'This is an important book for all scholars and practitioners of industrial relations. It includes very detailed and insightful analyses of developments in industrial relations in a number of European countries (Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Sweden), but its ambition goes well beyond that.' Roberto Pedersini, Transfer
Introduction; 1. Arguing for neoliberal convergence; 2. Quantitative analysis of industrial relations change; 3. Constructing a liberal market economy: the collapse of collective regulation in Britain; 4. State-led liberalization and the transformation of worker representation in France; 5. Softening institutions: the liberalization of German industrial relations with Chiara Benassi; 6. 'Well dug old mole!' The rise and decline of concessionary corporatism in Italy; 7. The conversion of corporatism: re-engineering Swedish industrial relations for a neo-liberal era; 8. Actors, institutions and pathways: the liberalization of industrial relations in Western Europe; 9. From industrial relations liberalization to the instability of capitalist growth; Bibliography; Index.