The condition of European economic democracy: a comparative analysis of individual and collective employment rights

Cumbers, A. , Bilsland, K., McMaster, R. , Cabaço, S. and White, M. (2023) The condition of European economic democracy: a comparative analysis of individual and collective employment rights. Economic and Industrial Democracy, 44(1), pp. 109-137. (doi: 10.1177/0143831X211064919)

Abstract

The condition of European economic democracy is generally recognised to be in a fragile state. Recent discussions have centred on pressures to converge towards an Anglo-American model of flexible and deregulated employment relations and systems, consonant with a broader neoliberal economic governance discourse. Existing approaches suggest an uneven experience between countries around a general trend of deterioration. In this article we offer two new contributions to these debates. First, we introduce findings from an Economic Democracy Index (EDI) we have developed. This goes beyond existing indices of employment and industrial democracy to allow us to examine the changing nature of individual employment rights as well as collective bargaining conditions between European countries. Second, we depart from existing studies of European employment relations, which tend to take a comparative national approach, by situating national employment relations and trajectories within a wider set of spatial and social relations. Qualitative analysis of three country cases (Denmark, Portugal and Slovenia) supplements our EDI analysis. Our evidence suggests the importance of multi-scalar relational and institutional dynamics between social actors at the national scale and those at higher scales such as the European Union in understanding variations in country performance on the EDI.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: McMaster, Professor Robert and Bilsland, Dr Karen and Cumbers, Professor Andrew and Cabaco, Dr Susana
• Authors: Cumbers, A., Bilsland, K., McMaster, R., Cabaço, S., and White, M.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > Adam Smith Business School > Management
• Journal Name: Economic and Industrial Democracy
• Publisher: SAGE Publications
• ISSN: 0143-831X
• ISSN (Online): 1461-7099
• Published Online: 26 January 2022
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2022 The Authors
• First Published: First published in Economic and Industrial Democracy 44(1): 109-137
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
172048		Transforming Public Policy through Economic Democracy	Andrew Cumbers	Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)	ES/N006674/1	BS - Management