The subject of this thesis is the development of tripartite arrangements between representatives of the trade union organisations, the employers’ organisations and the government or the state bureaucracy in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania after the three countries regained their independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. I have studied and compared the contents of tripartite agreements and the work of tripartite councils. I have divided the time into the two periods from 1991 to the end of 1995 and from the beginning of 1996 to the end of 2001. I started the research with some assumptions. The first was that pressure from the EU after the three countries applied for membership in late 1995, would pull the countries towards developing stronger systems for tripartite bargaining at state level. Secondly, I assumed that openness of economy, measured as high value of trade as a proportion of GDP, would have a favourable effect on the development of tripartite arrangements. Thirdly, I assumed that long time of social democratic or socialist parties in government would have positive effect on the development of tripartite arrangements. Finally, I assumed that bloc politics combined with occurrence of radical shifts of all government parties simultaneously, would have negative effect on the development of tripartite arrangements at state level.