ABSTRACT
Corporatism is descriptive of a historical approach, a political and social ideology, and a research approach. This chapter discusses each use of corporatism and a short working definition. The broad and narrow conceptions of corporatism lead to a categorization of a variety of corporatist regimes, structures, and systems that are as numerous as those under the pluralist or Marxist banners. The chapter explores these variations in state-interest group relationships and are crucial to the utilization of corporatism within the discipline of comparative politics. It discusses liberal or socialist regime characteristics would become the foundation of the growth of corporatism in comparative politics and its contribution to the discipline. The chapter explains corporatism as a concept has generated theories and frameworks based on propositions, variables, and the other elemental building blocks of social sciences. As an alternative model or interpretation, corporatism has provided an analytic lens through which one could view, understand, and interpret historical, social, and political trends.
