Corporatism, crisis and contention in Sweden and Korea during the 1990s

Debate has long surrounded corporatism’s depictions of power and the state, and the rise of neoliberalism has raised even more doubts about corporatism as an analytical construct. Faltering growth and rising unemployment in Sweden and Korea after financial crises in the 1990s seemed to confirm neoliberal expectations that all varieties of corporatism (state/authoritarian and societal/democratic) are doomed to decline, and that corporatism will converge on liberalism. Closer examination of the 1990s crises suggests that Swedish and Korean institutions have transformed rather than collapsed. Corporatist institutions have been transformed by ideas about networks and governance, interaction between national and international institutions and shifting alliances among export-oriented and competition-shielded employers, private and public sector unions and citizen networks. This article argues that the ‘dynamics of contention’ can explain how these new ideas and alliances transformed regimes in Sweden and Korea and as such constitute an alternative to corporatism as an analytical construct.

Pharmaceuticals in Australia: developments in regulation and governance

The pharmaceutical domain represents a type of internationalised policy network theorised in recent writings on neo-liberalism, neo-corporatism and governance. This article presents an analysis of developments in prescription drug regulation in Australia. A relatively stable, state-managed pattern of interaction has been superseded by less closed exchange, and the government itself has fragmented into agencies pursuing different objectives. Developments in the three core regulatory areas are described: safety and efficacy controls, social policy (access and equity), and state support for industry (economic) development. Consensus-building occurs within the context of the National Medicines Policy. The pharmaceutical industry, represented by Medicines Australia, has a stake in all aspects of pharmaceutical policy and regulation, and draws upon unique resources (expertise and lobbying capacity). The context for the developments described is Australia's abandonment of a protectionist version of the Keynesian welfare national state in favour of the model of the competition state, which is oriented towards support for the growth of high technology industries such as pharmaceuticals, premised on partnerships with business.

Evaluating artistic work : balancing competing perspectives

The artist is frequently uncertain, when he or she begins to create a work, how the completed work will look or sound. However, the corporate business model, which is premised on a rational and instrumental worldview, suggests that in a market environment, art should be evaluated objectively, based on clearly stated and measurable objectives - often prior to that work being commenced. This paper explores the difficulties that art has in fitting into a corporatist worldview. First, the paper examines the historical materialization of the corporate model, and how it has infiltrated non-profit arts. Second, the paper investigates the likely reasons as to why instrumental rationality and managerialism have been embraced so enthusiastically by bureaucrats, arts marketers and funders. And third, the paper suggests a research approach by which artists, managers and audiences can evaluate art within a framework that is sympathetic to the art and the artist.

Wal-Mart’s trade union in China

In 2007–8, more than 100 Wal-Mart stores in China established trade unions, which were praised by labour organizations and scholars throughout the world. This article questions these positive assessments and evaluations through an empirical study. The empirical findings reveal a dark and unpleasant picture of a double cooptation in that both the Chinese government and Wal-Mart have successfully coopted a few more or less independent unions. Although the presence of the trade union seems to challenge Wal-Mart’s neoliberal corporate ideology and governance, the compromise and tacit agreement between Wal-Mart and the party-state not only reflects a marriage of convenience but also indicates some deeper compatibility, the compatibility between China’s state corporatist model and the neoliberal approach taken by Wal-Mart. This study finds that China continues to move in a ‘state corporatist’ direction and that the transition towards civil society and ‘societal corporatism’ has been stymied.