Are dualism and corporatism compatible patterns of political economy? some implications of the israeli case

This paper discusses Goldthorpe's (1984) interpretation of corporatism and dualism as divergent tendencies of capitalism. In contrast, it is proposed that both are patterns of political economy representing partial solutions to the common problems of advanced capitalist democracies, primarily the damage caused by the business cycle to both capital and labour. The two patterns are not incompatible and may coexist, as in the case of Israel, with the consequence that the working class is weakened. Corporatism and dualism are two patterns of the transformation of class conflict into forms of politically controlled conflict that must be analysed in an historical perspective. The theoretical concepts central to both approaches are briefly summarised, and various concepts shared by them are explored. The Israeli case is discussed, and it is argued that in the Israeli pattern the original economic class conflict is transferred to the political arena and transformed into national conflict between Israeli and Arab workers.