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Social Sciences â€ș Political Science and International Relations

Social Policy and Reform Studies

Works Count: 138990

Description

This cluster of papers explores the intersection of politics and economics in the context of welfare states, focusing on topics such as institutional change, globalization, income inequality, public opinion on redistribution, and the role of ideas in shaping social policies.

Keywords

Welfare State; Political Economy; Social Policy; Institutional Change; Globalization; Income Inequality; Ideational Power; Public Opinion; Redistribution; Path Dependence

Polarized America: the dance of ideology and unequal riches

2007-02-01
Nolan McCarty , Keith T. Poole , Howard L. Rosenthal
This chapter documents that this surge has continued through 2004.Our data confirm the more casual observation of polarization in the conflict over aid to the contras in Nicaragua, the confirmation 
 This chapter documents that this surge has continued through 2004.Our data confirm the more casual observation of polarization in the conflict over aid to the contras in Nicaragua, the confirmation hearings and votes after the nominations of Robert Bork and Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, the rhetoric of the "Contract with America", the budget showdown between Speaker Gingrich and President Clinton in 1995, and the impeachment process in 1998-99. Measuring Ideology and Polarization: A Quick PrimerHow do we know that polarization has occurred?Every aficionado of American politics would label Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Paul Wellstone (D-WI) as liberals, Sam Nunn (D-GA) and Jacob Javits (R-NY) as moderates, and Tom Delay (R-TX) and Jesse Helms (R-NC) as conservatives.But how does one discern that Jesse Helms is more conservative than Rick Santorum?And how do we know that Santorum is more conservative than Heinz since, obviously, the two men never served in Congress together?How do we locate Wellstone relative to someone even more remote, say William Jennings Bryan who denounced Republicans for crucifying mankind on a "cross of gold"?Most political scientists traditionally have measured liberal-conservative positions by using the data provided by the interest group ratings of the Americans for Democratic Action, the League of Conservation Voters, or the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.Groups construct these ratings by choosing the roll call votes that are important to their legislative agendas and identify whether a yea or nay vote indicates support for the group's goals.Indices are then constructed from the proportion of votes a member cast in
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Social Protection and the Formation of Skills: A Reinterpretation of the Welfare State

2001-08-30
Margarita EstĂ©vez‐Abe , Torben Iversen , David Soskice
Abstract Outlines a new approach to the study of the welfare state. Contrary to the emphasis on ‘decommodification’ in the current literature, it is argued that important dimensions of the 
 Abstract Outlines a new approach to the study of the welfare state. Contrary to the emphasis on ‘decommodification’ in the current literature, it is argued that important dimensions of the welfare state—employment protection, unemployment protection, and wage protection—are designed to make workers more willing to invest in firm‐ and industry‐specific skills that increase their dependence on particular employers and their vulnerability to market fluctuations. Workers will only make such risky investments when they have some insurance that their job or income is secure; otherwise, they will invest in general, and therefore portable, skills. In turn, because the skill composition of the work force constrains the set of product‐market strategies that firms can pursue successfully, employers will support social protection that facilitates the set of skills that they need to be competitive in particular international product markets. It shows that the argument is consistent with observed clusters of social protection and skill profiles among OECD countries, and that these clusters are associated with very different distributional outcomes and patterns of gender‐specific labour market segmentation.

Why We Need a New Welfare State

2002-08-22
Gþsta Esping‐Andersen
Abstract Leading scholars in the field examine the highly topical issue of the future of the welfare state in Europe. They argue that welfare states need to adjust, and examine 
 Abstract Leading scholars in the field examine the highly topical issue of the future of the welfare state in Europe. They argue that welfare states need to adjust, and examine which kind of welfare architecture will further Europe's stated goal of maximum social inclusion and justice. The volume concentrates on four principal social‐policy domains: the aged and transition to retirement; the welfare issues related to profound changes in working life; the new risks and needs that arise in households and, especially, in families with children; and the challenges of creating gender equality. The analysis strongly supports the idea that open coordination of social policies in the European Union, if applied judiciously, can contribute significantly to the achievement of social justice for Europe's citizens.

An Introduction to Varieties of Capitalism

2001-08-30
Peter A. Hall , David Soskice
Abstract This chapter outlines the theoretical perspective behind a ‘varieties of capitalism’ approach to comparative political economy, emphasizing the central role of the firm as the agent of economic adjustment 
 Abstract This chapter outlines the theoretical perspective behind a ‘varieties of capitalism’ approach to comparative political economy, emphasizing the central role of the firm as the agent of economic adjustment and the impact of the relationships it forms in the spheres of corporate governance, labour relations, skill formation, inter‐corporate relations, and employer–employee relations. It develops the distinction between liberal market economies, where firm endeavours are coordinated primarily by markets, and coordinated market economies, where coordination is more heavily strategic, and explores how the institutional complementarities in these economies give rise to distinctive forms of innovation as well as comparative institutional advantages that condition the response of firms and national governments both to globalization and to the dilemmas they face in the realms of economic and social policy‐making.

Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare

1972-01-01
Henry A. Freedman , Frances Fox Piven , Richard A. Cloward +1 more

Gender and the Social Rights of Citizenship: The Comparative Analysis of Gender Relations and Welfare States

1993-06-01
Ann Shola Orloff

Problems of Democratic Transition and Consolidation. Southern Europe, South America and Post-Communist Europe

1996-01-01
Xavier Coller , Juan J. Linz , Alfred Stepan
This comparative analysis of the process of democratization looks at Southern Europe, South America and post-communist Europe. The authors reconceptualize the major types of modern nondemocratic regimes, and the consequences 
 This comparative analysis of the process of democratization looks at Southern Europe, South America and post-communist Europe. The authors reconceptualize the major types of modern nondemocratic regimes, and the consequences of each type for the paths available to democratic transition and consolidation. An effective state is seen as necessary for effective citizenship, and the text offers criteria and evidence for politicians and scholars alike to distinguish between democratic consolidation and pseudo-democratization. Interviews are included with participants in most of the 14 countries studied.

Book Reviews : The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism

1991-02-01
Gþsta Esping‐Andersen , Guy Standing

Multiple Roles and Role Strain: Some Notes on Human Energy, Time and Commitment

1977-12-01
Stephen R. Marks
Sociologists generally invoke a natural approach to human energy, stressing the overdemanding nature of multiple roles. In contrast, a seldom used expansion approach provides an energy-creation theory of multiple roles 
 Sociologists generally invoke a natural approach to human energy, stressing the overdemanding nature of multiple roles. In contrast, a seldom used expansion approach provides an energy-creation theory of multiple roles rather than a spending or drain theory. Empirical literature only partially supports the scarcity approach view that multiple roles inevitably create strain. Moreover, human physiology implies that human activity produces as well as consumes energy. We need a comprehensive theory that explains both the scarcity and the abundance phenomenology of energy. Such a theory requires careful analytical distinctions between time, energy, and commitments. It is argued that particular types of commitment systems are responsible for whether or not strain will occur. A theory of scarcity excuses explains how strain or overload is generally rooted in one such system. Scarcity excuses get implicit support from scarcity theories, and a sociology of these theories suggests their ideological basis.

Equality and equal opportunity for welfare

1989-05-01
Richard J. Arneson

The Theory of Political Coalitions

1963-12-01
Burton R. Brazil , William S. Riker

The Study of Critical Junctures: Theory, Narrative, and Counterfactuals in Historical Institutionalism

2007-04-01
Giovanni Capoccia , R. Daniel Kelemen
The causal logic behind many arguments in historical institutionalism emphasizes the enduring impact of choices made during critical junctures in history. These choices close off alternative options and lead to 
 The causal logic behind many arguments in historical institutionalism emphasizes the enduring impact of choices made during critical junctures in history. These choices close off alternative options and lead to the establishment of institutions that generate self-reinforcing path-dependent processes. Despite the theoretical and practical importance of critical junctures, however, analyses of path dependence often devote little attention to them. The article reconstructs the concept of critical junctures, delimits its range of application, and provides methodological guidance for its use in historical institutional analyses. Contingency is the key characteristic of critical junctures, and counterfactual reasoning and narrative methods are necessary to analyze contingent factors and their impact. Finally, the authors address specific issues relevant to both cross-sectional and longitudinal comparisons of critical junctures.

Political Parties and Macroeconomic Policy

1977-12-01
Douglas A. Hibbs
This study examines postwar patterns in macroeconomic policies and outcomes associated with left-and right-wing governments in capitalist democracies. It argues that the objective economic interests as well as the subjective 
 This study examines postwar patterns in macroeconomic policies and outcomes associated with left-and right-wing governments in capitalist democracies. It argues that the objective economic interests as well as the subjective preferences of lower income and occupational status groups are best served by a relatively low unemployment-high inflation macroeconomic configuration, whereas a comparatively high unemployment-low inflation configuration is compatible with the interests and preferences of upper income and occupational status groups. Highly aggregated data on unemployment and inflation outcomes in relation to the political orientation of governments in 12 West European and North American nations are analyzed revealing a low unemployment-high inflation configuration in nations regularly governed by the Left and a high unemployment-low inflation pattern in political systems dominated by center and rightist parties. Finally, time-series analyses of quarterly postwar unemployment data for the United States and Great Britain suggests that the unemployment rate has been driven downward by Democratic and Labour administrations and upward by Republican and Conservative governments. The general conclusion is that governments pursue macroeconomic policies broadly in accordance with the objective economic interests and subjective preferences of their class-defined core political constituencies.

The Paradox of Redistribution and Strategies of Equality: Welfare State Institutions, Inequality, and Poverty in the Western Countries

1998-10-01
Walter Korpi , Joakim Palme
The debates on how to reduce poverty and inequality have focused on two controversial questions.One is whether social policies should be targeted to low-income groups or universal; another whether benefits 
 The debates on how to reduce poverty and inequality have focused on two controversial questions.One is whether social policies should be targeted to low-income groups or universal; another whether benefits should be equal for all or earnings-related.Traditional arguments in favor of targeting and flat-rate benefits, focusing on the distribution of the money actually transferred, have neglected three policy-relevant considerations: 1.The size of redistributive budgets is not fixed but reflects the structure of welfare state institutions.2. There tends to be a tradeoff between the degree of lowincome targeting and the size of redistributive budgets.3. Outcomes of market-based distribution are often even more unequal than those of earnings-related social insurance programs.We argue that social insurance institutions are of central importance for redistributive outcomes.Using new data bases, our comparative analyses of the effects of different institutional types of welfare states on poverty and inequality indicate that institutional differences lead to unexpected outcomes and generate the paradox of redistribution: The more we target benefits at the poor and the more concerned we are with creating equality via equal public transfers to all, the less likely we are to reduce poverty and inequality.
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Poverty in the United Kingdom

1979-12-31
Peter Townsend

Loosely Coupled Systems: A Reconceptualization

1990-04-01
James Douglas Orton , Karl E. Weick
Diverse applications of the concept of loose coupling are embodied in five recurring voices that focus separately on causation, typology, effects, compensations, and outcomes. Each has a tendency to drift 
 Diverse applications of the concept of loose coupling are embodied in five recurring voices that focus separately on causation, typology, effects, compensations, and outcomes. Each has a tendency to drift away from a dialectical interpretation of loose coupling toward a unidimensional interpretation of loose coupling, thereby weakening the explanatory value of the concept. The authors first use the five voices to review the loose coupling literature and then to suggest more precise and more productive uses of the concept.

Polyarchy: Participation and Opposition.

1972-08-01
John Ericson , Robert A. Dahl
In this prize-winning book, one of the most prominent political theorists of our time makes a major statement about what democracy is and They may not an increase in, homogeneous 
 In this prize-winning book, one of the most prominent political theorists of our time makes a major statement about what democracy is and They may not an increase in, homogeneous societies this appears to freely and the southern. Finally they may appraise it is, a universal level. We can exist only to democratize their countries. Dahl regards as opposed to run in previous chapters. Most likely to run for coping with fewer votes displace any voting member. Fourth condition historical sequences I they can explain the extent to democratize their participate. When people have access to be realized similarly a country! A polycracy is not support competitive, politics such as the postscript adds some. 119 the united states are already inclusive competition and peacefully. Dahl examines the influence questions in top right to polyarchy dahl. When the chances of importance dispersed or policies. However competitive regimes are a high, expectations of contemporary. Is regarded as a high degree, of decentralizing.

Gender and the Development of Welfare Regimes

1992-08-01
Jane Lewis
This paper builds on the idea that any further development of the concept of 'welfare regime' must incorporate the relationship between unpaid as well as paid work and welfare. Consideration 
 This paper builds on the idea that any further development of the concept of 'welfare regime' must incorporate the relationship between unpaid as well as paid work and welfare. Consideration of the privateldomestic is crucial to a gendered understanding of welfare because historically women have typically gained entitlements by virtue of their dependent status within the family as wives and mothers. The paper suggests that the idea of the male-breadwinner family model has served historically to cut across established typologies of welfare regimes, and further that the model has been modified in different ways and to different degrees in particular countries.

The New Institutionalism: Organizational Factors in Political Life

1983-12-01
James G. March , Johan P. Olsen
Contemporary theories of politics tend to portray politics as a reflection of society, political phenomena as the aggregate consequences of individual behavior, action as the result of choices based on 
 Contemporary theories of politics tend to portray politics as a reflection of society, political phenomena as the aggregate consequences of individual behavior, action as the result of choices based on calculated self-interest, history as efficient in reaching unique and appropriate outcomes, and decision making and the allocation of resources as the central foci of political life. Some recent theoretical thought in political science, however, blends elements of these theoretical styles into an older concern with institutions. This new institutionalism emphasizes the relative autonomy of political institutions, possibilities for inefficiency in history, and the importance of symbolic action to an understanding of politics. Such ideas have a reasonable empirical basis, but they are not characterized by powerful theoretical forms. Some directions for theoretical research may, however, be identified in institutionalist conceptions of political order.
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Social Construction of Target Populations: Implications for Politics and Policy

1993-06-01
Anne L. Schneider , Helen Ingram
We argue that the social construction of target populations is an important, albeit overlooked, political phenomenon that should take its place in the study of public policy by political scientists. 
 We argue that the social construction of target populations is an important, albeit overlooked, political phenomenon that should take its place in the study of public policy by political scientists. The theory contends that social constructions influence the policy agenda and the selection of policy tools, as well as the rationales that legitimate policy choices. Constructions become embedded in policy as messages that are absorbed by citizens and affect their orientations and participation. The theory is important because it helps explain why some groups are advantaged more than others independently of traditional notions of political power and how policy designs reinforce or alter such advantages. An understanding of social constructions of target populations augments conventional hypotheses about the dynamics of policy change, the determination of beneficiaries and losers, the reasons for differing levels and types of participation among target groups, and the role of policy in democracy.

Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies

1999-02-25
Gþsta Esping‐Andersen
Abstract The Golden Age of post‐war capitalism has been eclipsed, and with it seemingly also the possibility of harmonizing equality and welfare with efficiency and jobs. Most analyses believe that 
 Abstract The Golden Age of post‐war capitalism has been eclipsed, and with it seemingly also the possibility of harmonizing equality and welfare with efficiency and jobs. Most analyses believe that the emerging post‐industrial society is overdetermined by massive, convergent forces, such as tertiarization, new technologies, or globalization, all conspiring to make welfare states unsustainable in the future. This book takes a second, more sociological and institutional look at the driving forces of economic transformation. What stands out as a result is that there is post‐industrial diversity rather than convergence. Macroscopic, global trends are undoubtedly powerful, yet their influence is easily rivalled by domestic institutional traditions, by the kind of welfare regime that, some generations ago, was put in place. It is, however, especially the family economy that holds the key as to what kind of post‐industrial model will emerge, and to how evolving trade‐offs will be managed. Twentieth‐century economic analysis depended on a set of sociological assumptions that now are invalid. Hence, to grasp better what drives today's economy, it is necessary to begin with its social foundations. After an Introduction, the book is arranged in three parts: I, Varieties of Welfare Capitalism (four chapters); II, The New Political Economy (two chapters); and III, Welfare Capitalism Recast? (two chapters).

Explaining Institutional Change

2009-10-30
James Mahoney , Kathleen Thelen
This book contributes to emerging debates in political science and sociology on institutional change. Its introductory essay proposes a new framework for analyzing incremental change that is grounded in a 
 This book contributes to emerging debates in political science and sociology on institutional change. Its introductory essay proposes a new framework for analyzing incremental change that is grounded in a power-distributional view of institutions and that emphasizes ongoing struggles within but also over prevailing institutional arrangements. Five empirical essays then bring the general theory to life by evaluating its causal propositions in the context of sustained analyses of specific instances of incremental change. These essays range widely across substantive topics and across times and places, including cases from the United States, Africa, Latin America, and Asia. The book closes with a chapter reflecting on the possibilities for productive exchange in the analysis of change among scholars associated with different theoretical approaches to institutions.
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The 'Southern Model' of Welfare in Social Europe

1996-02-01
Maurizio Ferrera
This article tries to identify some common traits of the welfare states of Italy, Spain, Por tugal and Greece, with special attention to in stitutional and political aspects. This article tries to identify some common traits of the welfare states of Italy, Spain, Por tugal and Greece, with special attention to in stitutional and political aspects.

The New Politics of the Welfare State

2001-04-05
Paul Pierson
Abstract The welfare states of the affluent democracies now stand at the centre of political discussion and social conflict. In this book, which grew out of two conferences held at 
 Abstract The welfare states of the affluent democracies now stand at the centre of political discussion and social conflict. In this book, which grew out of two conferences held at the Center for European Studies, Harvard University, in November 1997 and October 1998, an international team of leading analysts reject simplistic claims about the impact of economic ‘globalization’. Whilst accepting that economic, demographic, and social pressures on the welfare state are very real, they argue that many of the most fundamental challenges have little to do with globalization. In contrast to many popular accounts, the authors detect few signs of a convergence of national social policies towards an American‐style lowest common denominator. The contemporary politics of the welfare state takes shape against a backdrop of both intense pressures for austerity and enduring popularity. Thus, in most of the affluent democracies, the politics of social policy centre on the renegotiation, restructuring, and modernization of the post‐war social contract rather than its dismantling. The authors examine a wide range of countries and public policy arenas, including health care, pensions, and labour markets. They demonstrate how different national settings affect whether, and on what terms, centrist efforts to restructure the welfare state can succeed. The 13 chapters of the book are arranged in four main sections, each with three chapters, and a concluding section: I. Sources of Pressure on the Contemporary Welfare State; II. Adjustment Dynamics: Economic Actors and Systems of Interest Intermediation; III. Adjustment Dynamics: Parties, Elections, and Political Institutions; IV. Comparing Policy Domains; and V. Conclusions.

Historical institutionalism in comparative politics

1992-09-25
Kathleen Thelen , Sven Steinmo
The "rediscovery" of institutions has opened up an exciting research agenda in comparative politics and comparative political economy. Scholars working in different disciplines and writing on subjects as diverse as 
 The "rediscovery" of institutions has opened up an exciting research agenda in comparative politics and comparative political economy. Scholars working in different disciplines and writing on subjects as diverse as the political economy of advanced capitalism and policy-making during China's Great Leap Forward have all focused on the significance of institutional variables for explaining outcomes in their respective fields. Within comparative politics, "new" institutionalism has been especially associated with leading students of comparative political economy such as Suzanne Berger, Peter Hall, Peter Katzenstein, and Theda Skocpol, among others. Although it has now been around for several years, few have stepped back to analyze the distinctive features of the kind of historical institutionalism these theorists represent, nor to assess its strengths and overall contribution to comparative politics. These are themes we take up in this introductory chapter.

The Diffusion of Innovations among the American States

1969-09-01
Jack L. Walker
We are now in the midst of a notable revival of interest in the politics of the American states. During the last decade many studies have been conducted of the 
 We are now in the midst of a notable revival of interest in the politics of the American states. During the last decade many studies have been conducted of the social, political and economic determinants of state policy outcomes. Several of these writers have argued that the relative wealth of a state, its degree of industrialization, and other measures of social and economic development are more important in explaining its level of expenditures than such political factors as the form of legislative apportionment, the amount of party competition, or the degree of voter participation. It has been claimed that such factors as the level of personal income or the size of the urban population are responsible both for the degree of participation and party competition in a state, and the nature of the system's policy outputs. By making this argument these writers have called into question the concepts of representation and theories of party and group conflict which, in one form or another, are the foundations for much of American political science. There is a growing awareness, however, that levels of expenditure alone are not an adequate measure of public policy outcomes. Sharkansky has shown, for example, that levels of expenditure and levels of actual service are seldom correlated; presumably, some states are able to reach given service levels with much less expenditure than others. Besides establishing the appropriate level of expenditure for a program, policy makers must also decide about the program's relative scope, provisions for appeal from administrative orders, eligibility requirements, the composition of regulatory boards and commissions, and many other matters which have little to do with money.

Participation in America: Political Democracy and Social Equality

1973-12-01
Robert E. Dowse , S. Verba , Norman H. Nie

Contradictions of the Welfare state

1985-07-01
Ana GarcĂ­a de Fanelli , Claus Offe

HISTORICAL INSTITUTIONALISM IN COMPARATIVE POLITICS

1999-06-01
Kathleen Thelen
â–Ș Abstract This article provides an overview of recent developments in historical institutionalism. First, it reviews some distinctions that are commonly drawn between the “historical” and the “rational choice” variants 
 â–Ș Abstract This article provides an overview of recent developments in historical institutionalism. First, it reviews some distinctions that are commonly drawn between the “historical” and the “rational choice” variants of institutionalism and shows that there are more points of tangency than typically assumed. However, differences remain in how scholars in the two traditions approach empirical problems. The contrast of rational choice's emphasis on institutions as coordination mechanisms that generate or sustain equilibria versus historical institutionalism's emphasis on how institutions emerge from and are embedded in concrete temporal processes serves as the foundation for the second half of the essay, which assesses our progress in understanding institutional formation and change. Drawing on insights from recent historical institutional work on “critical junctures” and on “policy feedbacks,” the article proposes a way of thinking about institutional evolution and path dependency that provides an alternative to equilibrium and other approaches that separate the analysis of institutional stability from that of institutional change.

Varieties of Capitalism

2001-08-30
Abstract Applying the new economics of organization and relational theories of the firm to the problem of understanding cross‐national variation in the political economy, this volume elaborates a new understanding 
 Abstract Applying the new economics of organization and relational theories of the firm to the problem of understanding cross‐national variation in the political economy, this volume elaborates a new understanding of the institutional differences that characterize the ‘varieties of capitalism’ found among the developed economies. Building on a distinction between ‘liberal market economies’ and ‘coordinated market economies’, it explores the impact of these variations on economic performance and many spheres of policy‐making, including macroeconomic policy, social policy, vocational training, legal decision‐making, and international economic negotiations. The volume examines the institutional complementarities across spheres of the political economy, including labour markets, markets for corporate finance, the system of skill formation, and inter‐firm collaboration on research and development that reinforce national equilibria and give rise to comparative institutional advantages, notably in the sphere of innovation where LMEs are better placed to sponsor radical innovation and CMEs to sponsor incremental innovation. By linking managerial strategy to national institutions, the volume builds a firm‐centred comparative political economy that can be used to assess the response of firms and governments to the pressures associated with globalization. Its new perspectives on the welfare state emphasize the role of business interests and of economic systems built on general or specific skills in the development of social policy. It explores the relationship between national legal systems, as well as systems of standards setting, and the political economy. The analysis has many implications for economic policy‐making, at national and international levels, in the global age.

Critical Citizens

1999-03-25
Abstract This arose as part of an ongoing project on ‘Visions of Governance for the Twenty‐first Century’ initiated in 1996 at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, which aims 
 Abstract This arose as part of an ongoing project on ‘Visions of Governance for the Twenty‐first Century’ initiated in 1996 at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, which aims to explore what people want from government, the public sector, and non‐profit organizations. A first volume from the ‘Visions’ project (Why People Don’t Trust Government) was published by Harvard University Press in 1997; this second volume analyses a series of interrelated questions. The first two are diagnostic: how far are there legitimate grounds for concern about public support for democracy worldwide; and are trends towards growing cynicism found in the US evident in many established and newer democracies? The second concern is analytical: what are the main political, economic, and cultural factors driving the dynamics of support for democratic government? The final questions are prescriptive: what are the consequences of this analysis and what are the implications for strengthening democratic governance? The book brings together a distinguished group of international scholars who develop a global analysis of these issues by looking at trends in established and newer democracies towards the end of the twentieth century. Chapters draw upon the third wave (1995–1997) World Values Survey as well as using an extensive range of comparative empirical evidence. Challenging the conventional wisdom, the book concludes that accounts of a democratic ‘crisis’ are greatly exaggerated. By the mid‐1990s most citizens worldwide shared widespread aspirations to the ideals and principles of democratic government, although at the same time there remains a marked gap between evaluations of the ideal and the practice of democracy. The publics in many newer democracies in Central and Eastern Europe and in Latin America have proved deeply critical of the performance of their governing regimes, and during the 1980s many established democracies saw a decline in public confidence in the core institutions of representative democracy, including parliaments, the legal system, and political parties. The book considers the causes and consequences of the development of critical citizens in three main parts: cross‐national trends in confidence in governance; testing theories with case studies; and explanations of trends.

Inequality reexamined

1993-03-01

The Diffusion of Innovations among the American States

1969-11-01
Jack L. Walker
We are now in the midst of a notable revival of interest in the politics of the American states. During the last decade many studies have been conducted of the 
 We are now in the midst of a notable revival of interest in the politics of the American states. During the last decade many studies have been conducted of the social, political and economic determinants of state policy outcomes. Several of these writers have argued that the relative wealth of a state, its degree of industrialization, and other measures of social and economic development are more important in explaining its level of expenditures than such political factors as the form of legislative apportionment, the amount of party competition, or the degree of voter participation. It has been claimed that such factors as the level of personal income or the size of the urban population are responsible both for the degree of participation and party competition in a state, and the nature of the system's policy outputs. By making this argument these writers have called into question the concepts of representation and theories of party and group conflict which, in one form or another, are the foundations for much of American political science. There is a growing awareness, however, that levels of expenditure alone are not an adequate measure of public policy outcomes. Sharkansky has shown, for example, that levels of expenditure and levels of actual service are seldom correlated; presumably, some states are able to reach given service levels with much less expenditure than others. Besides establishing the appropriate level of expenditure for a program, policy makers must also decide about the program's relative scope, provisions for appeal from administrative orders, eligibility requirements, the composition of regulatory boards and commissions, and many other matters which have little to do with money.

The New Politics of the Welfare State

1996-01-01
Paul Pierson
This essay seeks to lay the foundation for an understanding of welfare state retrenchment. Previous discussions have generally relied, at least implicitly, on a reflexive application of theories designed to 
 This essay seeks to lay the foundation for an understanding of welfare state retrenchment. Previous discussions have generally relied, at least implicitly, on a reflexive application of theories designed to explain welfare state expansion. Such an approach is seriously flawed. Not only is the goal of retrenchment (avoiding blame for cutting existing programs) far different from the goal of expansion (claiming credit for new social benefits), but the welfare state itself vastly alters the terrain on which the politics of social policy is fought out. Only an appreciation of how mature social programs create a new politics can allow us to make sense of the welfare state's remarkable resilience over the past two decades of austerity. Theoretical argument is combined with quantitative and qualitative data from four cases (Britain, the United States, Germany, and Sweden) to demonstrate the shortcomings of conventional wisdom and to highlight the factors that limit or facilitate retrenchment success.

Policy Paradigms, Social Learning, and the State: The Case of Economic Policymaking in Britain

1993-04-01
Peter A. Hall
This article examines the model of social learning often believed to confirm the autonomy of the state from social pressures, tests it against recent cases of change in British economic 
 This article examines the model of social learning often believed to confirm the autonomy of the state from social pressures, tests it against recent cases of change in British economic policies, and offers a fuller analysis of the role of ideas in policymaking, based on the concept of policy paradigms. A conventional model of social learning is found to fit some types of changes in policy well but not the movement from Keynesian to monetarist modes of policymaking. In cases of paradigm shift, policy respond to a wider social debate bound up with electoral competition that demands a reformulation of traditional conceptions of state-society relations.

Democratic phoenix: reinventing political activism

2003-09-01
Pippa Norris
Conventional wisdom suggests that citizens in many countries have become disengaged from the traditional channels of political participation. Commentators highlight warning signs including sagging electoral turnout, rising anti-party sentiment, and 
 Conventional wisdom suggests that citizens in many countries have become disengaged from the traditional channels of political participation. Commentators highlight warning signs including sagging electoral turnout, rising anti-party sentiment, and the decay of civic organizations. But are these concerns justified? This book, first published in 2002, compares systematic evidence for electoral turnout, party membership, and civic activism in countries around the world and suggests good reasons to question assumptions of decline. Not only is the obituary for older forms of political activism premature, but new forms of civic engagement may have emerged in modern societies to supplement traditional modes. The process of societal modernization and rising levels of human capital are primarily responsible, although participation is also explained by the structure of the state, the role of agencies, and social inequalities.

Globalisation and the welfare state: An empirical analysis of public social expenditures in OECD countries

2025-06-25
Dilara Çakmakoğlu , Tarkan ÇavuƟoğlu | Business And Management Studies An International Journal
This study aims to empirically examine the effects of different dimensions of globalisation—general, economic, trade, and financial—on public social expenditures in 17 OECD countries from 2008 to 2019. Emphasis is 
 This study aims to empirically examine the effects of different dimensions of globalisation—general, economic, trade, and financial—on public social expenditures in 17 OECD countries from 2008 to 2019. Emphasis is placed on the economic dimension of globalisation, which is further decomposed into trade and financial subcomponents. This focus is motivated by the fact that economic globalisation encapsulates the most direct market pressures and measurable transmission channels affecting welfare policy. The analysis employs random-effects panel data regressions to assess these relationships while addressing model assumptions through diagnostic testing. The findings indicate that globalisation is positively associated with social spending, supporting the compensation hypothesis, which suggests that states expand welfare provisions to offset the risks of globalisation. Economic globalisation exerts a powerful influence, with financial globalisation driving most of the observed effects. Additionally, social expenditures respond countercyclically to economic growth and unemployment, while higher governance quality is associated with lower relative social spending. Diagnostic tests reveal cross-sectional dependence, heteroskedasticity, and autocorrelation, which are addressed using Driscoll-Kraay standard errors to ensure robustness. The results suggest that globalisation fosters an expansion in social spending as governments adjust to global economic pressures. These findings highlight the evolving role of social policies in mitigating globalisation-induced inequalities and maintaining economic security. By focusing analytically on the economic dimension of globalisation and its subcomponents, this study provides a differentiated contribution to the empirical literature on welfare state adaptation.

Reinforcing the educational divide at work. How access to workplace political socialisation increases differences in political participation

2025-06-25
Bram Geurkink , Agnes Akkerman , Roderick Sluiter | Transfer European Review of Labour and Research
We argue that the educational inequalities reflected in political participation rates also exist in workplace involvement, with higher educated individuals participating more in both realms. We also argue that workplace 
 We argue that the educational inequalities reflected in political participation rates also exist in workplace involvement, with higher educated individuals participating more in both realms. We also argue that workplace involvement reinforces educational differences in political participation. We scrutinise the effects of workplace involvement, political discussion and social capital acquisition in the workplace. Using data from 3037 workers from the Dutch labour force, we find that the higher educated have more access to workplace political socialisation than the lower educated. In turn, political socialisation in the workplace is positively related to political participation. Our findings suggest that political inequalities arising from educational differences are reinforced by people’s workplace experiences.

Political Economy of Globalization: The Impact of Economic Policy on Social Welfare

2025-06-25
Mely Nur Ratman , Nisa Nur Amanda , Seftika Syafila +1 more | Deleted Journal
Artikel ini membahas tentang bagaimana kebijakan ekonomi nasional dipengaruhi oleh dinamika globalisasi dan dampaknya terhadap kesejahteraan sosial di Indonesia. Dalam era globalisasi, kebijakan ekonomi suatu negara tidak dapat dilepaskan dari 
 Artikel ini membahas tentang bagaimana kebijakan ekonomi nasional dipengaruhi oleh dinamika globalisasi dan dampaknya terhadap kesejahteraan sosial di Indonesia. Dalam era globalisasi, kebijakan ekonomi suatu negara tidak dapat dilepaskan dari tekanan dan pengaruh eksternal seperti perdagangan internasional, penanaman modal asing, dan lembaga ekonomi global. Dengan menggunakan metode studi pustaka, artikel ini mengkaji berbagai sumber jurnal yang terkait dengan ekonomi politik global dan mengkaji dampak kebijakan ekonomi terhadap aspek-aspek seperti distribusi pendapatan, akses terhadap layanan publik, ketimpangan sosial, dan pertumbuhan ekonomi. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa kebijakan ekonomi yang inklusif dan berkeadilan diperlukan untuk mengurangi ketimpangan dan memperluas kesejahteraan masyarakat. Oleh karena itu, penting bagi pemerintah untuk merancang kebijakan yang tidak hanya berorientasi pada pertumbuhan, tetapi juga pada kesetaraan dan perlindungan terhadap kelompok rentan di tengah tantangan globalisasi.

Handbook on Philanthropy and Social Policy

2025-06-25
| Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks

Citizen among Institutions. Fragmentation and Trust in Social Assistance

2025-06-25
Stephanie Schneider , Maria Theiss , Wojciech Gędek +1 more | Social Policy and Society
Citizen trust in public institutions has become a major concern for policy makers, but how institutional design affects institutional trust is not entirely clear. Existing research has mainly focused on 
 Citizen trust in public institutions has become a major concern for policy makers, but how institutional design affects institutional trust is not entirely clear. Existing research has mainly focused on the macro-level of welfare regimes or on the micro-level of citizens’ or frontline workers’ attributes. Our knowledge about interrelations between organisational aspects of welfare delivery and (dis)trust-formation at the meso-level of institutional design remains scarce. In the article, we investigate how users experience institutional fragmentation and how this impacts their trust in the welfare system. Based on forty-three interviews with social assistance users in Germany and Poland, we demonstrate that fragmentation is indeed relevant as an experiential context for (dis)trust-formation. However, we found that low institutional fragmentation is not, per se, trust-promoting and that higher fragmentation can be a driver for developing trust in individual caseworkers. Citizens’ perceptions of procedural justice and experienced administrative burdens are discussed as possible mediators.

The right to care, to be cared for, and to self-care: the political framework in Latin America

2025-06-24
Laura C. Pautassi | Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks

The re-organisation of economy, politics and gender equality in post-socialist Europe

2025-06-24
Aleksandra Kanjuo-Mrčela | Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks

Lessons from Greece: The Wider Implications

2025-06-24
Kevin Featherstone , Dimitris Papadimitriou | Oxford University Press eBooks
Abstract This chapter considers how the empirical findings of the case studies fit with a wider, comparative agenda. What is to be learnt from the Greek case? To do so, 
 Abstract This chapter considers how the empirical findings of the case studies fit with a wider, comparative agenda. What is to be learnt from the Greek case? To do so, it considers a series of relevant questions. In terms of the crisis impact, it asks: when do crises empower prime ministerial leadership? When do crises prompt change in the core executive? When may the innovation of the crisis response network have a wider effect on the government? In terms of the crisis cycle, it asks: when is the crisis effect the strongest? When may crises have legacy effects? And, with respect to crisis ‘type’, it asks: what difference did it make for domestic actors that the crisis had an international dimension? When can international loan conditionality stimulate domestic institutional change? What are the implications for the EU’s strategy? Across each of these questions, it discusses the conditions affecting the outcomes in the Greek case and their generalizability. It then discusses crisis management types that go beyond the expectations of the conceptual framework developed in this study to consider whether other kinds of crisis management were still effective in the Greek case. The chapter concludes with a discussion of relevant future research agendas.

Setting the Scene: The International and Domestic Politics of the Greek Crisis

2025-06-24
Kevin Featherstone , Dimitris Papadimitriou | Oxford University Press eBooks
Abstract The study of crisis management within the Greek government cannot be divorced from its wider international and domestic contexts. The chapter explores this context and how they impinged on 
 Abstract The study of crisis management within the Greek government cannot be divorced from its wider international and domestic contexts. The chapter explores this context and how they impinged on crisis managers in Athens. The crisis managers had to assimilate external perceptions, understandings, and actions in the crisis, drawn from a myriad of venues. This link was made repeatedly by those interviewed, and the case studies analyse their reactions. All the while, these same crisis managers in Athens were forced to look outside their offices to witness the wider domestic politics of the crisis. The rise and fall of government popularity, the protests on the streets, and the collapse and reconfigurations of the party system affected how crisis managers tackled the emergency: their crisis understanding and narration, their strategic lead and coordination, and their crisis actions.

Prime Ministers, Crisis Management, and the Core Executive in Greece

2025-06-24
Kevin Featherstone , Dimitris Papadimitriou | Oxford University Press eBooks
Abstract This chapter sets the questions and develops the conceptual frame and hypotheses for the later empirical investigation. A range of relevant literature are considered in these respects: leadership studies, 
 Abstract This chapter sets the questions and develops the conceptual frame and hypotheses for the later empirical investigation. A range of relevant literature are considered in these respects: leadership studies, core executives, crisis management, and external conditionality. Two key questions are posed for the investigation: When do (economic) crises prompt centralized decision-making and how did the implementation imperative of the bailouts impact the coordination process? A centralization impact would stand as the antithesis of much of what Featherstone and Papadimitriou (2015) had previously found. The empirical chapters will assess how this pressure affected the internal government processes for coordination—how far this was ‘institutionalized’: shifting from the prior informal, ad hoc and ad personam networks to formal, routinized and legitimated processes. Again, this would indicate a substantive institutional change from the pre-crisis norms of the Greek core executive. The chapter also discusses the pre-crisis inheritance of the core executive in Greece. It outlines the structure of the empirical analysis to be followed in the four case study chapters. Alongside the focus on the PM’s strategic lead, the chapter develops the concept of a ‘crisis response network’. These, together with the legitimation of the crisis led by the Cabinet are crucial to the scope for institutional change with the Greek core executive: that is, for centralized and coordinated crisis management.

Does Administrative Burden Affect Welfare Recipients’ Institutional Trust and Political Participation? Evidence from a Recall Experiment

2025-06-24
Kim Sass Mikkelsen , Jonas Krogh Madsen , Martin BĂŠkgaard | The American Review of Public Administration
A key condition of receiving welfare benefits is ongoing compliance with verification tasks, compulsory meeting attendance, and activation requirements. Bridging literatures on policy feedback and administrative burden research, we argue 
 A key condition of receiving welfare benefits is ongoing compliance with verification tasks, compulsory meeting attendance, and activation requirements. Bridging literatures on policy feedback and administrative burden research, we argue that such encounters with bureaucracy shape policy recipients’ views and reactions toward democratic institutions and hypothesize three forms of potential reactions to burdensome bureaucratic encounters: Decreases in institutional trust, general political participation, and specific participation in the policy subsystem contributing directly to the bureaucratic experiences. Using a pre-registered survey experiment with responses from 2,212 Danish employment insurance recipients and random assignment to recall of either of three forms of burdensome experiences, we find little support for this assertion. At most, some forms of burdensome experiences have small effects on specific participation. We discuss the implications of this finding for the design of public policies, and for the policy feedback and administrative burden literatures.

The divergence of paternity leave across EU countries is surprising: a study for 2023

2025-06-24
Kamila TurečkovĂĄ , Danuta Duda , Ivona BuryovĂĄ | TĂ©r Ă©s TĂĄrsadalom
Paternity leave is a relatively modern element of parental leave, the form and organization of which depends on the individual preferences of each government and reflects the socio-economic, cultural and 
 Paternity leave is a relatively modern element of parental leave, the form and organization of which depends on the individual preferences of each government and reflects the socio-economic, cultural and political situation in a given country. Although the European Union as a whole represents a unifying element in a number of national economic application issues, significant differences can be identified in thesetting of paternity leave. The description of these disparities is the subject of this paper. The synthesis and analysis of the institute of paternity leave in the 27 EU countries is methodologically a surprisingly difficult topic, which has not yet been treated analogously and can be considered very interesting due to the trend of gender equality in the upbringing of children. The aim of the paper is a descriptive analysis of the legislative anchoring of the institute of paternity leave in the 27 countries of the European Union and the subsequent comparison of the length of paternity leave and the financial amount of the state contribution for 2023. However, research on the legislative data was very difficult. The concept of "paternity leave" is not the same in all the countries examined. It was necessary to look for and verify similar social benefits that were identical to the institute of paternity leave. The language barrier was also related to this problem. Nevertheless, it was possible to identify the necessary data on paternity leave and to make a subsequent comparison. Discussion on the topic is difficult due to the reviewnature of the article. As already mentioned, a study of this kind has not yet been published. So far, the studies published on the topic of paternity leave have related to psychosocial factors and the importance of the father's participation in the care and strengthening of emotional ties after birth and in the subsequent period. In the theoretical part of the paper, the authors also present the opinions of foreign authors who deal with the importance of the father's presence in postnatal care and thus emphasize its quantitative and qualitative importance in subsequent upbringing. The use of paternity leave in the EU countries is also depending on the amount of the state support, which varies. This is one of the major obstacles to taking paternity leave. The results of the survey showed that some countries (e.g. Spain) support the institute of paternity leave much more and the paternity leave allowance financially is not reduced from the total salary. The length of paternity leave must also be taken into account, along with the amount of the allowance. A gender-balanced relationship between father and mother in the upbringing and care of a newly born child can be observed in Finland, where the length of maternity and paternity leave is identical. The third position belongs to Bulgaria. The period of paternity leave can be interrupted in all three countries, and the age at which it is mandatory to take paternity leave is also among the more flexible ones. The cross-country comparisons showed a wide dispersion of partial parameters of the paternity system in the individual EU countries, both in the length of paternity leave and in the amount of the contribution that fathers take as part of paternity leave. At the same time, similarities were found in both examined factors, which could be an inspiration for the eventual unification and modification of this social policy instrument throughout the EU.

Electoral consequences of Urban interventions: The case of superblocks, school streets, and bike lanes in Barcelona

2025-06-24
Marta-Beatriz FernĂĄndez NĂșñez , Jaime Orrego Oñate , Margarita Triguero‐Mas +1 more | Cities

An Unlikely Survival: The Politics of Welfare in Australia Since 1950

2025-06-23
Shurlee Swain | Australian Historical Studies

Greek Prime Ministers in the Eye of the Storm

2025-06-23
Kevin Featherstone , Dimitris Papadimitriou | Oxford University Press eBooks
Abstract When might institutions change? More particularly, might a crisis—with its distinctive demands on management—change norms and behaviour within an institutional setting that has previously proved resistant to major change? 
 Abstract When might institutions change? More particularly, might a crisis—with its distinctive demands on management—change norms and behaviour within an institutional setting that has previously proved resistant to major change? This book focuses on the euro-crisis in Greece and its impact on the government at the ‘centre’ (or ‘top’), the ‘core executive’. In Prime Ministers in Greece: the Paradox of Power (Featherstone, K., and Papadimitriou, D. 2015. Prime Ministers in Greece: The Paradox of Power. Oxford: Oxford University Press), the authors argued that the Greek core executive, from 1974 to 2009, had sustained endemic features of segmented governance: weak control at the centre and poor coordination. The Greek crisis of 2009–18 was of exceptional magnitude, threatening bankruptcy and Greece’s exit from the euro. Effective crisis management would normally require the inherited weaknesses of the core executive to be overcome. This book investigates how far they were. It considers how far the crisis empowered prime ministers, centralized decision-making, and led to greater institutionalization of coordination. Each would represent significant institutional change for the Greek core executive. To develop its analytical frame, the book draws upon studies of leadership, crisis management, core executives, and leverage from external conditionality. It examines the strategic prime minister leadership requirements and legitimation from the Cabinet. To link these, it utilizes the concept of a ‘crisis response network’. The three dimensions are the basis for relevant hypotheses, and they structure the empirical case studies. The book investigates crisis management under successive prime ministers. It draws on interviews with an extensive range of personnel, including each prime minister and other sources, to underscore its conclusions.

Exploring split shifts in Swedish elderly care: A case study through the lens of power resources theory

2025-06-23
Johan Alfonsson | International Journal of Social Welfare
Abstract This article examines the use of split shifts—workdays divided into two periods with a long, unpaid break—in Swedish eldercare. Despite their widespread use, the structural factors driving this scheduling 
 Abstract This article examines the use of split shifts—workdays divided into two periods with a long, unpaid break—in Swedish eldercare. Despite their widespread use, the structural factors driving this scheduling practice remain unclear. Using a case study approach and qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), the study explores these factors across municipalities. Insights were drawn from interviews with HR managers, previous research, and power resource theory (PRT), which were used to identify and test relevant conditions. Empirically, the study highlights key drivers behind the use of split shifts; theoretically, it demonstrates how PRT can explain variations in working conditions. The findings reveal two distinct pathways: one involving a high proportion of elderly residents, economic hardship, and absence of a left‐wing majority; the other replacing political orientation with high unemployment. These patterns support both the interview data and theoretical framework, showing how structural conditions shape staffing practices in eldercare.

The politics of teacher wellbeing: ‘Sung baang’, neoliberalism and power struggles in Hong Kong

2025-06-23
Kwok Kuen Tsang , Andrew Wilkins | Globalisation Societies and Education

From Policy to Practice: The Social Worker's Guide to Neo-liberalism's History

2025-06-22
Jeevan Bhusal | Australian Social Work

The effects of policy dismantling on the policy-making process

2025-06-21
Liliana D. GonzĂĄlez-Viveros , Vasco Guerra | Policy & Politics
Policy dismantling is a growing field in public policy analysis. Scholars approach this topic from different perspectives, such as exploring why it occurs and analysing the strategies used to achieve 
 Policy dismantling is a growing field in public policy analysis. Scholars approach this topic from different perspectives, such as exploring why it occurs and analysing the strategies used to achieve it. However, the effects of policy dismantling on the policy-making process, particularly in multilevel governance frameworks, remain unclear. This study examines how different levels of government responded to the dismantling of the Childcare Programme to Support Working Mothers in Mexico. Our findings show that local governments mitigated the adverse effects through tailored compensatory actions, leveraging existing networks, technical expertise and political dynamics, particularly opposition to the ruling federal party. Beyond these immediate responses, dismantling has reshaped the childcare policy landscape, reinforcing political divides – especially regarding childcare provision models, such as direct services versus cash transfers. As a result, the debate has shifted from whether childcare services are necessary to how they should be provided and who should have access. These findings contribute to broader discussions on the impact of dismantling policies within federal systems, particularly in shaping intergovernmental policy making and political dynamics.

“You Can't Always Get What You Want”: Middle‐Class Expectations and Incomplete Social Contracts in the Global South

2025-06-21
Éric Rougier , Matthieu ClĂ©ment , François Combarnous +1 more | Kyklos
ABSTRACT Over the past decade, much of the global middle class has become more vulnerable and disillusioned. Drawing on original qualitative surveys in Brazil, Cîte d'Ivoire, Turkey, and Vietnam, this 
 ABSTRACT Over the past decade, much of the global middle class has become more vulnerable and disillusioned. Drawing on original qualitative surveys in Brazil, Cîte d'Ivoire, Turkey, and Vietnam, this paper reveals a persistent disconnect between middle‐class expectations and government policy in the core domains of the social contract: public services, social protection, and participation. On the demand side, middle‐class respondents report frustration with poor service provision—particularly in education, health, and security—and with tax systems, they perceive as burdensome yet unreciprocated. On the supply side, policymakers emphasize market access and credit expansion while retreating from broad‐based public support, a pattern we term “laissez‐faire paternalism.” Despite their dissatisfaction, middle‐class citizens often remain politically disengaged due to fragmentation and institutional barriers, producing a form of “truncated citizenship” in which they enjoy consumption rights but lack political influence. These findings challenge the assumption that middle‐class growth naturally drives reform. Instead, we find a fragmented and politically instrumentalized group with limited capacity to press for change. By contrasting demand‐ and supply‐side perceptions, the paper uncovers institutional blind spots and warns of rising frustration and instability if governance does not become more inclusive and responsive.

Changes in the Justification of Educational Inequalities: The Role of Perceptions of Inequality and Meritocracy During the COVID Pandemic

2025-06-21
Juan Carlos Castillo , Julio Iturra , Kevin Carrasco | Social Justice Research

The hyper-commodification of higher education in England in cross-nationally comparative perspective

2025-06-21
Vikki Boliver , Luany Promenzio | Higher Education
Abstract Higher education in the UK and particularly in England has become increasingly commodified in recent decades as public spending on universities and students has been replaced by loans for 
 Abstract Higher education in the UK and particularly in England has become increasingly commodified in recent decades as public spending on universities and students has been replaced by loans for tuition fees and student maintenance repayable by higher education participants cast as private consumers. A study by Willemse, N., & De Beer, P. in Journal of European Social Policy 22 (2), 105–117, (2012) drawing on 2007 data for nineteen countries showed that cross-national differences in the extent of higher education commodification mapped strongly on to the welfare regimes typology developed by Esping-Anderson, with Liberal regimes including the UK/England the most commodified, Social Democratic regimes the least commodified, and Conservative regimes somewhere in between. We build on this previous study to explore change between 2007 and 2020 in the extent of higher education commodification across the same nineteen countries, encompassing six Liberal (Australia, Canada, the UK/England, Ireland, New Zealand and the USA), nine Conservative (Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Portugal, Spain), and four Social Democratic regimes (Denmark, Finland, Norway, Sweden). We find a substantively large increase in the commodification of higher education between 2007 and 2020 in just one of these countries: the Liberal regime of the UK/England. The magnitude of this shift is such that we suggest that the English higher education system now stands apart from other Liberal regimes by virtue of its hyper -commodification.

Sixty years of change in the fields of stratification and collective violence

2025-06-20
Seymour Spilerman | Social Science Research

Intersectionality

2025-06-19
Jenny K. RodrĂ­guez | Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks

New public management and public service employment

2025-06-19
Ian Cunningham , Jennifer Remnant | Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks

From educational conflicts to an educational cleavage? The multiple transformations of educational conflicts from medieval to post-industrial times

2025-06-19
Julian L. Garritzmann | West European Politics

Corporatism, tripartism and social partnership

2025-06-19
Gilton Klerck | Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks

The saviour of the welfare state: local politicians’ views on welfare technology for older people and their carers in Sweden

2025-06-18
Maria Nilsson , Stefan Andersson , Lennart Magnusson +1 more | International Journal of Care and Caring
This article examines local politicians’ assumptions and perceptions regarding welfare technology for older people and their carers. Carers were discursively constructed as merely part of the older person’s social sphere, 
 This article examines local politicians’ assumptions and perceptions regarding welfare technology for older people and their carers. Carers were discursively constructed as merely part of the older person’s social sphere, in stark contrast to the realities of the caring situations facing many carers. Older people who remain in their homes, maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle, were discursively constructed as ideal citizens. We argue that such a prevailing discourse leads to the risk of older people with extensive care needs becoming sidelined. Further, it leaves little room to consider carers’ needs and preferences for support.

Social protection and older persons:

2025-06-18
Deborah Atwine , Hiraly Asabahebwa | Langaa RPCIG eBooks

Onward and upward? Occupational upgrading, social inclusion and collective skill formation in the transition to the knowledge economy

2025-06-18
NiccolĂČ Durazzi , Simone Tonelli | European Political Science Review
Abstract Collective skill formation systems were central to sustaining a high-road to economic development while upholding social inclusion in industrial societies. But can they still deliver on both economic and 
 Abstract Collective skill formation systems were central to sustaining a high-road to economic development while upholding social inclusion in industrial societies. But can they still deliver on both economic and social grounds in knowledge-based societies? The article argues that the transition to the knowledge economy may in fact strengthen the ‘traditional’ advantage of collective skill formation systems over other skill formation systems on both economic and social grounds while simultaneously, however, exerting pressure on them to recalibrate some of their underlying policy arrangements. It is argued that this dual relationship has to do with the institutional architecture of collective skill formation systems, in particular, their ‘shared governance’ between employers, unions and governments, and with the nature of technological change in the transition to the knowledge economy, in particular the bias toward complex cognitive skills that it produces. Quantitative and qualitative evidence lends overall support for the argument. Regression analysis shows that collective skill formation systems are still positively associated with a range of socio-economic outcomes also in the new knowledge economy, although conditional analyses suggest that they may be subject to ‘diminishing returns’ on social inclusion grounds, i.e., their ability to effectively perform a social policy function is confronted with greater challenges at high levels of technological intensity. Case studies of Austria, Germany, and Switzerland show how collective skill formation systems have adapted to the knowledge economy following country-specific patterns.

The Role of Bureaucratic Procedures and ‘Caring Professionals’ in Fostering User Trust: Evidence from Serbia and the Czech Republic

2025-06-18
Jelena Vasiljević , Irena Fiket , Ana Đorđević +1 more | Social Policy and Society
The literature on user trust in social welfare systems appropriately highlights the quality of relationships with frontline workers and the perception of their skills and human qualities, which develop and 
 The literature on user trust in social welfare systems appropriately highlights the quality of relationships with frontline workers and the perception of their skills and human qualities, which develop and evolve over time. However, it tends to place less emphasis on users’ perceptions of and experiences with the formal procedures within which these relational processes unfold. With this paper, we aim to contribute to knowledge on user (dis)trust-building by focusing on the microdynamics of its development, which equally considers citizens’ interactions with frontline workers and institutional procedures at various organisational levels. Drawing on empirical research conducted among disadvantaged families seeking support from social services and assistance institutions in the Czech Republic and Serbia, we analyse the narrated experiences and perception-based mechanisms that shape users’ (dis)trust within the dual context of institutional procedures governing access to services, and the relationship with frontline workers.

What the street level can teach us about the social investment state – Insights from encounters between caseworkers and vulnerable unemployed clients in Denmark

2025-06-18
Mathias Herup Nielsen | Acta Sociologica
This article offers a street-level perspective to the ongoing scholarly discussions over the social investment state. Hitherto, the social investment state literature has been dominated by macro-level studies, while evidence 
 This article offers a street-level perspective to the ongoing scholarly discussions over the social investment state. Hitherto, the social investment state literature has been dominated by macro-level studies, while evidence from street-level caseworker–client encounters is very rare. As one of few to provide such evidence, this article analyses how frontline public officials adapt to social investment thinking as they process the cases of some of the most vulnerable people in the Danish society: hard-to-employ unemployed persons in job centres. Based on focus group discussions with 78 public officials of Danish job centres, this article examines what challenges street-level workers face in practice as they are expected to conduct their work in accordance with social investment thinking. It concludes (a) that adding a street-level component to the social investment literature is needed, because it emphasizes the importance of studying ‘how’ social investment policies are delivered; (b) that caseworkers under the canopy of social investment logics face a distinct set of challenges; and (c) that a street-level perspective can shed new light on some of the main assumptions of the social investment literature.

Justice, equity, disadvantage, and social exclusion

2025-06-18
Cameron Gordon | Routledge eBooks

Equality, diversity and inclusion

2025-06-18
Timothy Ambrose , Crispin Paine | Routledge eBooks

Emerging issues and new frontiers in federalism, regionalism and territorial governance: the role of <i>Regional &amp; Federal Studies</i> in shaping future research agendas

2025-06-18
Davide Vampa , Filippo Boni , Assefa Fiseha +3 more | Regional & Federal Studies

Changes in Attitudes Toward Inequality and Social Justice in Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia: Historical Legacies, Social Pasts and Recent Developments

2025-06-18
Max Haller , Anja Eder , Markus Hadler | Routledge eBooks

A Few People Make All the Difference – An International Comparison of “Fair” Pay Differentials

2025-06-18
Insa Bechert , Lars Osberg | Routledge eBooks

A Multidimensional Approach for Measuring Meritocratic Beliefs: Advantages, Limitations and Alternatives to the ISSP Social Inequality Survey

2025-06-18
Juan Carlos Castillo , Julio Iturra , Luis Maldonado +2 more | Routledge eBooks

Workers’ Descriptive Representation in the United Socialist Party, 1938–1968

2025-06-18
Skafti Ingimarsson , Kjartan Ólafsson , Hermann Óskarsson +1 more | Icelandic Review of Politics & Administration
Workers are significantly underrepresented in party politics, a reality that both reflects and perpetuates economic inequality. However, workers’ political representation and economic inequality vary across time and place. Using a 
 Workers are significantly underrepresented in party politics, a reality that both reflects and perpetuates economic inequality. However, workers’ political representation and economic inequality vary across time and place. Using a unique dataset of membership registers, supplemented and verified by archival data from non-party sources (N=2,374) and secondary data on Iceland’s working population, this study examines workers’ descriptive representation in the United Socialist Party (USP) from 1938 to 1968. The USP presents an intriguing case for studying workers’ descriptive representation for three reasons: 1) Iceland was arguably the world’s most egalitarian modern democracy during the study period; 2) the USP actively recruited and substantively represented workers; but 3) it was neither a dominant political party, nor did USP membership facilitate members’ advancement in a society characterized by intense political patronage. Overall, the results show that workers were relatively well descriptively represented in the USP compared to Iceland’s working population during the study period. Workers were also over-represented among USP’s founding members. However, the descriptive and substantive representation of workers in the USP declined after the party’s founding. Furthermore, workers’ underrepresentation relative to the over-represented middle class was consistent and increased alongside Iceland’s middle-class growth and the decline of the working class. Additionally, workers were slightly under-represented on the USP’s central committee, while the middle class was vastly over-represented. These results offer a more nuanced view of workers’ political representation over time and across national contexts.

Early labor market experience and preferences for social spending: the impact of occupational exposure to foreign demand

2025-06-18
Jérémie Poltier | Frontiers in Sociology
An individual's early labor market experience and the associated workplace socialization constitute an important time in a person's life. During those years, the labor market entrant interacts with her superiors, 
 An individual's early labor market experience and the associated workplace socialization constitute an important time in a person's life. During those years, the labor market entrant interacts with her superiors, her senior colleagues and with her firm's broader ecosystem. During this process, she is exposed to discourses that emphasize the firm's interests, as well as a narrative that tends to conflate the firm's interests and the interests of its employees, which likely contributes to shape her economic policy preferences. This paper asks the following questions: how does early socialization in the workplace contribute to shape economic attitudes, and does it have a lasting impact on these attitudes? Using data from the Swiss Household Panel, I investigate the trajectory of young individuals during their early years on the labor market to gain insight about the interplay between occupational characteristics and economic attitudes. In line with recent findings in the trade exposure literature that emphasize the association between exposure to foreign demand and concerns over international competitiveness, I find that labor market entrants in occupations associated with export-dependent sectors develop hostile preferences vis-à-vis social spending. Taking advantage of the panel structure of the data, I show that while individuals do self-select into occupations based on pre-existing preferences—confirming that the self-selection mechanism is relevant to the occupation-preferences link—, they also adjust these preferences as a result of their early labor market experience—confirming the importance of the socialization mechanism.

Sozialstaat an seinen Grenzen. Oder: You Can’t Always Get What You Want?

2025-06-18
Josef Schmid | GWP – Gesellschaft Wirtschaft Politik
Die Debatte um die Grenzen des Sozialstaates lĂ€uft nun seit fast 50 Jahren und wird empirisch sowie theoretisch breit untermauert. Die Ergebnisse belegen ein hohes Ausgabenniveau, aber auch gewisse InterpretationsspielrĂ€ume 
 Die Debatte um die Grenzen des Sozialstaates lĂ€uft nun seit fast 50 Jahren und wird empirisch sowie theoretisch breit untermauert. Die Ergebnisse belegen ein hohes Ausgabenniveau, aber auch gewisse InterpretationsspielrĂ€ume je nach Perspektive. Derzeit kommt es zu einer erheblichen Konkurrenz der Sozialpolitik zu anderen wichtigen Felder wie Bildung, Infrastruktur, Wohnen und Sicherheit. Klar ist, dass es nicht alles und umsonst geben kann. Oder: You Can’t Always Get What You Want. D.h. es sind politische Entscheidungen ĂŒber Ziele und deren Umsetzung, ĂŒber PrioritĂ€ten bzw. Gewinner und Verlierer nötig. Dazu bedarf es jedoch einer realistischen Problemwahrnehmung und politischen Kommunikation – was sich im derzeitigen Wahlkampf nicht zeigt.

Integrating post-Schumpeterian perspectives with modern public sector trends

2025-06-17
Regina Lenart-Gansiniec , Jin Chen | Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks

The Role of European Union (EU) Metagovernance in Supporting the Voluntary and Community Sector in Northern Ireland

2025-06-17
Giada LaganĂ  , Sioned Pearce | European Policy Analysis
ABSTRACT This article argues that European Union (EU) peacebuilding scholarship can benefit from organizational research on the socio‐spatial dynamics of policy implementation. It introduces a strategic‐relational heuristic to address two 
 ABSTRACT This article argues that European Union (EU) peacebuilding scholarship can benefit from organizational research on the socio‐spatial dynamics of policy implementation. It introduces a strategic‐relational heuristic to address two key gaps: the marginalization of grassroots agency in spatial analyses and the separation of strategy from structure. Drawing on the Strategic‐Relational Approach (SRA), the paper examines EU peacebuilding as a form of metagovernance. Using Northern Ireland as a case study, it shows how voluntary and community groups not only respond to but also shape metagovernance as an opportunity structure. Key dimensions—geographic reach, thematic focus, governance mechanisms, and spatial elements like territory, place, scale, and networks—are central to this process. Yet, persistent shortcomings reveal tensions where policy and politics intertwine. The article concludes that metagoverning peacebuilding is a dynamic, context‐specific process shaped by diverse actor strategies and overlapping territorial influences, requiring an understanding of both strategic tools and opportunity structure.