Theories of Regulation and Australian Industrial Relations

Abstract

Australian industrial relations research does not have a strong analytical or concep tual tradition. This paper applies theories of regulation to the study of Australian industrial relations. Theories of regulation are a new multi-disciplinary area of research which has developed in the last decade in North America. Public interest, life cycle, capture, bargaining, behavioural and jurisprudence theories are examined. The survival thesis is rejecied because of its assumption of passivity. An activist model of tribunal decision making is developed. Industrial tribunals balance the interests of the parties with their interpretations of what the problems of the moment require.