HUGH COMPSTON is Reader in Public Policy at Cardiff University, UK. His recent publications include Handbook of Public Policy in Europe: Britain, France and Germany (edited, 2004), 'Beyond Corporatism: A Configurational Theory of Policy Concertation' (European Journal of Political Research 42, 2003) and Social Partnership in the 1990s: The West European Experience in Historical Perspective (edited with Stefan Berger, 2002).