The Politics of Climate Disasters, Social Inequality, and Perceptions of Government Assistance

This chapter addresses a central research question of the politics of climate disaster: Who do citizens believe responsible for aftermath relief? The authors examine the issue of responsibility attribution in federal disaster assistance—and the related question of who voters believe deserves government disaster relief—against three devastating 2017 hurricanes, with a special focus on the impact of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico. The authors begin to answer the questions of responsibility and deservingness with survey data collected by them in a pilot study on the Island of Puerto Rico in 2019. They conclude by identifying fruitful links of comparative analysis between climate disaster politics and distributive and welfare politics.

Linking electoral realignment to welfare politics: an assessment of partisan effects on active labour market policy in post-industrial democracies

This article examines the political determinants of the variations in active labour market policies across advanced democracies. Specifically, it investigates the conditions under which a welfare state accommodates rather than disregards the interests of labour market outsiders. Relying on the literature on post-industrial electoral realignment, this article argues that ideological orientations not only in socio-economic but also in sociocultural dimensions dictate the policy preferences of political parties for labour market programmes. This study then hypothesizes that libertarian governments are more likely than authoritarian governments to support human capital formation of labour market outsiders. An analysis of cabinet-based periodization data of 21 advanced industrialized countries from 1985 to 2017 shows that left- and right-libertarian governments favour public spending on active labour market programmes, thereby supporting this study’s hypothesis. Furthermore, it also reveals that while left-libertarian governments increase expenditures for direct job creation schemes, right-libertarian ones do so for employment assistance and training programmes.

Social Welfare Policy in Japan

This chapter surveys main topics and debates related to the Japanese welfare state. For a long time, scholars disagreed on the basic facts about Japan’s postwar welfare state. Some said it was too small, other said it was not. This chapter solves this mystery by introducing the concept of functional equivalents. It explains how social welfare programs and their functional equivalents had become important components of the so-called Japanese model of capitalism in the postwar period. Once the new socioeconomic conditions that arose in the 1990s (demographic aging, economic stagnation, and financial liberalization), pressures for change intensified. The chapter demonstrates how the electoral context had set the political parameters on welfare politics in Japan differently before and after the 1994 electoral reform.

Gender and attitudes toward welfare state reform: Are women really social investment promoters?

This article contributes to the study of the demand side of welfare politics by investigating gender differences in social investment preferences systematically. Building on the different functions of social investment policies in creating, preserving, or mobilizing skills, we argue that women do not support social investment policies generally more strongly than men. Rather, women demand, in particular, policies to preserve their skills during career interruptions and help to mobilize their skills on the labour market. In a second analytical step, we examine women’s policy priorities if skill preservation and mobilization come at the expense of social compensation. We test our arguments for eight Western European countries with data from the INVEDUC survey. The confirmation of our arguments challenges a core assumption of the literatures on the social investment turn and women’s political realignment. We discuss the implication of our findings in the conclusion.

Emphasis of Welfare State in Valluvam

The relationship between literature and politics is a reciprocal one. The core theme of literature makes a positive impact on individual and society. Literature was considered as a powerful tool to explore the moral, ethical and social values which brought notable changes in the socio – political sphere. In this context, Thirukkural is most important universally accepted literature as it reveals the ethical values of politics and administrative system found in the erstwhile Tamil society like elements of state, fortification, excellence of army, factors for good governance, qualities of a king, minister, avoidance of faults, etc. Thirukkural is a timeless Tamil Classic written approximately 2,000 years ago by the great thinker and philosopher - Saint Thiruvalluvar. Ethical and political principles of a very high standard are expressed in the Thirukkural in a lucid and precise manner which also applicable to the present day democratic governance. Out of the three, the second part ‘Porul’, (Wealth) is a treatise on political philosophy and administrative practices as well as on economy. It is directly addressed to the leader or the Ruler. As such this paper attempts to highlight the administrative thoughts of Thiruvalluvar in the context of good governance and welfare politics that existed in ancient Tamil society.

Generous to Workers ≠ Generous to All: Implications of European Unemployment Benefit Systems for the Social Protection of Immigrants

Record-high levels of international migration both toward and across Europe have recently given rise to a new body of research on the social protection of immigrants. A recurring argument in this literature maintains that migrants are generally more likely to gain access to social benefits in generous welfare states. The article offers a critical review of this hypothesis with a focus on unemployment benefit provision. The tides of European welfare politics have produced a set of systems in the past which are today highly stratified on the basis of employment. This mechanism generates a considerable benefit gap in reference to migration, especially for those who arrived to their country of residency only recently. Empirical analyses with micro-level data for 14 Western European countries provide supporting evidence for this argument. The findings indicate a negative relationship between generosity and social protection which has not been accounted for in previous research.

Triggering Ideological Thinking: How Elections Foster Coherence of Welfare State Attitudes

Since Converse (1964) first proposed his “nonattitudes hypothesis,” numerous studies have confirmed that the public at large lacks ideologically consistent political attitudes. I put forth an event-based theory of attitude crystallization that explains how elections can strengthen attitude consistency and apply it to an issue domain integral to the left-right (liberal-conservative) cleavage: welfare politics. Specifically, I theorize that elections that give ideological opponents a majority will mobilize ideological predispositions, leading to more coherent welfare attitudes. I test the argument by relying on 11 Danish surveys linked to official records on local elections over four decades and using a regression discontinuity design. Evidence strongly supports the notion that elections increase attitude consistency if the majority produced goes against the individual’s ideological preferences. The findings stress the dynamic nature of attitude structure and the important role regular political events play in that regard.

Politics Matters

Hong Kong's public health services gradually developed since the 1950s. They are mainly funded by taxes, supplemented by minimal user fees. In the late 1980s, the government recognized the limitations of this financing model and has subsequently proposed alternative methods of funding. Their proposals have been rejected by various stakeholders, who represent different, and even conflicting, values and interests; and eventually can only end up with a limited voluntary health insurance scheme. This chapter describes the development of health services and the debates that have surrounded health financing since the late 1980s. It shows that the health finance debate in Hong Kong is not a simple issue that can be tackled by rational planning; instead, it is a complex consequence of welfare politics in an increasingly mobilized society.

Non-conform Evidence: The Impasse of 1990s Welfare Research

This chapter traces the evolution of welfare science and the marketisation of farm animal welfare between 1980 and 2000. During this time, dedicated welfare publications soared, and welfare scientists obtained prestigious university posts. The field’s growth was aided by assurance schemes for animal welfare, which enabled mutually beneficial cooperation between researchers, industry, and NGOs like the RSPCA, whose Freedom Foods Label enjoyed great popularity from 1994 onwards. Assurance schemes shifted welfare politics to the marketplace and generated funds for research and NGOs. They also deescalated frontstage welfare politics by restricting access to corporate- and expert-led discussions about standards and enforcement. Ruth Harrison was sceptical of label claims and welfare’s transition from a moral into an economic value. Meanwhile, researchers continued to disagree on how to define welfare. While most researchers remained confident in their ability to produce meaningful results, animal welfare science entered a prolonged phase of epistemic navel-gazing.