The State in Industrial Relations: Neoliberal Intervention or Intervening in Neoliberalism?

Abstract

The literature on industrial relations highlights the gradual subordination of nation-specific IR system under conditions of globalisation. The literature, however, pays scant attention to the role of the state in IR framework, an important omission in the context of transitional economies with a legacy of state intervention. This paper examines the changing role of the state and through this seeks to theoretically conceptualise state behaviour in IR. Based on the five planks of wage determination, work and employment condition, collective bargaining, dispute resolution and welfare provision, we critically examine the role of the state and locate it in the spectrum from statist to neoliberal. The case study is based on the study of post-liberalisation West Bengal, a left governed sub-national state of India. The role of the state has multiple dimensions and cannot be subject to a singular categorisation.