Eastern European welfare states: the impact of the politics of globalization

2000 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 146-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bob Deacon
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Transition Process ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Social Costs ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Maintenance Policy ◽  
Transition To Capitalism ◽  
The Impact

This article is divided into four parts. First there is a summary of the social policy of the old state-socialist regimes, some description of the legacy of social problems which they bequeathed to those making the transition to capitalism and a brief summary of the major social costs of the early years of the transition process. Second, the broad social-policy strategies of the new governments of Eastern Europe and the former USSR are reviewed as they have attempted to manage both the legacy of social problems from the past and the new social costs of transition. Third, in more detail developments in five specific fields are described: levels of public expenditure on social welfare; income maintenance policy; health and medical care; housing; and education. The article concludes by attempting to explain these changes, asking whether the policy changes have been motivated by a perceived need to reduce social provision, with a view to becoming more competitive within the global economy.

Farewell flexicurity? Danish flexicurity and the crisis

2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 375-386 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Bredgaard ◽  
Per Kongshøj Madsen
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Unemployment Insurance ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Policy Agenda ◽  
Unemployment Insurance System ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis

Before the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008, flexicurity topped the European labour market and social policy agenda. It was acclaimed for combining the flexibility of liberal labour markets with the security of social welfare states, thereby offering a viable formula for success in the new global economy. Nowhere was this better exemplified than in Denmark, with the Danish system repeatedly highlighted as a good example of flexicurity in action. In this article, we revisit the flexicurity concept, assessing how the Danish labour market came through the crisis. We argue that the economic crisis and especially political reforms of the unemployment insurance system have challenged the institutional complementarities of flexicurity, but that the Danish labour market is recovering and adapting to new challenges. The Danish case illustrates that institutional complementarities between flexibility and security are fragile and liable to disintegrate if the institutions providing flexicurity are not maintained and supported.

Political Parties and Social Policy Responses to Global Economic Crises: Constrained Partisanship in Mature Welfare States

2014 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 225-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER STARKE ◽  
ALEXANDRA KAASCH ◽  
FRANCA VAN HOOREN
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Policy Change ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Economic Crises ◽  
Policy Responses ◽  
Party Composition ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Generous Welfare

AbstractBased on empirical findings from a comparative study on welfare state responses to the four major economic shocks (the 1970s oil shocks, the early 1990s recession, the 2008 financial crisis) in four OECD countries, this article demonstrates that, in contrast to conventional wisdom, policy responses to global economic crises vary significantly across countries. What explains the cross-national and within-case variation in responses to crises? We discuss several potential causes of this pattern and argue that political parties and the party composition of governments can play a key role in shaping crisis responses, albeit in ways that go beyond traditional partisan theory. We show that the partisan conflict and the impact of parties are conditioned by existing welfare state configurations. In less generous welfare states, the party composition of governments plays a decisive role in shaping the direction of social policy change. By contrast, in more generous welfare states, i.e., those with highly developed automatic stabilisers, the overall direction of policy change is regularly not subject to debate. Political conflict in these welfare states rather concerns the extent to which expansion or retrenchment is necessary. Therefore, a clear-cut partisan impact can often not be shown.

scholarly journals Wage Bargaining in the Presence of Social Services and Transfers

2004 ◽  
Vol 57 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabela Mares
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Services ◽  
Full Employment ◽  
Wage Bargaining ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Wage Determination ◽  
Labor Market Institutions ◽  
National Differences ◽  
The Impact

OECD economies were able to reconcile the pursuit of welfare state expansion and full employment during the first decades of the postwar period. Yet the trade-off between these two policy objectives widened in recent decades. To explore the question ofwhy this change occurred, this article extends familiar models of wage determination by adding a number of parameters that capture cross-national differences among welfare states. The model identifies the conditions under which unions deliver wage moderation in exchange for social policy benefits and transfers and explores how different labor-market institutions magnify or decrease the impact of wage choices on the equilibrium level of employment. Next, the author examines the impact of changes in the composition of social policy expenditures and in the level of the tax burden on. unions' wage choices. She shows that mature welfare states, characterized by high tax burdens and a high share of transfers devoted to labor-market outsiders, reduce the effectiveness ofwage moderation in lowering unemployment. The author tests the main propositions using OECD panel data for the period 1960–95.

The Persistence of Poverty under Welfare States and the Prospects for its Abolition

1992 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Walker
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
New Right ◽  
Alternative Approach ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Main Factor ◽  
The Welfare State

This article examines the relationship between poverty and the welfare state and attempts to answer the question as to why poverty has persisted under all welfare states. Several major reasons for the persistence of poverty are advanced, and the author argues that the main factor underlying the failure to abolish poverty is the conflict between economic policy and social policy. The challenge to welfare states from the New Right is examined—particularly the contention that welfare states themselves create poverty and dependence—in the light of evidence of the impact of the Thatcher government's policies in Britain. Finally, the author proposes an alternative approach to the abolition of poverty, one that is based on the integration of economic and social policy.

Nation-state global city tensions in social policy: the case of Mexico City's rising social city-zenship

2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Hudson ◽  
Anahely Medrano
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Global City ◽  
Global Cities ◽  
Nation States ◽  
Welfare Systems ◽  
Key Issues

Comparative analyses of welfare systems have largely proceeded on the basis that coherent nation-states exist. This assumption was always problematic – as many theorists have acknowledged – but globalisation processes have added a further dimension to this debate, not least because of the increasing power of global cities that act as coordinating hubs for the global economy. Although residing in nation-states, these cities have a special status flowing from their central role in the global economy with often rather different economic, demographic and social contexts. While there is growing literature on global cities, what the rise of these cities means for social policy and for welfare states remains an underexplored issue. Here we outline some key issues the rise of global cities presents for welfare states before proceeding to illustrate both theoretical and practical issues we highlight through a case study of Mexico City.

Introduction

2021 ◽  
pp. xxx-20
Author(s):  
Daniel Béland ◽  
Kimberly J. Morgan ◽  
Herbert Obinger ◽  
Christopher Pierson
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
The Great Recession ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Welfare State Regimes ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Near Future ◽  
Second World ◽  
The Welfare State

This synoptic introduction guides the reader through the major themes in this comparative analysis of the developed welfare states. It first outlines the origins of the welfare state and its development down to 1940. It then considers the impact of the Second World War on social policy and traces the apparent successes of expanding welfare state regimes in the thirty years that followed the war. It then assesses the critique and challenges that arose for this welfare state settlement from the mid-1970s onwards and the idea of a ‘crisis of the welfare state’. These challenges were simultaneously ideological, political, economic, and demographic, and are sometimes seen to have created new circumstances of ‘permanent austerity’. The contemporary welfare state faces a set of challenges very different to those which arose after 1945 in which the near-future context is set by the continuing impact of the Great Recession after 2008 and the new world of social policy created by COVID-19.

A Global Political Economy of Care

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 227-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicola Yeates
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Division Of Labour ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Global Political Economy ◽  
Organisation Of Care ◽  
Nation States ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Impact

Care is an important analytical concept in social policy because of what its social organisation reveals about social formations and the nature of welfare states. To date, social policy analyses of care have focused on the social (re)organisation of care within nation states, which are largely treated as ‘sealed’ entities. Consequently these analyses neglect to examine the impact of transnational processes on the socio-organisational shifts observed. This article outlines the contours of a global political economy (GPE) of care with a view to elucidating the transnational dimensions to care restructuring. It focuses in particular on domestic care labour because of the extensive internationalisation of domestic services and its significance for the social relations of production and the division of labour. The discussion reflects on analytical issues for the academic study of social policy and care raised by a GPE approach.

Social Policy Change in Countries without Mature Welfare States: The Case of Turkey

2008 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 83-106 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayşe Buğra ◽  
Sinem Adar
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
The State ◽  
Policy Environment ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Market Relations ◽  
The Impact ◽  
New System

AbstractAs part of the institutional changes in Turkey since the 1980s that laid down the foundations of a market economy, the transformation of the social security system has recently come on the agenda. This article discusses the possible outcome of this transformation by situating the case of Turkey in the context of the contemporary international social policy environment shaped by neo-liberal globalization.It is possible to suggest that throughout the world a new system of welfare governance has recently emerged, which is characterized, first, by a novel emphasis on workfare as opposed to welfare. It modifies, second, redistributive action by the state through diverse partnerships between the state, private sector and voluntary initiatives in the provision of social care and public services. The impact of this new system of welfare governance on social policy is especially important in less developed countries where the role of the state in welfare provision is recently being taken more seriously. With the new emphasis on workfare accompanied by the increasing role of non-state actors, the newly introduced social policy measures might not necessarily consolidate the basis of citizenship rights but they might mainly serve to keep under control the socio-economic insecurity aggravated by the expansion of market relations. This observation is of particular significance for the analysis of the contemporary social policy environment in Turkey that this article presents.

Welfare Regimes and Global Cities: A Missing Link in the Comparative Analysis of Welfare States?

2012 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 455-473 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOHN HUDSON
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Global City ◽  
Welfare Regime ◽  
Global Cities ◽  
Welfare Regimes ◽  
Nation States ◽  
National Welfare

AbstractThe ‘welfare modelling business’ has been at the heart of comparative social policy analysis but debate has largely proceeded on the basis that coherent national welfare states exist. This assumption was always problematic but globalisation processes have added a further dimension to this debate. In particular, geographers and sociologists have pointed to the increasing power of global cities that act as co-ordinating hubs for the global economy. Though residing in nation states, these cities have a special status flowing from their central role in the global economy. Little attempt has been made to explore the implications of these cities for welfare regimes and welfare regime analysis. This paper addresses this under explored issue and suggests there are strong overlaps between global city types and welfare types.

International Class Conflict and Social Policy

2005 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Farnsworth
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Class Conflict ◽  
Economic Factors ◽  
International Capital ◽  
Business Interests ◽  
The Social ◽  
History Of ◽  
International Social

The history of welfare states is marked by divisions between capital and labour and these divisions are replicated at the international level. At the heart of these divisions is enduring class interests which accord different priorities to social and economic factors. That these divisions exist is neither surprising, nor necessarily a problem; the problem, this paper argues, is the increasingly high priority given to business interests by ever more powerful international governmental organisations. This paper presents an analysis of power in the global economy before investigating the social policy preferences of key international capital and labour organisations. It argues that international class mobilisation has failed to produce very much of a compromise on the part of capital, and that, if anything, international social policy discourse is today even closer to business than it has ever been.

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