d haveleft Western Europeans widely dissatisfied with their political system. Western European countries demonstrated varying abilities to control inflation andunemployment in the 1970's and 1980's. Cameron argues that two variables explain muchof the differences in economic performance: 1) the presence or absence of corporatistinstitutions and practices,1 and 2) the role of leftist, Social Democratic political parties ingovernment (Cameron: 144). Centralization of labor representation facilitates corporatistbargaining. Conversely, fragemented labor representation makes agreement difficult. Thegreater the number of parties, the less likely that they will find a solution palatable to allnegotiators. According to measurements of labor organizational unity by the EuropeanYearbook, countries with the most unified labor during the 1970's and 1980's, Austria,Sweden, Norway, Germany, Denmark and Finland, were all among the best in Europe atcontrolling unemployment and inflation, while the countries with the most disunited labor,Italy, France and Spain, were less successful. The shift to a post-industrial economy has increased the dissolution, fragmentation anddifferentiation of the Western European labor market. Most countries have suffered highand remarkably stable unemployment. Unemployment rises during economic downturns,but no longer seems to recover in a boom economy. Many blame post-industrialism forthis phenomenon, complaining that technological improvements have led to a 'workerless'economy. While post-industrialism is a cause of higher unemployment, the explanation isnot that it has eliminated jobs, but that jobs have changed. New industrial jobs haveincreasingly required specialized technical skill, while the service sector has created jobsfor skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled workers. One crucial difference between the old jobs and the new are that traditional unions playeda much larger role in the labor market for industrial jobs...
