Roles and Rules: Ambiguity, Experimentation and New Forms of Stakeholderism in Germany

A reified opposition between social cooperation (stakeholderism) and Neoliberal market solutions paralyzes political and scientific debate on reform in Germany today. This essay rejects that opposition by recasting the way in which each of the categories is understood. Pressure to become more flexible in many areas of work and organizational life has not given rise to a blanket embrace of “the market” on a local level. Instead, it has induced widespread experimentation with alternative forms of workplace and firm governance that involve continual and collaborative recomposition of stakeholder roles in and among firms and social actors. In other words, stakeholder governance is not disintegrating or giving way to the market in Germany. It is being redefined. Experimentation with roles and rules by creative actors drives the alternative analysis. The argument is developed empirically by a discussion of current local trends in the system of industrial relations.