Editorial

摘要

This issue of the journal provides an excellent range of comparative studies of European industrial relations. The first two articles examine changing patterns of union organization and collective bargaining in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE): the 'new' member states of the EU, though it is now over a decade since the original group of accessions. Miroslav Stanojevic addresses the contrasting dynamics and constraints of the 'neoliberal turn' in CEE. In Hungary, a divided labour movement lacked the capacity to resist rapid mass privatization and the associated influx of multinational capital. In Slovenia, by contrast, unions possessed far greater mobilization capacity and helped ensure the development of a 'social market economy'. Since 2000, however, both trajectories have changed. In Hungary an authoritarian government has pursued contradictory policies of encouraging the growth of a domestic economic elite and populist concessions to the working class, while Slovenia has seen a drastic lurch towards neoliberalism.