Constants and Variants in Political Exchange

The purpose of this article is to offer some clarification on developments in a number of European countries in the postwar period. The crux of the analysis are the relations between the huge, functional interest‐group organizations and the political system and government, and in particular the trade unions. The intent is firstly to overcome the uncertain and often indistinct use of the concepts of political exchange and corporatism, then to offer an explanatory framework in which these modes, which have prevailed in Capitalist countries, can be grouped under the model of political exchange , in so much as the trade unions’representation of interest groups is affected by the factors and political advantages at stake. It then clariries the essential connotations of this model, which can be considered as constants compared to the variants within it, and also deals with the two types of political exchange predominant in the period and countries surveyed, namely pluralist and cor‐poratist variants. Finally the author stresses the need for empirical studies in postwar Europe, to check the acceptability and realism of the model used and test the validity of the theses here outlined, that is, that there are several variants — or strategies — of political exchange between trade unions and the governments and political system.