The Europeanization of the Welfare State

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin Leruth
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Member States ◽  
European Social Policy ◽  
The Welfare State

Since the ratification of the Treaty of Rome in 1957, the European integration project has been committed to reducing inequalities between member states. However, social inequalities remain high, and public support for the welfare state varies between countries. Some experts have suggested a common European social policy. This chapter analyses recent developments and future prospects at the European Union level. After discussing the initial ambitions of social policy harmonization, it focuses on the role of the EU during the Great Recession by examining the range of policy responses advocated by Brussels in order to fight against a multi-faceted crisis. These are dominated by the tightening of austerity, but include social investment and greater labour market flexibility. The final section reflects on the future of European integration after Brexit. It argues that further common policy development is only likely through agreements restricted to a particular a number of member states in an ‘ever more differentiated Europe’.

scholarly journals Improving Economic Security through European Integration Reforms in Ukraine’s Social Sector

2020 ◽  
pp. 180-189
Author(s):  
T. Tokarskyi ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Development ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Social Inclusion ◽  
Social Issues ◽  
Economic Security ◽  
The State ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Social Risks

According to the Constitution of Ukraine (Article 1), Ukraine is a democratic, social and rule of law state. Developing a highly developed welfare state in Ukraine requires shaping its concept model and mechanisms of its functioning. Active and efficient social policy should become a solid foundation for comprehensive innovative, social development, integration into the European Union, the basis for developing a welfare state with a competitive socially oriented market economy capable of ensuring human development, decent standards and quality of life. This article substantiates the problem of ensuring the economic security of the state and suggests the ways to achieve European standards in the national social sphere. Ukraine has chosen the strategic course of the European integration as a priority of its domestic and foreign policy. This course provides for modernization of all spheres of life at the state and local levels in accordance with the broad context of the development strategy of the EU member states. Modern ideology, which is based on the principles of protection of citizens from major social risks (disability, impoverishment, etc.) and, partially, social paternalism, should be reconsidered in the context of principled of social inclusion. Improvement of existing approaches to social programming should start with a focus on the development and implementation of fundamental for social development state targeted programs on domestic and international social issues. Reorientation of domestic social policy requires correction of the forecast-monitoring system of implementation of multilevel social development programs, in particular state targeted programs in terms of revision of criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of social support programs.

Mehr als ein neues Krankheitsbild: Warum die Corona-Krise für die Europäische Union historisch neuartig ist

IG ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 325-332
Author(s):  
Hartmut Kaelble
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Europäische Union ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Current Crisis ◽  
Member States ◽  
The Past ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
The Eu

The COVID-19 pandemic poses new challenges for the European Union (EU). It is not a repetition of previous crises of European integration. The expectations, but also the confidence of the EU citizens are higher. Divergences between Member States tend to be greater, social inequalities are more complex and the pressure from outside more hostile. At the same time, the EU has gained more experience with crises over the past decade than before, reacts to the current crisis more quickly as well as more supranationally, and - unlike in earlier crises - so far appears globally not as a “sick man”, but as a crisis solver.

Euroscepticism and the Future of European Integration

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine E. De Vries
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
National Politics ◽  
Public Preferences ◽  
Novel Theory ◽  
The Eu

The European Union (EU) is facing one of the rockiest periods in its existence. At no time in its history has it looked so economically fragile, so insecure about how to protect its borders, so divided over how to tackle the crisis of legitimacy facing its institutions, and so under assault by Eurosceptic parties. The unprecedented levels of integration in recent decades have led to increased public contestation, yet at the same the EU is more reliant on public support for its continued legitimacy than ever before. This book examines the role of public opinion in the European integration process. It develops a novel theory of public opinion that stresses the deep interconnectedness between people’s views about European and national politics. It suggests that public opinion cannot simply be characterized as either Eurosceptic or not, but rather that it consists of different types. This is important because these types coincide with fundamentally different views about the way the EU should be reformed and which policy priorities should be pursued. These types also have very different consequences for behaviour in elections and referendums. Euroscepticism is such a diverse phenomenon because the Eurozone crisis has exacerbated the structural imbalances within the EU. As the economic and political fates of member states have diverged, people’s experiences with and evaluations of the EU and national political systems have also grown further apart. The heterogeneity in public preferences that this book has uncovered makes a one-size-fits-all approach to addressing Euroscepticism unlikely to be successful.

Private Pensions and the Gender Distribution of Fiscal Welfare

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 500-516 ◽  
Author(s):  
Micheál L. Collins
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Tax Policy ◽  
Private Pensions ◽  
Gender Distribution ◽  
Member States ◽  
Current Structure ◽  
Gender Earnings Gap ◽  
Earnings Gap ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Welfare State

The provision of taxation relief to support pension savings has become a large and expensive aspect of the welfare state in many countries. Among OECD member states this exceeds $200 billion in revenue forgone each year. Previous research has consistently found this fiscal welfare to have pronounced regressive distributive outcomes. However, little is known about the gendered impact of these fiscal welfare supports, a void this article addresses. Using data for Ireland the article finds that the current structure of fiscal welfare supports notably favours males over females. Nominal contribution levels are higher among males, and males are more likely to be active contributors to pension savings. The associated tax supports are consequently skewed, with two-thirds received by men and one-third by women. This outcome suggests a continuation of the gender earnings gap into retirement and a discontinuity between longevity expectations and tax policy supports for pension provision.

scholarly journals Those were the days: welfare nostalgia and the populist radical right in the Netherlands, Austria and Sweden

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Sven Schreurs
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Radical Right ◽  
Demand Side ◽  
Populist Radical Right ◽  
The Welfare State

Abstract In academia and beyond, it has become commonplace to regard populist parties – in particular, those on the radical right – as the archetypical embodiment of politics of nostalgia. Demand-side studies suggest that nostalgic sentiments motivate populist radical-right (PRR) voting and welfare chauvinist attitudes, yet systematic analyses of the nostalgic discourse that these parties promote have not been forthcoming. This paper seeks to fill that lacuna by analysing how the Freedom Party of Austria, the Dutch Party for Freedom and the Sweden Democrats framed the historical fate of the welfare state in their electoral discourse between 2008 and 2018. It demonstrates that their commitment to welfare chauvinism finds expression in a common repertoire of “welfare nostalgia,” manifested in the different modes of “reaction,” “conservation” and “modernisation.” Giving substance to a widespread intuition about PRR nostalgia, the paper breaks ground for further research into nostalgic ideas about social policy.

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.

Gender and the Welfare State: New Research on the Origins and Consequences of Social Policy Regimes

2001 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimberly Morgan ◽  
Kees van Kersbergen ◽  
Suzanne Mettler ◽  
Julia O'Connor ◽  
Ann Shola Orloff ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Policy Regimes ◽  
New Research ◽  
The Welfare State
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