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Works councils are a central feature of the German industrial relations system. As German unification has progressed their role has become increasingly central to the collective bargaining process. This article describes the reasons for the developing flexibility of works councils in respect to bargaining at plant level. This in turn raises questions concerning the stability of the German collective bargaining model. Evidence suggests that the transformation process in Germany has allowed works councils to evolve into flexible and responsive institutions. (German Politics / FUB)

The literature of the last decade on Marxist or materialist theories of the state is reviewed. It is concluded that a Marxist theory of the state, ie, a theory that explains the conditions & mechanisms of the formation & functioning of the state, does not exist. What is presented as a Marxist theory is actually a structural-functionalist conception of the state, formulated in Marxist terms. This conception is characterized by strong teleological & metaphysical overtones & contains many elements of so-called bourgeois theories of the state. It is demonstrated that this conception is incompatible with a theory in which the processes of formation & functioning of the state are regarded as the results of ongoing political processes & conflicts, arising from relations of dependence & power in & between societies. Modified HA.

State formation is defined as the growth of power resources of the state apparatus, the growth of state autonomy, & the growth of societal regulations, sanctioned by state power resources. The relationship between state formation & economic development is investigated, using the method of historical case study. It is hypothesized that growing state regulation is to be expected in periods of acute labor shortage & economic growth. It is found that "houses of correction" were founded in times of overwhelming labor surplus & mass unemployment. The reasons for the foundations of these institutions, however, are not seen as economic, but social: they were a means to fight the social & political consequences of mass unemployment, eg, poverty, crime, & political rebellion. It is concluded that state formation can be found in times of economic prosperity as well as in times of depression, when the depression has severe political or social consequences. It is the result of social & political conflicts possibly due to economic development. Modified HA.

The concepts of rationality & rational behavior can only be meaningfully used as concepts referring to individual behavior, ie, as concepts characterizing the way individuals choose among behavioral alternatives on the basis of preference & probability. Definitions of rationality & rational behavior are reviewed. The only definition that seems adequate is the vague one that defines rational behavior as the choice of an alternative in accordance with the preference ordering of the outcomes of the different alternatives, with estimation of the probability of different alternatives. The importance of the hypothesis of rational behavior in efforts of theory building is stressed. Because most theories are built on a comparable vague notion of rationality, the dichotomy of rational & nonrational theories is rejected. Modified HA.

Employee participation, well established in pluralist democracies, is a crucial factor in the process of democratisation in developing economies. This paper contributes to this issue in Nigeria by focusing on the contribution industrial relations makes and contrasting it with the European experience. Specifically, the study investigates the employee participation forms which have developed in Nigeria. The research methodology is an adapted case study approach of 7 companies with international affiliations in Nigeria, and recent qualitative data from a focused group interview, involving key stake holders in the industrial relations framework, expanding the research to the broader socio-economic context in Nigeria. Despite the constraints of the research methodology the conclusion points at a rich variety of employee participation structures, which in some instances compare with European employee models. Significantly, the research reveals a clear pattern of democratic employee participation structures at company level thus highlighting relevance and promoting organisational efficacy.