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The politics of labor market reform in coordinated welfare capitalism: comparing Sweden, Germany, and South Korea

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  • Fleckenstein, Timo
  • Lee, Soohyun Christine

Abstract

Since the 1990s, coordinated welfare capitalism has been subject to comprehensive change, with workfare measures and the deregulation of employment protection at the heart of labor market reforms. Developments in Sweden, Germany, and South Korea not only challenge the assumption of relative stability that is commonly associated with the study of coordinated mar-ket economies, but also the assertion that this stability is associated with the persistence of established political coalitions. Instead, we contend a collapse of old welfare state coalitions as key political driver of labor market reform, with the withdrawal of employers from previous welfare settlements at the center of this development.

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  • Fleckenstein, Timo & Lee, Soohyun Christine, 2017. "The politics of labor market reform in coordinated welfare capitalism: comparing Sweden, Germany, and South Korea," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 68210, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:68210
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Fleckenstein, Timo & Lee, Soohyun Christine, 2019. "The political economy of education and skills in South Korea: democratisation, liberalisation and education reform in comparative perspective," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 87607, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    2. Niccolo Durazzi, 2023. "Engineering the expansion of higher education: High skills, advanced manufacturing, and the knowledge economy," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 17(1), pages 121-141, January.
    3. Fleckenstein, Timo & Lee, Soohyun Christine, 2018. "Organised labour, dualisation and labour market reform:Korean trade union in economic and social crisis," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 86340, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    4. Nick Ellison & Paula Blomqvist & Timo Fleckenstein, 2022. "Covid (in)equalities: labor market protection, health, and residential care in Germany, Sweden, and the UK [Punctuated equilibrium in comparative perspective]," Policy and Society, Darryl S. Jarvis and M. Ramesh, vol. 41(2), pages 247-259.
    5. Fleckenstein, Timo & Lee, Soohyun Christine, 2017. "Democratization, post-industrialization, and East Asian welfare capitalism: the politics of welfare state reform in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 69574, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    6. Fleckenstein, Timo & Lee, Soohyun Christine, 2019. "Roads and barriers towards social investments: comparing labour market and family policy reforms in Europe and East Asia," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103001, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    coordinated welfare capitalism; labor markets; Sweden; Germany; South Korea; employers; varieties of capitalism; globalization; dialization;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N0 - Economic History - - General

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