Abstract

Both administrative policy and corporatism denote certain aspects of the political organization of society. Administrative policy is the type of public policy that concerns the public administration infrastructure. While by nature inward-looking it also aims to affect substantive public policy via the changes it makes in the formal structures, procedures and personnel of public administration (cf. Chapter 1). Corporatism, on the other hand, relates to how interest organizations (particularly trade unions, employers’ organizations and other economic-producer organizations) participate in the formulation and implementation of public policy through formal contacts with the public administration. Administrative policy and corporatism may also be linked in the sense that corporatism can play a role in the formulation and implementation of administrative policy, and there may also be elements of corporatism in the public administration infrastructure (Jacobsen and Roness 2008: 145). This chapter, however, will focus on those aspects of corporatism that involve public sector unions as a category of interest organization rather than on corporatism in a broader sense.