Comparative Political Economy Of Industrial Relations: Mainland China, Taiwan And Japan (1985-2000)

Economic globalization and transformation of nations’ developmentstrategies have reshaped the industrial relations in many countries. Theimportance of the economic, social, political and legal environments andvarious actors’ interactions were highlighted by previous researches.Although Mainland China, Taiwan and Japan have different economicand political systems, industrial relations systems all have changed inthose countries since1985. Compared with the stability in the early stages,functional flexibilities have increased, and labor disputes have soaredsince1985in the three cases. What factors explain the changes in thosecountries?The article argued that economic liberalization reforms in those threecountries during1980s and1990s broke the previous institutionalcomplementary and equilibrium, and finally resulted in the changes ofindustrial relations.