Abstract
To better understand cross-country variations of institutions and practices of industrial democracy, such as between Germany and the US, this article highlights a frequently neglected explanatory factor, the national-specific discourses of democracy at work. These discourses are shaped by alternative political philosophies of the 19th century on the relationship between state, society and economy. In particular, how the role of the firm in society was conceptualized differently between the emerging capitalist economies of Germany and the US had a lasting impact on the extent and form of their industrial democracies today.
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