Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T14:21:36.928Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Coalitions and Corporatism: The Slovenian Political Economy and the Crisis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2013

Magnus Feldmann
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Slovenia stands out as the only post-communist country to have established a corporatist system and centralized wage bargaining at the national level in the 1990s. This article analyses the emergence and sustainability of Slovenian corporatism as well as the ways in which it has shaped policymaking during the economic crisis. Drawing on recent advances in institutional analysis, this article develops a coalitional argument to account for the emergence of centralized wage bargaining in the 1990s and for decentralization in more recent years.

Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 49 , Issue 1 , January 2014 , pp. 70 - 91
Copyright
Copyright © Government and Opposition Ltd 2013 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

*

Magnus Feldmann is a Lecturer in Politics in the School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies at the University of Bristol. Contact email: M.Feldmann@bristol.ac.uk.

References

Avdagic, S., Rhodes, M.Visser, J. (2011) (eds), Social Pacts in Europe: Emergence, Evolution and Institutionalization (Oxford: Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bandelj, N. (2004), ‘Negotiating Global, Regional, and National Forces: Foreign Investment in Slovenia’, East European Politics and Societies, 18: 455–480.Google Scholar
Bohle, D.Greskovits, B. (2007), ‘Neoliberalism, Embedded Neoliberalism, and Neocorporatism: Towards Transnational Capitalism in Central Eastern Europe’, West European Politics, 30: 443–466.Google Scholar
Brus, W.Laski, K. (1989), From Marx to the Market: Socialism in Search of an Economic System (Oxford: Clarendon Press).Google Scholar
Calmfors, L.Driffill, J. (1998), ‘Bargaining Structure, Corporatism and Macroeconomic Performance’, Economic Policy, 3: 13–61.Google Scholar
Crepaz, M.L. (1992), ‘Corporatism in Decline? An Empirical Analysis of the Impact of Corporatism on Macroeconomic Performance and Industrial Disputes in 18 Industrialized Economies’, Comparative Political Studies, 25: 139–168.Google Scholar
Crouch, C. (1983), ‘Pluralism and the New Corporatism: A Rejoinder’, Political Studies, 31: 452–460.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crowley, S. (2004), ‘Explaining Labor Weakness in Post-Communist Europe: Historical Legacies and Comparative Perspective’, East European Politics and Societies, 18: 394–429.Google Scholar
Crowley, S.Stanojević, M. (2011), ‘Varieties of Capitalism, Power Resources, and Historical Legacies: Explaining the Slovenian Exception’, Politics and Society, 39: 268–295.Google Scholar
Dabušinskas, A., Rõõm, T. (2011), Survey Evidence on Wage and Price Setting in Estonia, Bank of Estonia Working Paper 6/2011 (Tallinn: Bank of Estonia).Google Scholar
Feldmann, M. (2006), ‘Emerging Varieties of Capitalism in Transition Countries: Industrial Relations and Wage Bargaining in Estonia and Slovenia’, Comparative Political Studies, 39: 829–854.Google Scholar
Feldmann, M. (2007), ‘The Origins of Varieties of Capitalism: Lessons from Post-Communist Estonia and Slovenia’, in B. Hancké, M. Rhodes and M. Thatcher (eds), Beyond Varieties of Capitalism (Oxford: Oxford University Press): 328–350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gąciarz, B.Pańków, W. (2001), Dialog społeczny po polsku – fikcja czy szansa? (Warsaw: Instytut Spraw Publicznych).Google Scholar
Glassner, V.Keune, M. (2010), Negotiating the Crisis? Collective Bargaining in Europe during the Economic Downturn (Geneva: International Labour Organization).Google Scholar
Grahl, J.Teague, P. (1997), ‘Is the European Social Model Fragmenting?’, New Political Economy, 2: 405–426.Google Scholar
Granick, D. (1975), Enterprise Guidance in Eastern Europe: A Comparison of Four Socialist Economies (Princeton: Princeton University Press).Google Scholar
Hall, P.A.Soskice, D. (2001) (eds), Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage (Oxford: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Hancké, B.Rhodes, M. (2005), ‘EMU and Labor Market Institutions in Europe: The Rise and Fall of National Social Pacts’, Work and Occupations, 32: 196–228.Google Scholar
Iankova, E.A. (1998), ‘The Transformative Corporatism of Eastern Europe’, East European Politics and Societies, 12: 222–264.Google Scholar
Iversen, T. (1996), ‘Power, Flexibility, and the Breakdown of Centralized Wage Bargaining: Denmark and Sweden in Comparative Perspective’, Comparative Politics, 28: 399–436.Google Scholar
Iversen, T. (2000), ‘Decentralization, Monetarism, and the Social Democratic Welfare State’, in T. Iversen, J. Pontusson and D. Soskice (eds), Unions, Employers, and Central Banks: Macroeconomic Coordination and Institutional Change in Social Market Economies (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press): 205–231.Google Scholar
Iversen, T.Soskice, D. (2009), ‘Dualism and Political Coalitions: Inclusionary versus Exclusionary Reforms in an Age of Rising Inequality’, paper presented at the Annual Meeting of American Political Science Association, September 2009.Google Scholar
Katzenstein, P.J. (1985), Small States in World Markets: Industrial Policy in Europe (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press).Google Scholar
Kraft, E., Vodopivec, M.Cvikl, M. (1994), ‘On its Own: The Economy of Independent Slovenia’, in J. Benderly and E. Kraft (eds), Independent Slovenia (Basingstoke: Macmillan): 201–223.Google Scholar
Korpi, W. (2006), ‘Power Resources and Employer-centered Approaches in Explanations of Welfare States and Varieties of Capitalism: Protagonists, Consenters, and Antagonists’, World Politics, 58: 167–206.Google Scholar
Lau, L.J., Qian, Y.Roland, G. (2000), ‘Reform without Losers: An Interpretation of China's Dual-track Approach to Transition’, Journal of Political Economy, 108: 120–143.Google Scholar
Lehmbruch, G. (1977), ‘Liberal Corporatism and Party Government’, Comparative Political Studies, 10: 91–126.Google Scholar
Lijphart, A.Crepaz, M. (1991), ‘Corporatism and Consensus Democracy in Eighteen Countries: Conceptual and Empirical Linkages’, British Journal of Political Science, 21: 235–246.Google Scholar
Lukšič, I. (2003), ‘Corporatism Packaged in Pluralist Ideology: The Case of Slovenia’, Communist and Post-Communist Studies, 36: 509–525.Google Scholar
Lydall, H. (1989), Yugoslavia in Crisis (Oxford: Clarendon Press).Google Scholar
Mahoney, J.Thelen, K.A. (2010), Explaining Institutional Change: Ambiguity, Agency and Power (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Martin, C.J.Swank, D. (2011), ‘Gonna Party Like it's 1899: Party Systems and the Origins of Varieties of Coordination’, World Politics, 63: 78–114.Google Scholar
Mencinger, J. (2004), ‘Transition to a National and a Market Economy: A Gradualist Approach’, in M. Mrak, M. Rojec and C. Silva-Jáuregui (eds), Slovenia: From Yugoslavia to the European Union (Washington, DC: World Bank): 67–82.Google Scholar
Molina, O.Rhodes, M. (2002), ‘Corporatism: The Past, Present, and Future of a Concept’, Annual Review of Political Science, 5: 305–331.Google Scholar
Myant, M., Slocock, B.Smith, S. (2000), ‘Tripartism in the Czech and Slovak Republics’, Europe-Asia Studies, 52: 723–739.Google Scholar
Nölke, A.Vliegenthart, A. (2009), ‘Enlarging the Varieties of Capitalism: The Emergence of Dependent Market Economies in East Central Europe’, World Politics, 61: 670–702.Google Scholar
Ost, D. (2000), ‘Illusory Corporatism in Eastern Europe: Neoliberal Tripartism and Postcommunist Class Identities’, Politics and Society, 28: 503–530.Google Scholar
Pleskovic, B.Sachs, J. (1994), ‘Political Independence and Economic Reform’, in O.J. Blanchard, K.A. Froot and J.D. Sachs (eds), The Transition in Eastern Europe Country Studies (Chicago: University of Chicago Press): 191–220.Google Scholar
Pontusson, J.Swenson, P. (1996), ‘Labor Markets, Production Strategies, and Wage Bargaining Institutions: The Swedish Employer Offensive in Comparative Perspective’, Comparative Political Studies, 29: 223–250.Google Scholar
Prašnikar, J., Jazbec, B., Mrak, M., Domadenik, P.Gregorič, A. (2002), Slovenia: Country Study for GDN Project (Ljubljana: Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana).Google Scholar
Pravda, A.Ruble, B.A. (1986), ‘Communist Trade Unions: Varieties of Dualism’, in A. Pravda and B.A. Ruble (eds), Trade Unions in Communist States (Boston, MA: Allen & Unwin): 1–21.Google Scholar
Raudla, R.Kattel, R. (2011), ‘Why Did Estonia Choose Fiscal Retrenchment after the 2008 Crisis?’, Journal of Public Policy, 31: 163–186.Google Scholar
Schmitter, P.C. (1974), ‘Still the Century of Corporatism?’, Review of Politics, 36: 85–131.Google Scholar
Simoneti, M., Rojec, M.Gregorič, A. (2004), ‘Privatization, Restructuring, and Corporate Governance of the Enterprise Sector’, in M. Mrak, M. Rojec and C. Silva-Jáuregui (eds), Slovenia: From Yugoslavia to the European Union (Washington, DC: World Bank): 224–243.Google Scholar
Sissenich, B. (2007), Building States without Society: European Union Enlargement and the Transfer of EU Social Policy to Poland and Hungary (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books).Google Scholar
Skledar, S. (2011), Slovenia: EIRO Review 2009 (Dublin: European Industrial Relations Observatory).Google Scholar
Stanojević, M. (2011), ‘Social Pacts in Slovenia: Accommodation to the EMU Regime and the Post-Euro Development’, Warsaw Forum of Economic Sociology, 2: 107–135.Google Scholar
Stanojević, M. (2012), ‘The Rise and Decline of Slovenian Corporatism: Local and European Factors’, Europe–Asia Studies, 64: 857–877.Google Scholar
Stanojević, M.Krašovec, A. (2011), ‘Slovenia: Social Pacts and Political Exchange’, in S. Avdagic, M. Rhodes and J. Visser (eds), Social Pacts in Europe: Emergence, Evolution and Institutionalization (Oxford: Oxford University Press): 232–258.Google Scholar
Swenson, P. (1991), ‘Bringing Capital Back In, or Social Democracy Reconsidered: Employer Power, Cross-Class Alliances and Centralization of Industrial Relations in Denmark and Sweden’, World Politics, 43: 513–545.Google Scholar
Tomšič, M. (2008), ‘Historical Development of Slovenian Political Elite’, Innovative Issues and Approaches in Social Sciences, 1(2): 47–65.Google Scholar
Visser, J. (2011), ICTWSS: Database on Institutional Characteristics of Trade Unions, Wage Setting, State Intervention and Social Pacts in 34 Countries (Amsterdam: Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Labour Studies).Google Scholar
Zver, M. (1992), ‘Korporativizem v slovenski politični misli v 20. in 30 letih’, Časopis za kritiko znanosti, 20: 37–46.Google Scholar