The United States, Germany, and Japan--the world's three most powerful and successful free market societies--differ strikingly in how their governments relate to their economies. This book reports the results of collaborative research by three teams investigating the social organization and policy-making processes of national labor policy domains in the United States, Germany, and Japan during the 1980's.

List of tables and figures; Preface; Acknowledgements; 1. Policy-making in the organizational state; 2. Three labor policy domains; 3. Finding domain actors; 4. organizational policy interests; 5. Policy webs: networks, reputations, and activities; 6. Fighting collectively: action sets and events; 7. Exchange processes; 8. Power structures; 9. Variations on a theme of organizational states; Appendix 1. Legislative procedures in three nations; Appendix 2. Labor policy domain organizations; Appendix 3. Labor policy domain issues; Appendix 4. Labor policy domain legislative bills; Footnotes; References; Tables and figures.