Rethinking corporatism and consensus: the dilemmas of German social-protection reform

This article explores the competing influences of institutional legacies and political negotiation in recent German social-protection reform. Long a paragon of consensus and gradual political change, the German political economy has adjusted poorly to the pressures of fiscal austerity and structural unemployment, creating pressures for an increasingly salient role for the federal government. The article provides a detailed analysis of recent German social-policy and labour-market reforms, arguing that existing literature is poorly equipped to account for this emerging policy-making paradigm. It also suggests that, while the German case illustrates the importance of institutional factors in shaping reform trajectories in advanced industrial democracies, careful attention must also be paid to élites' capacity for negotiating policy outcomes within these parameters.     

The rise and decline of corporatism: The case of Sweden

Abstract. Corporatism is a method to pacify intense minorities by giving them another opportunity to influence politics when they have no chance in parliament. This possibility helps to keep the system together; minorities get an incentive to stick to the system and social integration is promoted. During the 1980s we have, however, witnessed a gradual decline of this neocorporatist model of interest representation. Europe is approaching the American pluralist model instead. Sweden, once the prototype of the Social Democratic Corporatist State, is the best example of this change.     

Patterns of democracy reconsidered: The ambiguous relationship between corporatism and consensualism

Arend Lijphart's Patterns of Democracy, similar to most of his work, elicited fierce scientific debate. This article replicates some of the analyses proposed in its second edition (published in 2012) in the light of the critiques received by the first edition (published in 2009). It primarily examines the relationship between institutional setup and interest group representation, disentangling the effect of consensualism from that of corporatism on issues such as macroeconomic performance and governance capabilities. The article further deepens our understanding of the complex causal mechanisms connecting these variables, proposing a more sophisticated empirical investigation that emphasises selection effects and conjunctural causation.     

The basel chemical multinationals: Corporate action within structures of corporatism in Switzerland

This study is part of a developing corpus on the political economy of the multinational enterprise. It considers the embeddedness of the three Basel‐headquartered chemical multinationals in the ‘private and decentralised’ corporatism of the Swiss political economy. These companies enjoy privileged positions in a policy network weighted towards large business. Such corporate power is evident in the ‘self‐regulation’ of genetic engineering, which has nevertheless been politicised by interest group opposition. Indeed the agitation of ‘outsider’ groups has served to weaken the edifice of Swiss corporatism, the legitimacy of which has been called into question by the Swiss rejection of the European Economic Area. The article concludes with a criticism of corporate inactivity in the EEA referendum campaign, and points to the negative implications of the Swiss ‘No’ for the Basel MNEs.     

Pillarisation,consociation and vertical pluralism in the Netherlands revisited: A European view

Doubt has been cast recently on the explanatory significance of the Dutch variant of consociationalism, or verzuiling. Here it is argued that the problems arise in the main from confusions in terminology, and that verzuiling as a concept still has much to offer. Links are identified with emancipation, tolerance and national identity. The Dutch case is compared with Belgium, and put in a EU perspective. A distinction is drawn between consociation, pillarisation and corporatism; the specifically Dutch combination of these came to dominate public life in the Netherlands for much of the early twentieth century.     

Cultural pluralism,nationalism and federalism: A revision of democratic citizenship in plurinational states

Abstract. This article poses three questions related to the current revision of democratic citizenship in plurinational states. The first question focusses on the analytical limits of the term 'multicultural' and on the question of where nationalist movements stand within cultural pluralism. The second question asks whether it is possible to overcome the inherent difficulties in the traditional concept of liberal–democratic citizenship in plurinational states. Finally, the third question asks whether federalism is an adequate framework to regulate a revised concept of democratic citizenship in plurinational states. These three questions are developed in three sections. In the first I put forward a typology that allows us to identify four kinds of cultural pluralism movements that are present within the current liberal democracies. In the second section I identify some of the shortcomings of the traditional concept of citizenship with respect to the plurinational integration of some democracies, making special reference to the standard liberal version by Rawls. I defend the right of the minority liberal nationalisms to be included in a revision of the concept of democratic citizenship for the next century. Finally, I discuss the role of federalism, paying special attention to the case of Catalonia and Spain within Europe, and to possible 'asymmetrical' reforms to the concept of democratic citizenship.     

Attitudes of Canadians toward affirmative action: Opposition,value pluralism,and nonattitudes

Set against a backdrop of current public policy and case law, this study investigates Canadian attitudes toward affirmative action among both citizens and decision makers. We find low levels of support for such programs across a variety of contexts and intended beneficiaries, but we also discover that opinion on both sides of the issue is rather soft, for large portions of those taking positions on the matter are willing to reconsider their views when prompted. We interpret this finding as an indication of what Philip Converse has called nonattitudes. Thus, a substantial portion of Canadians appear to hold no genuine attitudes on the question of affirmative action and are relatively open to persuasion. In contrast, the preferences of those with stable attitudes are rooted in the tradeoff between values of equality and merit. Implications for policy activists in this issue area are discussed.The research reported here is part of a large project supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Grant No. 411-85-001). The Centre of Criminology at the University of Toronto has provided a home, and indispensable support, for the Charter Project. This research was also facilitated by a contribution from the Solicitor General of Canada to the Centre of Criminology, University of Toronto. Our thanks also go to Robert Vipond for his help in clarifying our concepts.     

Parties, media, the public and the economy: Patterns of societal agenda-setting

Abstract. The aim of this study is to assess the relative strength of the reciprocal causal relationships between the political agenda (the party agenda), the mass media agenda and the public agenda. Although the research literature is rather confusing and inconclusive, three causal patterns have often been suggested. The economic theory of representative democracy ('public choice' theory) assumes bottom-up agenda-setting. The political agenda is assumed to respond to the public agenda. However, theories on political communication suggest top-down agenda-setting. The political agenda would set the media agenda, which in turn would set the public agenda. The central tenet of mediacracy theory is the proposition that the media agenda sets both the public agenda and the political agenda. This article uses data on economic issues in the Netherlands in the period 1980–1986 and linear structural equations models to test these three causal patterns. The results warrant both bottom-up and top-down agenda-setting, but the mediacracy model is rejected. The conclusion should be that the economic theory of democracy, which prevails in the political science journals, has to incorporate findings from political communication research.     

Information,intelligence, enlightened public policy: Functions and organization of societal feedback

Normative properties which make social statistics useful as social indicators are illuminated by considering the functions systematic social knowledge has at various levels of social organization and the involvements of actors at these various levels in roles which result in such knowledge. Modes and degrees of generalization which make knowledge useful for action at the lowest levels of social organization (information) or for administration at intermediate bureaucratic levels (intelligence) are not necessarily applicable to the formation of broad social policy (policy knowledge) or for affecting the general conceptions of the social world held by broad public (enlightenment). The latter two functions are not always well served by data which have been collected and ordered by systems primarily responsive to the former two functions.Portions of this paper were presented at the 65th Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, New York City, 6 September 1969 and at a Colloquium on Urban Intelligence Systems at the Center for Urban Studies, Wayne State University, 17 April, 1969.     

Institutional contexts of environmental management: Water pollution control in Guangzhou,China

In the past decade, Guangzhou (Canton), China, has produced mixed results in water pollution control: it has been successful in limiting pollution from industrial sources than from domestic ones. This article examines the case by reference to a growing body of literature in institutional analysis. The central arguments are that institutions affect the governance and management of natural resources by allocating decision-making authorities among different individuals, agencies and levels of governments, by affecting whether rules and regulations can be effectively enforced and by creating different incentive structures. These arguments help to explain the divergent governmental efforts and outcomes in the two types of water pollution control in Guangzhou. The article concludes by discussing the case's theoretical and practical implications.     

To Russia and back again: Intellectuals in postwar France

Political Traditions in Modern France. By SUDHIR HAZAREESINGH. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1994. Pp.viii+355, £35 (hardback); £12.95 (paperback) ISBN 0–19–878074–5 and 0–19–878075–2.

Past Imperfect: French Intellectuals, 1944–1956. By TONY JUDT. Berkeley/ Los Angeles/London: University of California Press, 1992. Pp.348. £24. ISBN 0–520–0792.

Arguing Revolution: The Intellectual Left in Postwar France. By SUNIL KHILNANI. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1993. Pp.viii+262. £19.95 (hardback), ISBN 0–300–05745–8.

Seducing the French: The Dilemma of Americanization. By RICHARD KUISEL. Berkeley/Los Angeles/London: University of California Press, 1993. Pp.xiii+296. £20. ISBN 0–520–07962–0.

Extrême‐Occident: French Intellectuals and America. By JEAN‐PHILIPPE MATHY. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1993. Pp.307, £13.50. ISBN 0–226–51064–6.

Face au scepticisme: Les Mutations du paysage intellectuel ou l'invention de I'intellectuel democratique. By OLIVIER MONGIN. Paris: Editions La Décou‐verte, 1994. Pp.400. FF180 (paperback). ISBN 9–782707–12308–4.

La Tribu des clercs: Les intellectuels sous la Ve République. By RÉMY RIEFFEL. Paris: Calmann‐Lévy, 1993. Pp.691. FF250 (paperback), ISBN 2–7021–2276–0.     

Occupational safety and health in Poland in the 1990s: A regulatory system adapting to societal transformation

The societal transformation underway in Poland createda fundamental challenge to the occupational health and safety system, as the ideological and administrative principles on which it was founded vanished along with the communist-dominated regime. This paper examines the regulatory reform in Poland during the 1990s: its structural elements, implementation record and future prospects. Drawing on five case studies of privatized firms, a mailed questionnaire, and policy and institutional analysis, we find that Poland had considerable success in developing an effective regulatory system for managing occupational health hazards in privatized sector while also achieving considerable socioeconomic progress. The fundamental legitimacy of the regulators and regulatory process, the availability of information about firms and regulatory intents, and the capacity for case-specific decision making, are among the key explanatory factors. The case-specific implementation in Poland is consistent with models advocated by several authors in relation to other industrialized European economies (termed variously as negotiated compliance, tit-for-tat, cooperation-deterrence), despite a uniquely Polish context related to the continuing legacy of the communist era. The study also shows how in Poland a good fit between regulatory institutions and policies on the one hand, and their social context on the other hand, contributes to the effectiveness of the regulatory system.     

Television and playground games as part of children's symbolic culture

Using data from an ethnographic-style study of children aged 4–11, this paper considers the way that advertisements become absorbed and appropriated into broader and traditional forms of children's symbolic culture. The paper shows that children take on and relate to media imagery in much the same way as they relate to traditional playground culture of mythology, chants, games and jokes. The principle behind this is Halliday's (1978) observation that children communicate primarily with a desire to participate in social situations rather than for information. Children relate to television not so much in terms of the information value of what they see on it, but in relation to the way it allows them to join in, be party to common knowledge, to be in on the latest thing. This is an active process but, we argue, not in the way prescribed by the active audience trend in cultural studies. Television imagery and representations come to form part of a symbolic landscape of prestige, knowledge and points of reference of which children must have knowledge if they are not to be excluded from group membership, or at least lose prestige.     

Bringing Rigor to the Use of Evidence in Policy Making: Translating Early Evidence

Beyond the evidence provided by randomized controlled trials, there is a need for supplementing and contextualizing efficacy findings through early evidence. This may include evidence of program costs, quality implementation processes, and impact of programs on different groups. This article considers the Quality and Impact of Component Evidence Assessment and other exemplary efforts for translating early evidence for policy making within a common framework. This framework includes processes for strategic review, development of guiding standards on the quality of evidence, and active communication with policy makers.