The end of institutional stability: What future for the 'German model'?

The focus of this article is on institutions that, from a comparative perspective, have usually been perceived as contributing both to Germany's economic success and social integration: the vocational training and the industrial relations systems. The traditional institutional arrangements are being undermined by the consequences of German unification, persistence, mass unemployment and the disappearance of long-term perspectives on the part of capital. Of course, the 'German model' was never as consistent as the stylized accounts presented it to be, but recent changes in power relations have partly paralysed institutional enforcement processes and thereby have led to the fragmentation of institutional settings.