How Institutions Evolve: The Political Economy of Skills in Germany, Britain, the United States, and Japan

Kathleen Thelen

Cambridge University Press, Sep 6, 2004 - Business & Economics - 333 pages

The institutional arrangements governing skill formation are widely seen as a key element in the institutional constellations defining 'varieties of capitalism' across the developed democracies. This book explores the origins and evolution of such institutions in four countries - Germany, Britain, the United States and Japan. It traces cross-national differences in contemporary training regimes back to the nineteenth century, and specifically to the character of the political settlement achieved among employers in skill-intensive industries, artisans, and early trade unions. The book also tracks evolution and change in training institutions over a century of development, uncovering important continuities through putative 'break points' in history. Crucially, it also provides insights into modes of institutional change that are incremental but cumulatively transformative. The study underscores the limits of the most prominent approaches to institutional change, and identifies the political processes through which the form and functions of institutions can be radically reconfigured over time.

Contents

• THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF SKILLS IN COMPARATIVEHISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: 1
• Skills and Skill Formation: 8
• The Argument in Brief: 20
• Theories of Institutional Genesis and Change: 23
• Lessons from the Present Study: 31
• Outline for the Book: 37
• THE EVOLUTION OF SKILL FORMATION IN GERMANY: 39
• The Importance of the Artisanal Economy in the Evolution of Skill Formation in Germany: 42
• Strategies of the Large Machine and Metalworking Companies: 55
• Political Coalitions and the Evolution of the System: 63
• The Political Coalition against Reform: 79
• THE EVOLUTION OF SKILL FORMATION IN BRITAIN: 92
• State Policy and the Fate of the British Artisanate: 93
• Union and Employer Strategies in the MetalworkingEngineering Industry: 104
• Reform Efforts before World War I: 118
• The Impact of War and Its Aftermath: 133
• Comparisons and Conclusions: 145
• THE EVOLUTION OF SKILL FORMATION IN JAPAN AND THE UNITED STATES: 148
• The Evolution of Skill Formation in Japan: 149
• The Role of the State and the Fate of the Japanese Artisanate: 151
• Strategies of the Large Metalworking Companies: 163
• The Evolution of the Japanese Management System: 166
• Germany and Japan Compared: 174
• The Evolution of Skill Formation in the United States: 177
• Skill Formation in Early Industrial America: 178
• Union and Employer Strategies in the Metalworking Industry before World War I: 186
• The Politics of Training during and after World War I: 202
• Comparisons and Conclusions: 212
• EVOLUTION AND CHANGE IN THE GERMAN SYSTEM OF VOCATIONAL TRAINING: 215
• The Evolution of the System under National Socialism: 219
• Vocational Training in Postwar Germany: 240
• Erosion through Drift?: 269
• CONCLUSIONS EMPIRICAL AND THEORETICAL: 278
• Institutional Complementarities: 285
• Institutional Evolution and Change: 292
• Bibliography: 297
• Index: 323

About the author

Kathleen Thelen is Associate Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. She is the author of Union of Parts: Labor Politics in Postwar Germany and co-editor of Structuring Politics: Historical Institutionalism in Comparative Analysis. Her work on labor politics and on historical institutionalism has appeared in, among others, World Politics, Comparative Political Studies, The Annual Review of Political Science, Politics and Society, and Comparative Politics. She is chair of the Council for European Studies, and serves on the executive boards of the Comparative Politics, European Politics and Society, and Qualitative Methods sections of the American Political Science Association. She has received awards and fellowships from the Max Planck Society, the Institute for Advanced Study in Berlin, the Society for Comparative Research, the National Science Foundation, the Alexander von Humboldt foundation, the American Scandinavian Foundation, and the German Academic Exchange Program.

Bibliographic information

• Title: How Institutions Evolve: The Political Economy of Skills in Germany, Britain, the United States, and Japan; Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics; How Institutions Evolve: The Political Economy of Skills in Germany, Britain, the United States, and Japan, Kathleen Ann Thelen
• Author: Kathleen Thelen
• Edition: reprint
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2004
• ISBN: 0521546745, 9780521546744
• Length: 333 pages
• Subjects: Business & Economics / Labor / General; Education / Vocational & Technical; Political Science / General; Political Science / Political Process / General; Political Science / Public Policy / Economic Policy; Social Science / General