The role of law in regimes of labour relations: A critique and corrective of comparative political economy

This thesis concerns the influential field of comparative political economy (CPE) and its leading approaches to labour relations ‘institutions’ and regimes in Europe. More specifically, this study offers both a critique and corrective of Varieties of Capitalism, Welfare State and Regulation approaches of CPE that have neglected the role of law, legal rules and legal systems in European labour relations. This thesis offers an alternative theoretical framework, a socio-legal political economy approach, developed principally out of existing CPE theory and contributions from legal studies. The thesis is organised according to a qualitative case study research design that sees two national examples of labour relations systems, Britain and Germany, compared using two areas of European Union law, acquired rights and posted workers, to develop this socio-legal political economy approach and draw conclusions. The four cases produce important findings in regards to specific aspects of labour relations concerning these two countries, collective bargaining and labour law. One broader theoretical argument stems from this comparative approach however. To theorise and compare evolving labour relations systems in Europe, the influence of law cannot be separated from emergence of neo-liberalism, its reforms, politics, practices and, crucially, its critically important legal characteristics. The result for CPE, is neither holistic and self-referential national models nor a singular neo-liberal ‘European’ model, but something much more complex and contested.