Is social concertation a viable alternative under globalization? Reconsidering the case of Ireland

Abstract

By exploring how the Irish social partnership was established and evolved, this article highlights the validity of a social concertation model, and takes a critical look at hasty attempts to identify the causes of its breakdown. The article holds that the collapse of Irish social partnership in the current economic crisis does not suggest the irrelevancy of social concertation under globalization, as neoliberals argue, nor does it confirm a predetermined path generated by the absence of supportive institutions or the structural nature of neoliberal social partnership. To the contrary, the social concertation model remains viable as an alternative to the neoliberal free market under globalization, and it can be used even in the absence of strong institutional arrangements. Contesting the accounts of neoliberals and Marxist-inspired structuralists, the article argues that social partnership has achieved a greater success in Ireland than neoliberal Britain, under similar globalization challenges. Against institutionalist accounts, it holds that social partnership was able to survive over two decades even in the absence of supportive corporatist institutions. The article's core argument is that domestic politics, rather than institutional and structural determinism, are needed to form social consensus in building and sustaining social concertation.