Goodbye to Competitive Corporatism in Spain? Social Pacting and Conflict in the Economic Crisis

Abstract

The economic crisis has placed the corporatist framework in Spain
under significant strain. Labour unrest has also intensified, shifting to
the political arena and threatening to overwhelm existing institutional
channels. This article evaluates the tendencies toward consensus and
conflict in democratic Spain, examining the theoretical debate on the
competitive reorientation of national models of corporatism in Southern
Europe within the context of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).
In addition, it examines the symptoms of erosion in the Spanish
corporatist experience within a scenario of economic crisis. The article
emphasizes the underlying continuity in the political exchange between
government and social partners and concludes that, despite the
deterioration of social dialogue, the mechanisms for the production of
social pacts in Spain have not completely fractured, and there are
possibilities for their reactivation.