Jelle Visser is Chair of Sociology of Labour and Organization at the University of Amsterdam. Professor Visser's talk on "European Labor Relations, the Euro, and State Intervention: The Decentralization Paradox" is part of the ongoing series "Bringing Back Political Economy: Europe, Ground Zero" co-sponsored by the Blinken European Institute and the Heyman Center for the Humanities.
Despite efforts to enhance employer-government coordination and to strengthen social protection, the European labor movement remains weak. European decentralization and fragmentation have paradoxically increased the scope for EU- and state-based interventions in labor relations, while weakening intermediate, self-regulatory structures. Visser will argue that this outcome tends to weaken the moderate and pro-integration forces within the labor movement, and does nothing to alleviate intra-regional tensions.