The Transformation of Labour Law in Europe. A Comparative Study of 15 Countries 1945-2004

Abstract

In the age of globalisation, comparative legal scholarship has become more important than ever before. This particularly applies to labour law which perhaps more than any other legal discipline is exposed to the pressures resulting from world wide trade and competition. Labour law first of all is a product of each country's specific history and culture. It is a very complex phenomenon composed of individual and collective components. To an increasing extent, it is shaped by international and supranational influences. Since by necessity it has to respond to the dramatic changes of the labour market (the shift from manufacturing to services, the erosion of the Fordist model as a whole or technological innovation, to mention just some features), it never can be conceived as static but has to be understood as an ever-changing dynamic process. A comparative historical analysis of these processes of transformation in the countries of the European Union (EU) in order to identify convergences and differences is a precondition for a reliable assessment of the potential for the Europeanisation of labour law. Therefore, this historical study is of the utmost importance to the debate about the future of labour law.

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