ABSTRACT
Industrial relations at European level have developed against the background of very different national traditions concerning the balance between corporatist and individualist elements in the political systems, or more specifically, the notion of “social partnership”, the role of the State and the autonomy given to employers and trade unions in regulating the labour market, and finally, the types of organisations representing the interests of employers and workers. Nevertheless, it has been a common characteristic feature of (continental) European societies that private business has created an elaborate and highly representative system of organisations, which represent its interests in the different political and social spheres, and which is the basis for the European level structure of interest representation.
