Joint workshop of the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ), Tokyo, L’École des Hautes Études enSciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris and Japanese-German Center Berlin (JDZB).

Do labour market inequalities erode support for democracy?
Experiences and perspectives from France, Germany and Japan
October 6-7, 2017
EHESS, Paris105 boulevard Raspail, Room 13 (6th floor)

OutlineFor decades, many policymakers and international organisations such as OECD and the IMF, haveemphasised the need of structural, especially labour market reforms to improve competitiveness. While
many arguments of this debate are still present today (e.g. in the 2017 French election campaign), it is now
widely accepted that growing social inequalities have contributed to an increase in income inequality andthat rising inequalities in the labour market could be a major factor behind feelings of politicalmarginalisation and alienation, vote abstention, support for extremist and/or anti-establishment parties
and growing distrust in parties and democratic institutions.
However, the political consequences of growing inequalities may be less clear than is often assumed. WhileFrance, Germany and Japan share many similarities with regard to their dualistic labour market structureswith a strong divide between workers in good and those in insecure jobs, they are displaying different
levels of support for extremist and populist parties. Japan has currently even no populist movement tospeak of, yet voter turnout has fallen to historically low levels and, according to surveys, young Japanese
seem increasingly indifferent to the benefits of a democratic system.
This workshop seeks to investigate links between labour market inequalities and falling support for andtrust in democracy by bringing together scholars and experts from France, Germany and Japan. The aim of
the workshop is two-fold: First, it seeks to establish how labour market inequalities impact politics, politicalparticipation and support of democracy in each country. Second, it addresses how different policy andregulatory regimes may contribute to alleviating socioeconomic divides and to enabling strategies tocounter political marginalisation, anti-mainstream sentiment and mistrust in democracy overall.

Programme
Friday, October 6
9:50 – 10:00

10:00 – 11:30

11:30
11:50 – 13:00

13:00
14:30 – 16:00

16:00
16:20 – 17:20

Welcome address and introduction- Sébastien LECHEVALIER (EHESS-FFJ)- Werner PASCHA (JDZB)- Franz WALDENBERGER (DIJ)
Panel 1: Socioeconomics of labour market inequalities in France, Germany andJapan: Structure and consequences of inequality
Speakers- Philippe ASKENAZY (CNRS and ENS)
- Hartmut SEIFERT (WSI)- Koji TAKAHASHI (JILPT)
Chair- Steffen HEINRICH (DIJ)
Coffee break
Discussion panel 1
Commentator- Shruti SINGH (OECD)
Lunch break
Panel 2: Labour market inequalities and falling support for democracy: How
strong is the link? Which factors explain inter-country differences?
Speakers- Bruno AMABLE (University of Geneva)- Steffen HEINRICH (DIJ)- Toru SHINODA (Waseda University)
Chair- Sébastien LECHEVALIER (EHESS)
Coffee break
Discussion panel 2Commentator- Toru YOSHIDA (Hokkaido University)

Programme
Saturday, October 7
9:30 – 12:30

11:00 (Coffee break)

12:30 – 12:45

Panel 3: Can labour market policy and regulation restore trust in democracy?
Panel discussion with all participants
Introductory comments- Steffen HEINRICH (DIJ)- Franz WALDENBERGER (DIJ)
Chair- Sébastien LECHEVALIER (EHESS)
Concluding remarks- Sébastien LECHEVALIER (EHESS)- Werner PASCHA (JDZB)- Franz WALDENBERGER (DIJ)Speakers
Bruno Amable is Professor of Economics at the University of Geneva. After having
worked on technological change, competitiveness and growth, he directed his
researchtowards
comparative
capitalism,institutions,institutional
complementarity, and hierarchy. His current research focuses on the political
economy of institutional change and the causes and consequences of institutionalchange in modern developed economies.
Philippe Askenazy is a French economist, Senior Researcher at CNRS and researcher
at the Paris School of Economics and ENS. He is also a columnist for the daily LeMonde. His main research interests focus on working conditions, labour policy andfirm performances. They include theoretical and empirical studies on organizational
and technical changes, occupational health and safety or the future of low-wage
jobs.
Steffen Heinrich is Senior Research Fellow and head of the social science section at
the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ). He is a political scientist withresearch interests in comparative welfare state research and the politics ofstructural labour market reforms. His current research focuses on the political
implications of employment diversification in Japan, the politics of minimum wagereforms and the role of regulation as functional equivalent to traditional socialpolicy.
Sébastien Lechevalier is Founding President of the FFJ and Professor at the EHESS.
Being an expert on the Japanese economy, he was previously a visiting researcher at
the Maison Franco-Japonaise in Tokyo, Hitotsubashi University and the University ofTokyo. He is a specialist of the Japanese economy and his research interests include
inequalities, corporate diversity, and institutional change.
Werner Pascha is Professor of East Asian Economic Studies/Japan and Korea at theMercator School of Management, and director of the Institute of East Asian at theUniversity of Duisburg-Essen. He is Vice-President of the Japanese-German Center
Berlin (JDZB). His research interests include the political economy of institutionalchange in Japan and Korea, and international economic relations of the region.
Hartmut Seifert is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Economic and Social
Research, Hans Böckler Foundation (WSI, Düsseldorf). His main fields of research arelabour market policy, working time policy, economic development and employment.
He has published extensively in these areas and acts in an advisory role for a numberof government bodies.
Toru Shinoda is Professor of comparative labour politics at the Faculty of Social
Sciences at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan. His research focuses on labour
history and labour politics.

Shruti Singh manages activities and the programme of work of the OECD Centre for
Opportunity and Equality (COPE). She joined the OECD in 2007 as an economist, andhas since then, led and co-authored several landmark reports in the area ofdisability, mental health and work policies. Shruti has also written extensively on awide range of labour market policy issues including Active Labour Market Policies
and Displaced Workers policies aimed at labour-market reintegration of theunemployed. Prior to joining the OECD, Shruti was a policy analyst at theDepartment for Work and Pensions in the United Kingdom where she wasresponsible for designing and analysing UK’s key labour market policies.
Koji Takahashi is Vice Senior Researcher in Industrial Sociology at the Japan Institutefor Labour Policy and Training (JILPT). His latest research project focuses on“Polarization of Working Styles: Measures to Solve the Polarization and New
Category of Regular Employees”.
Franz Waldenberger is Director of the German Institute for Japanese Studies (DIJ)
and professor for Japanese economy at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich.
His research interests include corporate governance, Japan’s international economic
relations and, most recently, fiscal and monetary policy.
Toru Yoshida is Professor of Political Science at Hokkaido University. His research
focuses on comparative politics, including European and Japanese politics, especiallyon political leadership and political parties. He was previously director of research atJETRO (Japan External Trade Organization), visiting professor at Sciences Po, andvisiting scholar at Sciences Po/CEVIPOF. He is currently conducting research on thecomparison of populist politics in Japan and in Europe.