Abstract

This paper is a contribution to the literature on the "Death and Resurrection" of neocorporatism and is the second section of a larger essay. In the first (and omitted) section the reasons explaining the "resurrection" of neocorporatism in a few European countries and the concepts of demand for/supply of neocorporatist agreement ("concertazione") were discussed in general terms. The second part is devoted to the Italian case in a rather long historical perspective. Two periods are distinguished. In the first and longer one (thirty years, from the early sixties to mid-1992) the key problem that neocorporatist agreements were supposed to deal with was inflation. In that period five further sub-periods are distinguished and in each of them the conditions underlying the demand for and the supply of neocorporatist agreements are analysed: but in the last sub-period ending with the agreement of july 1992, demand and supply conditions were insufficient to tackle and solve the problem of the differential between Italian and European inflation. The second period is shorter and the problem neocorporatist agreements are supposed to tackle is different: this time is the whole set of regulations defining the welfare pact of the "fordist" era the object of "concertazione", since governments believe it should be redrafted to meet competitiveness requirements. The limited successes of this new phase of "concertazione" are surveyed and the skepticism of the author about a further and more successful development of this experience is motivated.