Citation

Allern EH, Aylott N, Christiansen FJ. Eur. J. Polit. Res. 2007; 46(5): 607-635.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1475-6765.2007.00706.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article examines the institutional arrangements between Social Democratic parties and trade unions in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. First, the authors show how these relations have weakened at a varying pace. Party–union ties are now quite distant in Denmark, but remain relatively close in Norway and, especially, Sweden. Second, the authors explore this variation using a simple model of political exchange. The finding is that the intensity of the relationship is correlated with the resources that each side can derive from the other, which in turn reflects national differences. Yet it is also clear that the degree of change is related to the formative phase of the institutional arrangement itself: the weaker the ties were from the beginning, the more easily they unravel in response to environmental changes.