st of high unemployment. The resulting joblessness has extracted large political costs, particularly for social democratic parties in government and abandonment of full-employment as a primary policy goal has alienated a large portion of their constituencies, undermining their support. Social democratic parties are currently on the run even in countries where they delivered the best economic results, such as Sweden and Austria.Without the means to increase employment, many countries have tried instead to discourage participation in the labor market. Germany has called for a shorter work week, France has made extensive use of early retirement, and almost all European countries have cut back on legal immigration in an effort to lower unemployment figures and reduce the perceived social cost of their price control policies.The ascension of right-wing or right-center parties in many Western European countries, such as Austria, Italy, France and Sweden, creates two additional, significant barriers to a return to the corporatist solutions of the past. First, most of these parties display a clear policy preference for price control over full employment. Even Jacques Chirac, who campaigned on a platform of job creation, quickly reaffirmed his commitment to the franc fort immediately after he won the election. Second, recall that Cameron argued that both corporatism and leftist government contributed to economic success in Western Europe. Trust between strong unions and their allies in leftist governments formed an important basis for making and enforcing wage restraint agreements under corporatist bargaining. Unions have less faith that neo-liberal governments will take the necessary steps to protectemployment and are accordingly less likely to compromise in wage negotiations.To conclude, post-industrialism has led to dramatic changes in Western European labor markets and Western European politics.These changes have severely undermined th...
