Collective Bargaining and Social Pacts: Greece in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

What are the institutional prerequisites for the creation and maintenance of centralized collective bargaining and social pacts? This article compares Greek experience since 1990 with that in other countries, arguing that societies are likely to diverge on how they respond to the issues of changing bargaining structure and tripartite policy-making. While neo-institutionalist approaches, and particularly their ‘varieties of capitalism’ variant, can go a long way in interpreting these diverse responses, they have problems accounting for institutional change. To accomplish this we need a more dynamic understanding of how past institutional arrangements in combination with current tensions over particular issues, and the costs and opportunities presented to actors, give rise to distinctive responses.