ABSTRACT
The rise of corporatism in Western Europe in the 1960s and early 1970s was closely related to the growth of mass unions and the welfare state. The corporatist model of industrial relations is based on class organization of both labour and capital, and it implies regulation of the economy at the macro-level (for a survey see Pekkarinen, Pohjola and Rowthorn 1992). As demonstrated by Therborn (1992), differences between countries in their historical and legal traditions make some societies more likely than others to exhibit this type of associative action. In particular, the Germanic type of labour movement and the Nordic type of employer organizations are conducive to politico-economic deals.
