This dissertation makes three central claims. First, contemporary Spanish labor relations cannot be described by established regime categories in the literature (corporatist, constructivist, pluralist, etc.). I resolve this puzzle by conceptualizing a new labor relations regime, which I label the conditional regime. This conceptualization differs substantively from existing categories because its core attributes---the fragile commitments of key regime actors and the ambiguity of labor institutions---highlight uncertainties along the two dimensions that typically define labor relations regimes, macro-strategic commitments and institutional frameworks. The robustness of these core attributes is sustained by three conditioning factors---the intense localness and diversity of shopfloor relations, the weak articulation of subunits composing the major producer organizations, and these organizations' dependence on state promotion. Second, I locate the origins of these conditioning factors in the labor relations dynamics that emerged during the long authoritarian experience preceding the Spanish transition to democracy. Third, I show that the three incorporations informing labor relations during the transition comprised a critical juncture through which these authoritarian legacies were consolidated: (1) a political incorporation---the return of suffrage and the consolidation of a new party system; (2) an organizational incorporation---the linking of workers and employers to new producer groups; and (3) an institutional incorporation---the struggle of unions and employer associations to fill the space defined by the elaborate edifice of authoritarian-era labor institutions.;The argument is developed through analysis of the authoritarian era and the Spanish transition to democracy. I then demonstrate the links between authoritarian legacies, mode of transition (triple incorporation), and the emergence of the conditional regime through comparisons with other national systems often lumped with the Spanish case---Portugal, France, and Italy. Finally, I present primary resource material and results of extensive interviews that demonstrate the robustness of conditional regime dynamics in political and economic bargaining surrounding contemporary Spanish labor relations. This dissertation contributes to the comparative literature by identifying regularities underlying a labor relations system that has long confounded analysts and by providing a new regime conceptualization that will facilitate comparison of the Spanish experience with other post-authoritarian contexts.
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