Crisis and Welfare Retrenchment

Abstract

A number of authors have controversially suggested the existence of a distinct “Southern European Welfare State”, comprising Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain. But if the existence of a distinctive welfare regime in Southern Europe remains contested, what is beyond dispute is that the future of social welfare provision in these countries, among the worst hit by the economic crisis, is particularly threatened. Retrenchment is in the cards, but it is most likely that it will take different forms in different countries and different policy areas. The extent and shape of possible retrenchment will depend, amongst other things, on whether or not the countries will need an external bailout, but also, and critically, on the specific institutional configuration of their political systems, the level of executive power diffusion, the strength of trade unions, the variation of public welfare and social expenditure attitudes, the intensity of popular unrest, and the path dependence of existing welfare structures. The distinct political weight of welfare constituencies, and their relationship to the different political parties in the legislature, is equally likely to impact political parties’ decisions as to which social groups should carry the burdens of the cuts and the contours of the “new welfare contract” binding the citizens and the state. This panel welcomes papers dealing with the politics of welfare retrenchment and the changing attitudes towards welfare and social expenditure in Southern Europe under current conditions of acute financial duress. Both national case studies and cross-national quantitative analyses are welcome, as well as any conceptual and theoretical developments inspired by them.

Title	Details
The Grapes of Wrath. Welfare Attitudes in Bailed-out Portugal	View Paper Details
South European Welfare States at the Crossroads: Dynamics of a Three-player Game	View Paper Details
Reforms and Retrenchment of Spanish Welfare State: Some Political-Economic Prospective Beyond the Crisis	View Paper Details
Policy Experts and Populist Leaders. Welfare Policies in Southern Europe	View Paper Details
Crisis and Patterns of Social Welfare in Greece	View Paper Details
Who Deserves What and Why. Public Perceptions of Welfare Deservingness in Portugal	View Paper Details