Policy concertation, Europeanization and new political cleavages: The case of Switzerland

This article investigates the impact of Europeanization on corporatist policy concertation by emphasizing the mediation of political cleavages.The analysis shows that in Switzerland, Europeanization has tended to strengthen policy concertation on labour market issues related to the EU, whereas this type of policy-making has weakened over strictly domestic social and economic issues. European integration creates divisions within the political right, prompting employers to collaborate with trade unions in order to gather sufficient political support. By contrast, the right is more united over domestic issues, and employers do not need to cooperate with trade unions.