Varieties of capitalist debates: how institutions shape public conflicts on economic liberalization in the U.K., France, and Germany

Abstract

Well-known typologies in Comparative Political Economy, like the “Varieties of Capitalism” or the “Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism,” are criticized for neglecting political conflict, because they selectively focus on institutional characteristics, most notably labor relations and welfare regimes. In doing so, they fall short of grasping the whole meaning of their categories. This analysis moves beyond institutionally defined political-economic arrangements and studies the role of public debates for different capitalist models. Using novel relational data from an extensive content analysis of newspapers from 2004 to 2006, political conflicts on economic liberalization in Britain, France, and Germany are explored. More specifically, the paper assesses the structure of conflicts and the influence of various political actors on the debate about economic liberalization. The results reveal persistent national peculiarities with respect to political contention that can plausibly be attributed to the influence of long-term historical legacies and institutional complementaries as outlined by previous typologies.