Veto Players and Law Production in Parliamentary Democracies: An Empirical Analysis

1999 ◽  
Vol 93 (3) ◽  
pp. 591-608 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Tsebelis
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Veto Players ◽  
International Labour Organization ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Parliamentary Democracies ◽  
Parliamentary Systems ◽  
International Encyclopedia ◽  
Fundamental Insight ◽  
Number Of Parties

This article investigates hypotheses generated by the veto players' theory. The fundamental insight of this theory is that an increase in the number of veto players (for all practical purposes, in parliamentary systems the number of parties in government) and their ideological distance from one another will reduce the ability of both government and parliament to produce significant laws. In addition, the number of significant laws increases with the duration of a government and with an increase in the ideological difference between current and previous government. These propositions are tested with legislative data (both laws and government decrees) on working time and working conditions identified in two legislative sources: the NATLEX computerized database in Geneva (produced by the International Labour organization) and Blanpain's International Encyclopedia for Labour Law and Industrial Relations. The data cover fifteen West European countries for the period 1981–91. The evidence corroborates the proposed hypotheses.

scholarly journals The emergence of coercive federal Australian labour law, 1901–2020

2021 ◽  
pp. 002218562110039
Author(s):  
Eugene Schofield-Georgeson
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Relations ◽  
High Volume ◽  
Union Power ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Industrial Environment ◽  
The Past ◽  
Low Levels ◽  
Labour Legislation ◽  
Employment Legislation

Over the past two decades, industrial relations scholarship has observed a trend towards an increasingly punitive industrial environment along with the ‘re-regulation’ of labour law. Absent from much of this literature, however, has been an empirical and historical measurement or comparison of the scale and quality of this systemic change. By surveying coercive and penal federal industrial legislation over the period 1901–2020, this study shows empirically that over the last 40 years, there has been a steep increase in the amount of coercive federal labour legislation in Australia. It further measures and compares the volume of coercive labour legislation enacted specifically against ‘labour’ and ‘capital’ or both throughout the same period (1901–2020). Analysis reveals a correlation between a high volume of coercive labour legislation with low levels of trade union power and organisation. Argued here is that coercive labour legislation has been crucial to transitioning from a liberal conciliation and arbitration model of Australian industrial relations towards a neoliberal framework of employment legislation. In the former, regulation was more collective, informal and egalitarian (embodied by the sociological concept of ‘associative democracy’). Under a neoliberal framework, regulation is now more individualised, technical, punitive and rarely enforced, resulting in less equal material outcomes.

Innovation, Working Conditions and Industrial Relations: Evidence for a Local Production System

2009 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Davide Antonioli ◽  
Massimiliano Mazzanti ◽  
Paolo Pini
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Production System ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Local Production

scholarly journals Decision Making in Political Systems: Veto Players in Presidentialism, Parliamentarism, Multicameralism and Multipartyism

1995 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 289-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Tsebelis
Keyword(s):  
Policy Change ◽  
Comparative Politics ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Veto Players ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Policy Positions ◽  
Veto Player ◽  
Collective Actors ◽  
Parliamentary Systems ◽  
Presidential Systems

The article compares different political systems with respect to one property: their capacity to produce policy change. I define the basic concept of the article, the ‘veto player’: veto players are individual or collective actors whose agreement (by majority rule for collective actors) is required for a change of the status quo. Two categories of veto players are identified in the article: institutional and partisan. Institutional veto players (president, chambers) exist in presidential systems while partisan veto players (parties) exist at least in parliamentary systems. Westminster systems, dominant party systems and single-party minority governments have only one veto player, while coalitions in parliamentary systems, presidential or federal systems have multiple veto players. The potential for policy change decreases with the number of veto players, the lack of congruence (dissimilarity of policy positions among veto players) and the cohesion (similarity of policy positions among the constituent units of each veto player) of these players. The veto player framework produces results different from existing theories in comparative politics, but congruent with existing empirical studies. In addition, it permits comparisons across different political and party systems. Finally, the veto player framework enables predictions about government instability (in parliamentary systems) or regime instability (in presidential systems); these predictions are supported by available evidence.

scholarly journals Precarious or Protected? Evaluating Work Quality in the Legal Sex Industry

2016 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 173-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice Orchiston
Keyword(s):  
Sex Work ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Sex Workers ◽  
Sex Industry ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Industry Regulation ◽  
Regulatory Model ◽  
And Control ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Legal Sex

Decriminalising (or legalising) sex work is argued to improve sex workers’ safety and provide access to labour rights. However, there is a paucity of empirical research comparing how different regulatory approaches affect working conditions in the sex industry, especially in relation to venues that are managed by third parties. This article uses a mixed methods study of the Australian legal brothel sector to critically explore the relationship between external regulation and working conditions. Two dominant models of sex industry regulation are compared: decriminalisation and licensing. First, the article documents workplace practices in the Australian legal brothel sector, examining sex workers’ agency, autonomy and control over the labour process. Second, it analyses the capacity of each regulatory model to protect sex workers from unsafe and unfair working conditions. On the basis of these findings, the article concludes that brothel-based sex work is precarious and substantively excluded from the protective mantle of labour law, notwithstanding its legality. It is argued that the key determinant of conditions in the legal brothel sector is the extent to which the state enforces formal labour protections, as distinct from the underlying regulatory model adopted.

scholarly journals The Rolls of Oléron, Maritime Assizes of the Kingdom of jerusalem

2019 ◽  
pp. 129-137
Author(s):  
Marcin Böhm
Keyword(s):  
Working Conditions ◽  
Safety Culture ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Maritime Safety ◽  
Modern Times ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Maritime Labor

The essence of this paper is to illustrate the genuine link between the norms contained in the medieval twenty-four first laws of oléron that have survived to modern times, binding certain legal solutions in the space over the ages. The Laws of oléron contain norms relating to contemporary maritime labour law. Certainly they are not a model fully reflected in the maritime labor Convention (mlC 2006). nevertheless, these principles can be an interesting starting point for discussions on the importance of decent working conditions and the lives of seafarers on ships from a few centuries perspective and the importance of maritime safety culture.

19. Labour and equality law

2020 ◽  
pp. 612-642
Author(s):  
Mia Rönnmar
Keyword(s):  
Gender Equality ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Working Conditions ◽  
Flexible Work ◽  
Labour Law ◽  
Worker Participation ◽  
And Gender ◽  
The Eu

This chapter discusses a number of key EU labour and equality law issues. These include restructuring of enterprises; information, consultation, and worker participation; how national collective labour law is affected by the four freedoms; flexible work and working conditions; the EU and national labour law in times of economic crisis; and gender equality, comprehensive equality, and protection against discrimination on other grounds.

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