How do welfare states change? Institutions and their impact on the politics of welfare state reform in Western Europe

2000 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 333-352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuliano Bonoli ◽  
Bruno Palier
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Special Role ◽  
Unemployment Compensation ◽  
European Social Policy ◽  
Overall Resistance ◽  
The Uk

In the 1980s and 1990s West European welfare states were exposed to strong pressures to ‘renovate’, to retrench. However, the European social policy landscape today looks as varied as it did at any time during the 20th century. ‘New institutionalism’ seems particularly helpful to account for the divergent outcomes observed, and it explains the resistance of different structures to change through past commitments, the political weight of welfare constituencies and the inertia of institutional arrangements – in short, through ‘path dependency’. Welfare state institutions play a special role in framing the politics of social reform and can explain trajectories and forms of policy change. The institutional shape of the existing social policy landscape poses a significant constraint on the degree and the direction of change. This approach is applied to welfare state developments in the UK and France, comparing reforms of unemployment compensation, old-age pensions and health care. Both countries have developed welfare states, although with extremely different institutional features. Two institutional effects in particular emerge: schemes that mainly redistribute horizontally and protect the middle classes well are likely to be more resistant against cuts. Their support base is larger and more influential compared with schemes that are targeted on the poor or are so parsimonious as to be insignificant for most of the electorate. The contrast between the overall resistance of French social insurance against cuts and the withering away of its British counterpart is telling. In addition, the involvement of the social partners, and particularly of the labour movement in managing the schemes, seems to provide an obstacle for government sponsored retrenchment exercises.

Fiscal welfare in Europe: Why should we care and what do we know so far?

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 549-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathalie Morel ◽  
Chloé Touzet ◽  
Michaël Zemmour
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Public Expenditures ◽  
Social Citizenship ◽  
Tax Expenditures ◽  
Strong Control

This article offers a reflection on how integrating fiscal welfare into welfare state research can shed light on some subtle, yet important, transformations of welfare states and social citizenship in Europe. We begin by clarifying the concepts of fiscal welfare and social tax expenditures (STEs), by reviewing and critically assessing the various related concepts found in the literature. We also map out the empirical knowledge currently available, highlighting the limitations in the available data. Then, drawing on both existing knowledge (developed especially in the context of the US welfare state) and the emerging literature on fiscal welfare in Europe, we identify a number of trends and set out some hypotheses as to why tax expenditures have become a privileged instrument in the field of social policy: not only do STEs appear as a useful instrument to build consensus across party lines in a context of budgetary austerity and strong control of public expenditures, they also enable the discreet privatization of social insurance schemes. Fiscal welfare also allows for a new mode of governing social policy through incentives, which entails a different mode of redistribution than traditional social policy instruments. Finally, we identify the remaining empirical and theoretical gaps to guide future research on the subject.

The limits of neoliberalism? Austerity versus social policy in comparative perspective

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Farnsworth ◽  
Zoë Irving
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Governmental Agencies ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Welfare State Regimes ◽  
The Imf

In their chapter Kevin Farnsworth and Zoë Irving place the UK in comparative context. They examine the workings of the austerity frameworks with which neoliberal states and inter-governmental agencies, such as the IMF, have sought to maintain neo-liberal economics by undermining the remaining elements of social democratic welfare state regimes. Their analysis reveals considerable variation amongst these welfare states and also division and ambivalence amongst the governance bodies overseeing austerity. By identifying countries like Iceland, which have successfully resisted and even partially reversed austerity programmes, Farnsworth and Irving suggest that austerity may not constitute a further entrenchment of neo-liberalism but perhaps the cusp of a shift away from its key principles.

‘Frozen Landscapes’ Revisited: Path Creation in the European Social Model

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 345-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Lessenich
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
Path Dependence ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Social Model ◽  
Short Account ◽  
European Social Model ◽  
Path Creation ◽  
European Welfare State ◽  
European Social Policy

The institutional paralysis of Continental European social policy has become common wisdom in comparative welfare state research. The article seeks to challenge the all too simplistic picture of an inherently immovable and inflexible ‘conservative’ world of welfare capitalism. In confronting ‘path dependence’ theory with the concept of ‘path creation’, it is argued that there are – typically inconspicuous or even hidden – paths out of ‘path dependence’ precisely in those welfare states that most obviously embody the institutional heritage of what may be called the ‘European Social Model’. The fundamental ambivalence of Continental European welfare state institutions opens a permanent window of opportunity for ‘institutional entrepreneurs’ pursuing welfare state change. A short account of the recent transformation of social insurance institutions in Germany is presented as a first illustration of this thesis.

Italy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurizio Ferrera
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Distinctive Feature ◽  
Social Insurance ◽  
State Compensation ◽  
Early Colonial ◽  
Comprehensive Reform ◽  
Veteran Benefits ◽  
Democratic Stability ◽  
War Mobilization

Wars have had a clearly recognizable impact on Italy’s social policy since unification. The independence and early colonial wars prompted the introduction of veteran benefits and other forms of state compensation. The two world wars marked key turning points, creating the conditions for introducing compulsory social insurance and then extending its scope and coverage. The pronatalist policies introduced by Fascism were in their turn closely linked to the regime’s war mobilization strategy. In comparative perspective, a distinctive feature of Italian developments was the elaboration of very ambitious and comprehensive reform plans after both world wars, largely motivated by the wish to forge broad cross-class coalitions and safeguard democratic stability. Even if initially unsuccessful, such plans left an ideational legacy which contributed to inspire welfare state developments well throughout the so-called Golden Age.

The Second Marriage of Justice and Efficiency

1990 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe van Parijs
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Postwar Period ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
Ex Ante ◽  
Major Reform ◽  
Positive Effect ◽  
The Welfare State

ABSTRACTNo major reform of the welfare state has a chance of going through unless one can make a plausible case as to both its ‘ethical value’ and its ‘economic.value’, that is, that it would have a positive effect in terms of both justice and efficiency. In this essay, this rough conjecture is first presented, and its plausibility probed, on the background of some stylised facts about the rise of modern welfare states in the postwar period. Next, the focus is shifted to the current debate on the introduction of a basic income, a completely unconditional grant paid ex ante to all citizens. It is argued that if basic income is to have a chance of meeting the strong twofold condition stipulated in the conjecture, some major changes are required in the way one usually thinks about justice and efficiency in connection with social policy. But once these changes are made, as they arguably must be, the chance that basic income may be able to meet the challenge is greatly enhanced.

scholarly journals A Multitypological Approach to the Relationship Between Welfare States and Globalization

SAGE Open ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 215824401769238
Author(s):  
Curt Pankratz
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Typological Approach ◽  
The Relationship

This article argues that understanding the relationship between welfare states and globalization can benefit from a “multi-typological” approach, in which a number of typologies are applied side-by-side as summaries of the relationships between particular aspects of social policy and globalization. Findings suggest that different welfare state typologies predict different aspects of globalization. The article concludes that the analysis of the connection between welfare states and globalization can benefit not from attempting to identify the most accurate welfare state typology, but from understanding the unique contributions made by each one.

Conclusion: social policy in an era of competition

2017 ◽  
pp. 203-212
Author(s):  
Dan Horsfall ◽  
John Hudson
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Core ◽  
Competition State ◽  
State Welfare ◽  
Policy Analysts

This concluding chapter highlights key arguments from across the book in order to set out an integrated agenda for future research. Theoretically rooted analyses must be at the core of such an agenda. The inter-pollination/cross-fertilisation of ideas from many disciplines is important in developing an understanding of the complex and multi-faceted ways in which competition is influencing welfare states. However, while theory is central to this agenda, it must also be rooted in detailed empirical analysis. In looking to transcend the competition state/welfare state dichotomy, this interplay between theory and evidence is key, and where theoretically rooted social policy analysts can add particular value to current debates.

Western welfare states watched from the East during the Cold War: condemnation, competition, and creative learning

2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 241-257 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomasz Inglot
Keyword(s):  
Cold War ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Welfare ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
Soviet Bloc ◽  
The West ◽  
Creative Learning ◽  
The Cold War

This paper examines international influences of the Western welfare state on social policy ideas, institutions and reforms in the Soviet bloc during the Cold War. It identifies three types of Eastern reactions to or interactions with the West: “condemnation” of various “bourgeois” conceptions of social welfare; “competition” or increased attention to redistribution and social needs of the population stemming from the demonstrable successes of Western welfare states; and “creative learning” or implicit acknowledgment that every industrial society, including the Soviet style centrally planned economies, had to adopt at least some elements of modernized social welfare models or policy originally developed in the West. Paradoxically, first the explicit and later more implicit rejection of the Western welfare state, including the social-democratic and various “third way” models, eventually led to the rise of neoliberal and anti-welfare attitudes among many Eastern social policy reformers during the last decade of communist rule and beyond, after 1989.

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