The Internationalisation of Business and Domestic Class Compromises: A Four Country Study

This article examines the impact of international business on the kind of class compromises that evolved and characterised many West European societies until the late 1970s. It raises the question of why class compromises endured longer in Austria and Sweden than in Belgium and the Netherlands. The argument is that domestic business in Austria and Sweden has fewer alliances with international capital and is, therefore, in a sense less integrated in world markets than those in Belgium and the Netherlands. The conclusion of the article, based upon recent trends, points out that the differences between the four countries appear to be rapidly disappearing.