The politics of welfare state reform in continental Europe
Subtitle: modernization in hard times
By: Silja Häusermann.
Series: Cambridge studies in comparative politics
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2010
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
ISBN-13: 9780521192729
Subjects: Pensions -- Government policy -- France; Pensions -- Government policy -- Germany; Pensions -- Government policy -- Switzerland
Description: "This book challenges existing theories of welfare state change by analyzing pension reforms in France, Germany, and Switzerland between 1970 and 2004. It explains why all three countries were able to adopt far-reaching reforms, adapting their pension regimes to both financial austerity and new social risks. In a radical departure from the neo-institutionalist emphasis on policy stability, the book argues that socio-structural change has led to a multidimensional pension reform agenda. A variety of cross-cutting lines of political conflict, emerging from the transition to a post-industrial economy, allowed governments to engage in strategies of political exchange and coalition-building, fostering broad cross-class coalitions in support of major reform packages. Methodologically, the book proposes a novel strategy to analyze lines of conflict, configurations of political actors, and coalitional dynamics over time. This strategy combines quantitative analyses of actor configurations based on coded policy positions with in-depth case studies"--Provided by publisher.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Machine generated contents note: 1. Introduction: 'eppur si muove' - welfare state change despite institutional inertia; 2. Modernization in hard times: the post-industrial politics of continental welfare state reform; Part I. Pension Reform in Continental Europe: A Framework of Analysis: 3. A new reform agenda: old age security in the post-industrial era; 4. Changing alliances: conflict lines and actor configurations; 5. Reform outputs: strategies of coalitional engineering; Part II. Determinants of Successful Pension Reform in Continental Europe: 6. France - trade union fragmentation as reform opportunity; 7. Germany - institutional obstacles to multidimensional reform politics; 8. Switzerland - recalibration as an enabling mechanism of pension compromises; 9. Conclusion: reform outputs and political implications.