Rethinking Institutions and Institutional Change in European Industrial Relations

Abstract: This article traces the process of institutional change in industrial relations in Britain, France and Sweden over the last quarter-century in order to identify the mechanisms and forms of institutional change.

These three cases demonstrate a high degree of institutional plasticity, and a greater convergence in industrial relations than comparisons of national institutions have tended to suggest. These findings in turn suggest the need to rethink both the role of institutions and the nature of institutional change in comparative political economy.