What is dead and what is alive in the theory of corporatism

This paper distinguishes between two dimensions of corporatism: as a particular structure of the interest representation system, characterized by monopolistic, centralized, and internally non-democratic associations, and as a particular policy-making process, also known as “concertation” or “social partnership.” While the former dimension of corporatism is more or less “dead,” having exhausted its predictive and explanatory capacities, the latter is very much “alive” and captures much of what is going on in various countries, mostly (but not exclusively) European. By focusing on the Irish and Italian cases, the paper shows that concertation is perfectly compatible with a non-corporatist structure of the interest representation system and that organizational coordination can be equally effectively achieved through alternative mechanisms relying on democracy and discussion. What is dead and what is alive in the theory of corporatism