Corporatism and Local Politics

Abstract

So far the theoretical discussion of corporatism and the main body of empirical work have concentrated on the macro, or central, level of the political process. Corporatism has been identified in different ways, but whether as a new form of political economy or as a system of interest intermediation, the characteristic association of the term is with whole systems. The relevant interest organisations, whose interaction with state agencies forms the core of corporatist analysis, have most frequently been identified as the ‘peak’ organisations of capital and labour. Where such organisations bargain over investment and planning strategies, over incomes policies and price controls, and accept some responsibility for ensuring their membership’s compliance with consensually negotiated policies, it is appropriate to speak of a ‘macro-level corporatism’ which takes a tripartite form involving class-based interests arising from the functional division of labour.