The Multidimensional Politics of Minimum Income Reform in Southern Welfare States

Abstract

While during the industrial era minimum income policies had a more protective and redistributive purpose, the 1990s marked the beginning of a paradigm shift with the introduction of activation mechanisms aimed at promoting the incorporation of minimum income claimants into the labour market. This has led social policy scholars to recognise that the nature of minimum income schemes is inherently multidimensional, encompassing both income protection and activation. However, the literature explaining policy change in the field is anchored in unidimensional models, often overlooking a comprehensive view of the reforms. The core argument of this paper is that the multidimensionality of minimum income schemes in the post-industrial context gives rise not only to the socio-economic distributional conflict, but also to the libertarian/authoritarian value conflict, thereby generating a variety of potential coalitions during the policy process. In this vein, I hypothesise that the policy preferences of coalition partners around the two dimensions will determine the direction of the reforms. The paper tests this argument for the case of Southern Europe, a region that, despite having a historically weak minimum income floor, has experienced multiple changes in this policy domain over the past decade.