Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T04:07:13.818Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Varieties of Capitalism and Capitalism « tout court »

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 February 2010

Dorothee Bohle
Affiliation:
Political Science Department, Central European University, Budapest [[email protected]].
Béla Greskovits
Affiliation:
Departement of International Relations and European Studies, Central European University, Budapest [[email protected]].
Get access

Abstract

The article reviews the “Varieties of Capitalism” (VoC) approach and its large impact on the field of comparative political economy. It situates the approach within the field, and stresses its specificities. The article argues that VoC's firm-centeredness, parsimony, and reliance on conceptual tools borrowed from economics, fit better than other approaches to a Zeitgeist formed in the context of the demise of Western capitalism's alternatives, and the globalization-induced shift of societies’ center of gravity away from politics towards firms and markets. The article then revisits major debates that have followed the publication of the seminal Hall-Soskice book. The debates have revealed that VoC's greatest strengths, in the end, turn out to be obstacles when it comes to analyzing problems of contemporary capitalism.

Résumé

L'article revient sur les textes de l'approche Variétés du capitalisme qui a eu un impact important en économie politique comparative. La focalisation sur l'entreprise, le caractère rudimentaire et l'emprunt d'outils conceptuels aux économistes conviennent bien à l'esprit d'un temps (Zeigeist) où l'on a renoncé à chercher une alternative au capitalisme occidental et où, globalisation aidant, le centre de gravité des sociétés se déplace du politique vers la firme et le marché. Vient ensuite une revue des grands débats qui ont suivi la publication du livre pionnier de Hall et Soskice. Finalement, les éléments forts de l'approche VoC se sont révélés des obstacles à l'analyse des problèmes du capitalisme contemporain.

Zusammenfassung

Der Artikel gibt einen Überblick über den einflussreichen „Varieties of Capitalism” (VoC) Ansdentz. Er verortet ihn im Feld der vergleiche den politischen Ökonomie und argumentiert, daß der Fokus auf Unternehmen, die scheinbare Einfachheit und Eleganz der Argumentation, und die breite Anwendung von aus der Ökonomie entliehenen Konzepten einem wissenschaftlichen Zeitgeist entspricht, der von dem Zusammenbruch der Alternativen zum westlichen Kapitalismus und von Globalisierung und der mit ihr einhergehenden Verschiebung gesellschaftlicher Machtzentren in Richtung Unternehmen und Märkte geprägt ist. Im zweiten Teil befaßt sich der Artikel mit einigen Debatten, die der Ansatz ausgelöst hat. Der Artikel fragt auch, inwieweit VoC in der Lage ist, Globalisierung, europäische Integration und neu entstehende Kapitalismusvarianten zu erfassen. Diese Debatten machen deutlich, daß die Stärken des VoC Ansatzes sich in Hindernisse verwandeln, wenn Probleme des gegenwärtigen Kapitalismus analysiert werden sollen.

Type
Research Articles
Copyright
Copyright © A.E.S. 2009

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aglietta, Michel, 1979. A Theory of Capitalist Regulation: The US Experience (London, Verso).Google Scholar
Amable, Bruno, 2003. The Diversity of Modern Capitalism (Oxford, Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amable, Bruno and Palombarini, Stefano, 2009. “A neorealist approach to institutional change and the diversity of capitalism”, Socio-Economic Review, 7, pp.123-143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amsden, Alice, 2001. The Rise of “the Rest”. Challenges to the West from Late-Industrializing Economies (Oxford, Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bartolini, Stefano, 2007. Restructuring Europe: Centre Formation, System Building and Political Structuring between the Nation-State and the European Union (Oxford, Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Beckert, Jens, 2008. The Social Order of Markets (Köln, Max-Planck Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung, Working paper 08/01).Google Scholar
Bluhm, Katharina, 2007. Experimentierfeld Ostmitteleuropa? Deutsche Unternehmen in Polen und der Tschechischen Republik (Wiesbaden, VS-Verlag).Google Scholar
Bohle, Dorothee and Greskovits, Béla, 2007. “Neoliberalism, Embedded Neoliberalism, and Neocorporatism: Towards Transnational Capitalism in Central-Eastern Europe”, West European Politics, 30 (3), May, pp. 443-466.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boyer, Robert, 1986. La Théorie de la régulation. Une analyse critique (Paris, La Decouverte).Google Scholar
Boyer, Robert and Durand, Jean-Pierre, 1997. After Fordism (London, Macmillan Business).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buchen, Clemens, 2007. “Estonia and Slovenia as Antipodes”, in Lane, David and Myant, Martin, eds, Varieties of Capitalism in Post-Communist Countries (Houndmills, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 65-89).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cernat, Lucien, 2002. “Institutions and Economic Growth: Which Model of Capitalism for Central and Eastern Europe?Journal for Institutional Innovation, Development and Transition, 6, pp. 18-34.Google Scholar
Crouch, Colin, 2005. Capitalist Diversity and Change (Oxford, Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crouch, Colin, Streeck, Wolfgang, Boyer, Robert, Amable, Bruno and Jackson, Gregory, 2005. “Dialogue on Institutional Complementarity and Political Economy”, Socio-Economic Review, 3, pp. 359-382.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cusack, Thomas, Iversen, Torben and Soskice, David, 2007. “Economic Interests and the Origins of Electoral Systems” (Berlin, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin, Discussion Paper 07/07).Google Scholar
Djelic, Marie-Laure and Quack, Sigrid, eds., 2003. Globalization and Institutions. Redefining the Rules of the Economic Game (Cheltenham and Northampton, Edward Elgar).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebbinghaus, Bernhard and Manow, Philip, eds., 2001. Comparing Welfare Capitalism. Social Policy and Political Economy in Europe, Japan and the US (Milton Park, Routledge).Google Scholar
Eckstein, Alexander, ed., 1971. Comparison of Economic Systems. Theoretical and Methodological Approaches (Berkeley, University of California Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esping-Andersen, Gösta, 1990. The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism (Cambridge, Polity Press).Google Scholar
Estevez-Abe, Margarita, Iversen, Torben and Soskice, David, 2001. “Social Protection and the Formation of Skills: A Reinterpretation of the Welfare State”, in Hall, Peter A. and Soskice, David, eds., Varieties of Capitalism, pp. 145-183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, Peter, Rueschemeyer, Dietrich and Skocpol, Theda, eds., 1985. Bringing the State Back In (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Feldmann, Magnus, 2007. “The Origins of Varieties of Capitalism: Lessons from Post-Socialist Transition in Estonia and Slovenia”, in Hancké, Bob et al. , Beyond Varieties of Capitalism, (New York, Oxford Univrsity Press, pp. 328-350).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frieden, Jeffry and Rogowski, Ronald, 1996. “The Impact of the International Economy on National Policies: An Analytical Overview”, in Keohane, Robert O. and Milner, Helen, eds, Internationalization and Domestic Politics (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 25-47).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fukuyama, Francis, 1992. The End of History and the Last Man (New York, Free Press).Google Scholar
Gereffi, Gary, 1995. “Global Production Systems and Third World Development”, in Stallings, Barbara, ed., Global Change, Regional Response (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 100-142).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gerschenkron, Alexander, [1962] 1976. Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective (Cambridge, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press).Google Scholar
Goldthorpe, John, ed., 1984. Order and Conflict In Contemporary Capitalism (Oxford, Clarendon Press).Google Scholar
Gourevitch, Peter, 1986. Politics in Hard Times: Comparative Responses to International Economic Crises (Ithaca, Cornell University Press).Google Scholar
Gray, John, 1998. False Dawn: The Delusions of Global Capitalism. (London, Granta Books).Google Scholar
Hall, Peter A., 1997. “The Role of Interests, Institutions, and Ideas in the Comparative Political Economy of Industrialized Nations”, in Lichbach, Mark and Zuckerman, Alan, eds., Comparative Politics. Rationality, Culture, and Structure (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 174-207).Google Scholar
Hall, Peter A., 2007. “The Evolution of Varieties of Capitalism in Europe”, in Hancké, Bob et al. Beyond Varieties of Capitalism (New York, Oxford University Press, pp. 39-85).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, Peter A. and Gingerich, David, 2004. “Varieties of Capitalism and Institutional Complementarities in the Macroeconomy: An Empirical Analysis”, (Köln, Max-Planck Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung, Discussion paper 04/05).Google Scholar
Hall, Peter A. and Soskice, David, eds., 2001. Varieties of Capitalism. The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage (Oxford, Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, Peter A. and Thelen, Kathleen, 2009. “Institutional Change in Varieties of Capitalism”, Socio-Economic Review, 7, pp. 7-34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, Peter A., Rhodes, Martin and Thatcher, Mark, eds., 2007. Beyond Varieties of Capitalism. Conflict, Contradictions, and Complementarities in the European Economy (Oxford, Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Hay, Colin, 2004. “Common Trajectories, Variable Paces, Divergent Outcomes? Models of European Capitalism under Conditions of Complex Economic InterdependenceReview of International Political Economy, 11 (2), pp. 231-262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hirschman, Albert, 1970. Exit, Voice, and Loyalty. Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States (Cambridge, Harvard University Press).Google Scholar
Hirschman, Albert, 1981. Essays in Trespassing. Economics to Politics and Beyond (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Hiscox, Michael, 2002. International Trade and Domestic Conflict (Princeton, Princeton University Press).Google Scholar
Hollingsworth, Roger and Boyer, Robert, eds., 1997. Contemporary Capitalism. The Embeddedness of Institutions (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hollingsworth, Roger, Schmitter, Philippe and Streeck, Wolfgang, eds., 1994. Governing Capitalist Economies. Performance and Control of Economic Sectors (Oxford, Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Höpner, Martin, 2005. “What Connects Industrial Relations with Corporate Governance? Explaining Complementarity”, Socio-Economic Review, 3 (2), pp. 331-358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iversen, Torben, 2005. Capitalism, Democracy, and Welfare (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iversen, Torben and Soskice, David, 2001. “An Asset Theory of Social Policy Preferences”, American Political Science Review, 95 (4), december, pp. 875-892.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, Gregory and Deeg, Richard, 2006. “How Many Varieties of Capitalism? Comparing the Comparative Institutional Analyses of Capitalist Diversity” (Köln, Max-Planck Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung, Discussion paper 06/02).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katzenstein, Peter, 1985. Small States in World Markets (Ithaca, Cornell University Press).Google Scholar
Kitschelt, Herbert, 2006. “Collective Group Interests and Distributive Outcomes: Competing Claims about the Evolution of the Welfare State”. Contribution to the Labor History Symposium on Capitalism, Democracy and Welfare, by Torben Iversen, Labor History, 47 (3), pp. 411-419.Google Scholar
Kitschelt, Herbert, Lange, Peter, Marks, Gary and Stephens, John, 1999. “Convergence and Divergence in Advanced Capitalist Democracies”, in Kitschelt, H., Lange, P., Marks, G. and Stephens, J., eds., Continuity and Change in Contemporary Capitalism (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knell, Mark and Srholec, Martin, 2007. “Diverging Pathways in Central and Eastern Europe”, in Lane, David and Myant, Martin, eds., Varieties of Capitalism in Post-Communist Countries (Houndmills, Palgrave, pp. 40-64).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kornai, János, 1980. Economics of Shortage (Amsterdam, North-Holland).Google Scholar
Lane, David, 2005. “Emerging Varieties of Capitalism in Former State Socialist Societies”, Competition and Change, 3, pp. 227-247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maurice, Marc, Sellier, Francois and Silvestre, Jean-Jacques, 1986. The Social Foundations of Industrial Power. A Comparison of France and Germany (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press).Google Scholar
McMenamin, Iain, 2004. “Varieties of Capitalist Democracy: What Difference does East-Central Europe Make?Journal of Public Policy, 3, pp. 259-274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mykhnenko, Vlad, 2007. “Strengths and Weaknesses of ‘Weak’ Coordination: Economic Institutions, Revealed Comparative Advantages, and Socio-Economic Performance of Mixed Market Economies in Poland and Ukraine”, in Hancké, Bob et al. Beyond Varieties of Capitalism (New York, Oxford University press, pp. 351-378).Google Scholar
Nölke, Andreas and Vliegenthart, Arjan, 2009. “Enlarging the Varieties of Capitalism: The Emergence of Dependent Market Economies in East Central Europe”, World Politics, 61 (4), October, pp. 670-702.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ohmae, Kenichi, 1994. The Borderless World: Power and Strategy in the Global Marketplace (London, Harper Collins).Google Scholar
Olson, Mancur, 1971. The Logic of Collective Action: Public Goods and the Theory of Economic Groups (Cambridge, Harvard University Press).Google Scholar
Piore, Michael J. and Sabel, Charles F., 1986. The Second Industrial Divide: Possibilities for Prosperity (New York, Basic Books).Google Scholar
Polanyi, Karl, [1944] 1957. The Great Transformation. The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time (Boston, Beacon).Google Scholar
Pontusson, Jonas, 1995. “From Comparative Public Policy to Political Economy: Putting Institutions in Their Place and Taking Interests Seriously”, Comparative Political Studies, 28, pp. 117-147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porter, Michael, 1990. The Competitive Advantage of Nations (New York, Free Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rokkan, Stein, 1970. Citizens, Elections, Parties: Approaches to the Comparative Study of the Processes of Development(Oslo: Universitetsforlaget).Google Scholar
Scharpf, Fritz, 1997. “Balancing Positive and Negative Integration: The Regulatory Options for Europe” (Köln, Max-Planck Institut für Gesellschaftsforschung, MPIfG Working Paper 97/8).Google Scholar
Schmidt, Vivien, 2002. The Futures of European Capitalism (Oxford, Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmitter, Philippe, 1990. “Sectors in Modern Capitalism: Modes of Governance and Variations in Performance”, in Brunetta, Renato and Dell-Arringa, Carlo, eds., Labour Relations and Economic Performance (Houndmills, Basingstoke, Palgrave MacMillan, pp. 3-39).Google Scholar
Schmitter, Philippe C. and Lehmbruch, Gerhard, eds., 1979. Trends Toward Corporatist Intermediation (Beverly Hills, Sage).Google Scholar
Shonfield, Andrew, 1965. Modern Capitalism. The Changing Balance of Public and Private Power (London, Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Stark, David and Bruszt, László, 1998. Postsocialist Pathways. Transforming Politics and Property in East Central Europe (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press).Google Scholar
Streeck, Wolfgang, 2009. Re-Forming Capitalism. Institutional Change in the German Political Economy (Oxford, Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Streeck, Wolfgang and Thelen, Kathleen, 2005. Beyond Continuity: Institutional Change in Advanced Political Economies (Oxford, Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
Thelen, Kathleen, 2004. How Institutions Evolve: The Political Economy of Skills in Germany, Britain, the United States, and Japan (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wade, Robert, 1990. Governing the Market: Economic Theory and the Role of Government in East Asian Industrialization (Princeton, Princeton University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitley, Richard, 2007. Business Sytems and Organizational Capabilities. The Institutional Structuring of Competitive Competencies (Oxford, Oxford University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, Stewart, 2001. “Business, Government, and Patterns of Labor Market Policy in Britain and the Federal Republic of Germany”, in Peter A, Hall and Soskice, David, Varieties of Capitalism (New York, Oxford University Press, pp. 247-277).CrossRefGoogle Scholar