Social Democrats and trade unions in Scandinavia: The decline and persistence of institutional relationships
ELIN HAUGSGJERD ALLERN,
NICHOLAS AYLOTT,
FLEMMING JUUL CHRISTIANSEN,
ELIN HAUGSGJERD ALLERN
Institute for Social Research, Oslo, Norway;
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
NICHOLAS AYLOTT
School of Social Sciences, Södertörn University College, Huddinge, Sweden;
Nicholas Aylott, School of Social Sciences, Södertörn University College, SE-141 89 Huddinge, Sweden. Tel.: +46 (0)8-608 40 75; Fax: +46 (0)8-608 40 30; E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorFLEMMING JUUL CHRISTIANSEN
Department of Political Science, University of Aarhus Denmark
Search for more papers by this author
ELIN HAUGSGJERD ALLERN,
NICHOLAS AYLOTT,
FLEMMING JUUL CHRISTIANSEN,
ELIN HAUGSGJERD ALLERN
Institute for Social Research, Oslo, Norway;
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
NICHOLAS AYLOTT
School of Social Sciences, Södertörn University College, Huddinge, Sweden;
Nicholas Aylott, School of Social Sciences, Södertörn University College, SE-141 89 Huddinge, Sweden. Tel.: +46 (0)8-608 40 75; Fax: +46 (0)8-608 40 30; E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this authorFLEMMING JUUL CHRISTIANSEN
Department of Political Science, University of Aarhus Denmark
Search for more papers by this authorAbstract
Abstract. This article examines the institutional arrangements between Social Democratic parties and trade unions in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. First, the authors show how these relations have weakened at a varying pace. Party–union ties are now quite distant in Denmark, but remain relatively close in Norway and, especially, Sweden. Second, the authors explore this variation using a simple model of political exchange. The finding is that the intensity of the relationship is correlated with the resources that each side can derive from the other, which in turn reflects national differences. Yet it is also clear that the degree of change is related to the formative phase of the institutional arrangement itself: the weaker the ties were from the beginning, the more easily they unravel in response to environmental changes.
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