The Palgrave Macmillan The Welfare State as Crisis Manager

Transcription

1 The Palgrave Macmillan The Welfare State as Crisis Manager Explaining the Diversity of Policy Responses to Economic Crisis Peter Starke, Alexandra Kaasch and Franca van Hooren

2 Transformations of the State Series Editors: Achim Hurrelmann, Carleton University, Canada; Stephan Leibfried, University of Bremen,Germany; Kerstin Martens, University of Bremen, Germany; Peter Mayer, University of Bremen, Germany. Titles include: Outlines of the themes of the series: Achim Hurrelmann, Stephan Leibfried, Kerstin Martens and Peter Mayer (editors) TRANSFORMING THE GOLDEN-AGE NATION STATE Steffen Mau, Heike Brabandt, Lena Laube and Christof Roos LIBERAL STATES AND THE FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT Selective Borders, Unequal Mobility Lutz Leisering (editor) THE NEW REGULATORY STATE Regulating Pensions in Germany and the UK Andreas Kruck PRIVATE RATINGS, PUBLIC REGULATIONS Credit Rating Agencies and Global Financial Governance Michael Dobbins HIGHER EDUCATION POLICIES IN CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE Convergence Towards a Common Model? Moritz Weiss TRANSACTIONS COSTS AND SECURITY INSTITUTIONS Unravelling the ESDP Heinz Rothgang, Mirella Cacace, Simone Grimmeisen, Uwe Helmert and Claus Wendt THE STATE AND HEALTHCARE Comparing OECD Countries Anna Holzscheiter CHILDREN S RIGHTS IN INTERNATIONAL POLITICS The Transformative Power of Transnational Discourse Kerstin Martens, Alexander-Kenneth Nagel, Michael Windzio and Ansgar Weymann (editors) TRANSFORMATION OF EDUCATION POLICY Steffen Schneider, Achim Hurrelmann, Zuzana Krell-Laluhová, Frank Nullmeier and Achim Wiesner. DEMOCRACY S DEEP ROOTS Why the Nation State Remains Legitimate Anja P. Jakobi INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND LIFELONG LEARNING From Global Agendas to Policy Diffusion

3 Michael J. Warning TRANSNATIONAL PUBLIC GOVERNANCE Networks, Law and Legitimacy Thomas Rixen THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF INTERNATIONAL TAX GOVERNANCE Hartmut Wessler (editor) PUBLIC DELIBERATION AND PUBLIC CULTURE The Writings of Bernhard Peters, Hartmut Wessler, Bernhard Peters, Michael Brűggemann, Katharina Kleinen-von Kőnigslőw and Stefanie Sifft TRANSNATIONALIZATION OF PUBLIC SPHERES Jochen Zimmerman, Jörg R. Werner and Philipp B. Volmer GLOBAL GOVERNANCE IN ACCOUNTING Public Power and Private Commitment Peter Starke RADICAL WELFARE STATE RETRENCHMENT A Comparative Analysis Jens Steffek, Claudia Kissling and Patrizia Nanz (editors) CIVIL SOCIETY PARTICIPATION IN EUROPEAN AND GLOBAL GOVERNANCE ACurefortheDemocraticDeficit? Klaus Dingwerth THE NEW TRANSNATIONALISM Transnational Governance and Democratic Legitimacy Kerstin Martens, Alessandra Rusconi and Kathrin Leuze (editors) NEW ARENAS OF EDUCATION GOVERNANCE The Impact of International Organizations and Markets on Educational Policy Making Achim Hurrelmann, Steffen Schneider and Jens Steffek (editors) LEGITIMACY IN AN AGE OF GLOBAL POLITICS Joan DeBardeleben and Achim Hurrelmann (editors) DEMOCRATIC DILEMMAS OF MULTILEVEL GOVERNANCE Legitimacy, Representation and Accountability in the European Union Peter Starke, Alexandra Kaasch and Franca van Hooren THE WELFARE STATE AS CRISIS MANAGER Explaining the Diversity of Policy Responses to Economic Crisis Transformations of the State Series Standing Order ISBN (hardback) (paperback) (outside North America only) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to us at the address below with your name and address, the title of the series and the ISBNs quoted above. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS, England

4 The Welfare State as Crisis Manager Explaining the Diversity of Policy Responses to Economic Crisis Peter Starke University of Bremen, Germany Alexandra Kaasch University of Sheffield, United Kingdom and Franca van Hooren VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands

5 Peter Starke, Alexandra Kaasch and Franca van Hooren 2013 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6 10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act First published 2013 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number , of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave and Macmillan are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries. ISBN This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress

6 Contents List of Figures and Tables viii Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations 1 Introduction 1 Crisis and the state 1 Social policy and crisis management: Research questions and design 2 Crisis and change 5 The partisan politics of crisis management 7 Crises as critical junctures 8 Crises as transnational events 8 The argument in brief 10 The structure of the book 11 2 The Politics of Crisis Response 12 A focus on the welfare state and crisis management 12 Mapping crisis responses 15 Expansion or retrenchment? Explaining the direction of change 20 Fundamental or incremental responses? Explaining the quality of change 23 Research design and methods 26 3 How the Countries Compare 28 Political system 28 System of interest intermediation 37 Welfare state 45 x xii 4 The Oil Shocks of 1973 and 1979: Keynesianism and Beyond 53 Global economic situation 53 International intellectual climate 55 v

7 vi Contents The countries compared 60 Australia: Turbulent times for the welfare state 61 Belgium: The birth of welfare without work 67 The Netherlands: The long goodbye to Keynesianism 74 Sweden: Sticking to traditional solutions 84 Summary: Culmination of two shocks leading to change 88 5 Recession in the 1990s: The Resistible Rise of Neoliberalism 92 Global economic situation 92 International intellectual climate 96 The countries compared 99 Australia: A bold reaction 99 Belgium: (Almost) a non-reaction 104 The Netherlands: A crisis of inactivity 108 Sweden: Benefit cutbacks but retaining the commitment? 114 Summary: Developments in different directions Managing the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 and Its Aftermath: The Role of Social Policy 124 Global economic situation 124 International intellectual climate 127 The countries compared 133 An Australian miracle? 136 Belgium: Steering a ship without captain 141 The Netherlands: Retrenchment in action 149 Sweden: Successful crisis routines 160 Summary: A temporary revival of the welfare state? Conclusion 173 The welfare state as crisis manager: Diverse responses to similar problems 173 The conditional impact of partisan ideology 176 Crises as critical junctures? The importance of crisis routines 180 Are large countries different? 185 Implications for the study of public policy 187 Preparing for the next crisis: Welfare state resilience revisited 188

8 Contents vii Appendix 1: Party Systems 191 Appendix 2: Governmental Majorities 195 Notes 202 References 212 Index 236