Social pacts in Europe. Emergence, evolution and institutionalisation

Contents:

Part I: Analyzing Social Pacts
1. Introduction - Sabina Avdagic, Martin Rhodes and Jelle Visser
2. The Conditions for Pacts: A Fuzzy-Set Analysis of the Resurgence of Tripartite Concertation - Sabina Avdagic

Part II: Analytical Framework
3. The Emergence of Social Pacts: Analyzing Negotiation Processes and Bargaining Outcomes - Sabina Avdagic
4. The Evolution of Social Pacts: Trajectories and Mechanisms of Institutionalization - Jelle Visser and Martin Rhodes

Part III: Case Studies
5. Ireland: Two Trajectories of Institutionalization - Rory O'Donnell, Maura Adshead and Damian Thomas
6. Italy: The Rise and Decline of Social Pacts - Marino Regini and Sabrina Colombo
7. Portugal: From Broad Strategic Pacts to Policy-Specific Agreements - Maria da Paz Campos Lima and Reinhard Naumann
8. Spain: From Tripartite to Bipartite Pacts - Oscar Molina and Martin Rhodes
9. The Netherlands: Social Pacts in a Concertation Economy - Jelle Visser and Marc Van der Meer
10. Slovenia: Social Pacts and Political Exchange - Miroslav Stanojevic and Alenka Krasovec

Part IV: Synthesis
11. Conclusions: Reassessing the Framework - Sabina Avdagic, Martin Rhodes and Jelle Visser
The result of a four-year long comparative research study centered at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, and financed by the European Commission's Sixth Framework Programme, Social Pacts in Europe presents the first full-length theoretical and comparative empirical study of new social pacts in Europe.

Its aim is to bring the level of sophistication achieved in an earlier literature on neo-corporatism to the more contemporary phenomenon of 'social pacting'. The book brings a wide range of complementary theories to bear on the emergence, evolution and institutionalisation of pacts, compares systematically a wide range of cases across Europe, and provides in-depth studies of Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, and Slovenia.

The book contributes to the scholarly debate on economic adjustment and institutional change in European capitalism by focusing on three inter-related questions: (i) what explains national variation in reliance on social pacts; (ii) what determines the outcomes of individual pact negotiations; and (iii) under what conditions are pacts repeated and become regular features of socio-economic governance?

The book's theoretical innovations include a novel application of fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fs/QCA) to help explain national differences in social pact adoption; the application of a game theoretic approach to explain social pact emergence; and a reinterpretation of traditional neo-corporatist and new institutionalist theory to help understand social pact consolidation and institutionalization.