From Social Democracy to Neoliberalism : The Consequences of Party Hegemony in Spain, 1982-1996

by Sebastián Royo

• ISBN13: 9780312223908
• ISBN10: 0312223900
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2000-02-19
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

This book examines the failure of the Socialist government that held tenure in Spain from 1982 until 1996 to combat unemployment. Sebastiaacute;n Royo builds on interviews with policy-makers, business and union leaders, and scholars to support a new hypothesis: that the institutional dependence of the main labor union (UGT) on the Spanish Socialist Party led the Socialist government to default repeatedly on promises made to the union. This book's main theoretical contribution is to highlight an institutional factor that has not been considered in the examination of the effect of political institutions on economies, namely, the autonomy or lack thereof of labor unions from governing parties.

Author Biography

Sebastißn Royo is Assistant Professor of Government at Suffolk University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vii
Preface	ix
List of Tables	xi
List of Figures	xiii
List of Abbreviations	xv
Introduction	1	(18)
The Basis of Social Democratic Policies: Incomes Policy and Concertation	19	(16)
The Institutional and Structural Foundations of Concertation	35	(32)
Concertation in Spain (1979--1986): A Historic Overview	67	(44)
Institutional Barriers to Concertation in Spain	111	(32)
Structural and Economic Constraints on Concertation in Spain	143	(30)
The Party-Union Relationship: The Consequences of Party Hegemony	173	(72)
Conclusions Limits to Social Democratic Policies in Spain	203	(42)
Notes	245	(44)
Bibliography	289	(24)
Index	313