in de liberalisering en wat er gebeurde met hun welvaartsbestel, arbeidsmarkt en arbeidsverhoudingen vanaf begin jaren negentig tot aan de crisis van 2008.