Pluralism And Corporatism

First published in 1980. In Pluralism and Corporatism the author examines the ‘pluralist' conception of democratic advanced industrial societies and shows to what extent an alternative conception the ‘corporatist' society is more appropriate today. The book reviews criticisms of standard conceptions of industrial society and draws empirical support for some new approaches from the politics of Britain, France, Germany, Holland, Belgium, Italy, Japan and the United States: an analysis which shows that there are tendencies everywhere towards the fragmentation of government responsibility and its assumption both by governmental and organised group bureaucracies. The author argues that this pattern of policy-making is in fact in conflict with standards of behaviour which are fundamental to the ideal of representative and accountable democratic government. Both critical review and analysis are organised in a way which will maximise the usefulness of Pluralism and Corporatism as a theoretical complement to those more standard texts in comparative government which already provide a study in-depth of individual countries. It seeks to review changing political culture, political economy, party and interest intermediation, bureaucratic influence, constitutional effects on political behaviour and the international constraints upon government which arise from interdependence. It will become essential reading for courses on the politics of advanced industrial societies and particularly of Western Europe.

Corporatism is the third great ideolgy of modern social and political organization and it is one of the main organizing concepts used in comparative political analysis. This study traces corporatism in history, analyzes its modern practice and shows the rise of corporatism in the US.

This book offers a systematic and basic introduction to corporatism in the context of liberal democracies. Corporatism has been heralded as one of the most important concepts to have emerged recently in the social sciences. It has led to both theoretical or definitional work on the corporatist model, and to the application of the model to empirical studies. The literature on corporatism is extensive, diverse and complex, reflecting the wide-ranging importance of the model. In this introductory text, Peter Williamson draws together the central issues in corporatism and provides a critical guide to the theories and findings of work within the corporatist approach. Individual topics are linked to the wider concerns of representation, democracy, conflict and stability, and state and market in liberal democracies. Corporatist theory is explained and diversities of approach examined. It is contrasted with the pluralist model, and the methodological and theoretical issues of dispute between corporatists and pluralists are explored. Corporatism in Perspective is written for students in government and politics, political sociology, political economy, public policy and administration, and social policy and administration.

Pluralism today is not much a particular school of thought or coherent body of theory. McLennan argues that pluralism is an indispensable reference point across a spectrum of social scientific debates.

Corporatism has brought Mexico unparalleled stability among Latin American countries. However, Mexico's increasing linkage to international markets has unleashed liberalizing forces at home that undermine the corporatists' regime. MEXICO: CORPORATISM TO PLURALISM begins by defining corporatism and then moves to discuss and analyze the affects of the PRI and its corporate and trade policies on Mexican government and society.

The book focuses on the study of democratic processes. Special emphasis is put (1) on the existence of a diversity of (e. g. socio-economic, ethno-cultural,.) interests and the transformation of this diversity into public policies, (2) on the participatory features of democracy and on barriers to individual and group participation due to disparities in economic and political resources.

The Territorial Imperative explores the interaction of politics and economics at the mesolevel of the polity.

The chapters in this volume reconsider fundamental premises about state and society in advanced capitalist countries. That social scientists in different disciplines of varying methodological and political persuasions should have found it useful to collaborate in such an undertaking is testimony to the profound social, economic and political shocks experienced by all advanced capitalist nations since to late 1960s. The energy crisis, the end of rapid economic growth, inflation, high unemployment and rising social conflict challenge conventional conceptions about the functioning of industrial societies and their future course. Social science theories have been unable to illuminate these realities.