IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/treure/v31y2025i3p331-346.html

Institutionalised power or crisis corporatism? Comparing Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands during the COVID-19 pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Jakob Strigén

    (Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI), Stockholm University, Sweden)

  • Rense Nieuwenhuis

    (Swedish Institute for Social Research (SOFI), Stockholm University, Sweden)

  • Minna van Gerven

    (University of Helsinki, Finland)

  • Zamzam Elmi

    (University of Helsinki, Finland)

  • Aino Salmi

    (University of Helsinki, Finland)

Abstract

The social partners often attain a more central role in decision-making during social or economic crises. This article examines whether this held true in Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands during the COVID-19 pandemic. These are countries with strong institutionalised power relations. It assesses whether the crisis affected institutional stability and social partner representation, referred to as crisis corporatism. Drawing on 30 interviews with representatives of social partner organisations and government agencies, as well as labour market experts, we demonstrate strong institutional stability and path dependence in industrial relations during the crisis. While Sweden’s institutionalised power relations remained stable, Finland and the Netherlands experienced temporary shifts, with governments bypassing the social partners on health-related issues. The health-care sector and precarious workers emerged as especially vulnerable.

Suggested Citation

  • Jakob Strigén & Rense Nieuwenhuis & Minna van Gerven & Zamzam Elmi & Aino Salmi, 2025. "Institutionalised power or crisis corporatism? Comparing Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands during the COVID-19 pandemic," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 31(3), pages 331-346, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:31:y:2025:i:3:p:331-346
    DOI: 10.1177/10242589251356590
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/10242589251356590
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/10242589251356590?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:31:y:2025:i:3:p:331-346. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.