The Europeanization of Welfare: Paradigm shifts and social policy reforms Luis Moreno Spanish...
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Transcript of The Europeanization of Welfare: Paradigm shifts and social policy reforms Luis Moreno Spanish...
The Europeanization of Welfare: Paradigm shifts and
social policy reforms
Luis Moreno
Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Workshop on Changing Values - Changing Welfare States: on the European Dimension of German and Turkish Social Policy
Social Policy Forum, Bosphorus University and Graduate School of Social Sciences, University of Bremen
Istanbul, 23/26 May, 2006
Luis Moreno, Istanbul, May 23, 2006
PARADIGM SHIFTS (Economic)• Globalisation and technological changes in the
post-Fordist economy.
• From Keynesianism to Monetarism.
• Macro policies of monetary centralisation and harmonisation of EU ‘internal’ open markets.
• Deregulation of the labour market, wage flexibility and cost containment in social expenditure.
Luis Moreno, Istanbul, May 23, 2006
PARADIGM SHIFTS (Social)• Has welfare development become a mere
surrogate of economic ideas, interests and institutions?
• Is the Schumpetarian workfare state to subordinate welfare policies to the strengthening of national competitiveness and the achievement of economic success?
• Is the European Social Model an identity marker for Europeans?
Luis Moreno, Istanbul, May 23, 2006
EUROPEAN SOCIAL MODEL
• TO PROVIDE SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH AND SOCIAL COHESION.
• Contrast with other socio-economic models (individualization and re-commodification in USA, and ‘dumping’ in South-East Asia).
• Construction of ‘floors’ or ‘nets’ of material resources and entitlements to favour citizens’ participation in society.
• Priority in the fight against poverty and social exclusion. Luis Moreno, Istanbul, May 23, 2006
EUROPEANISATION (1)
• Europeanisation is not a static concept, but rather a dynamic idea expressed in the erosion of state sovereignty and the gradual development of common institutions in Europe (e.g., Agreement of Schengen, Court of Justice, Euro currency)
Luis Moreno, Istanbul, May 23, 2006
EUROPEANISATION (2)
• Relates to countries sharing a linked heritage and embracing egalitarian values of democracy and human rights.
• Unfolding of structures of multi-level governance.
• National, regional and local policies are to be shaped by considerations beyond the mere centrality of the member states.
Luis Moreno, Istanbul, May 23, 2006
EUROPEANISATION (3)
• Is the constitution of a United States of Europe the necessary outcome?
• Cultural assimilation and single identity formation, along the lines of the American ‘melting-pot’ and ‘command-and-control’ policy provision?
• History and cultural diversity within the mosaic of peoples in the Old Continent to be taken into account. Luis Moreno, Istanbul, May 23, 2006
Revisiting regime theory (1)
• Individual empowerment
(Anglo-Saxon)
• Statist egalitarianism
(Nordic)
• Corporatist partnership
(Continental) Luis Moreno, Istanbul, May 23, 2006
Revisiting regime theory (2)
• Familialistic interpenetration (Mediterranean)
- Household production and distribution of income and social services.
- Strong family micro-solidarity.
- Pivotal role of women for care functions (‘superwomen’).
Luis Moreno, Istanbul, May 23, 2006
Features of welfare regimes
Luis Moreno, Istanbul, May 23, 2006
ANGLO-SAXON CONTINENTAL NORDIC MEDITERRANEAN
IDEOLOGY Citizenship Neo-corporatism Egalitarianism Social justice
GOALS Individual choice Income
maintenance
Network public
services
Resource
optimisation
FINANCING Taxes Payroll contributions Taxes Mixed
BENEFITS Flat rate (low
intensity)
Cash (high intensity) Flat rate (high
intensity)
Cash (low intensity)
SERVICES Residual public Social partners Comprehensive
public
Family support
PROVISION Public/quasi
markets
NGOs Public / Centrally
fixed
Mixed /
Decentralised
LABOUR
MARKET
De-regulation Insiders/outsiders High public
employment
Big informal
economy
GENDER Female polarisation Part-time
feminisation
Occupational specific Ambivalent
familialism
POVERTY Dependency culture Insertion culture Statist culture Assistance culture
EUROPEAN WELFARE
• Furthering of a macro community of trusts.
• Not to be superimposed on the internal interaction of communities with long-standing culture and history.
• Legal framework for preservation of European Social Model.
Luis Moreno, Istanbul, May 23, 2006
Social policy provision (1)• Macro-structural constraints (external
social dumping, industrial relocation and financial globalisation).
• Institutional inputs are also of the foremost importance, particularly those related to European law and European Court of Justice’s jurisprudence.
• Orientation of EU towards regulation policies rather than re-distribution.
Luis Moreno, Istanbul, May 23, 2006
Social policy provision (2)• ‘OPEN METHOD OF CO-ORDINATION’ (OMC):
To organise a learning process about how to cope with the common challenges in a co-ordinated way, while also respecting state (and sub-state) diversity.
Common guidelines, national action plans, peer reviews, joint evaluation reports and recommendations.
Agenda for policy actors and encouragement for experimentation.
Luis Moreno, Istanbul, May 23, 2006
FUNCTIONAL DIMENSION
• EU countries have embraced new economic policies of a similar nature.
• Very limited economic ‘sovereignty’ to promote previous Keynesian demand-side policies.
• Emergence of new social risks in post-industrial societies.
Luis Moreno, Istanbul, May 23, 2006
New Social Risks (related to)
• Higher participation of women in the formal labour market;
• Increase in the numbers of frail and dependent elderly people;
• Rise of social exclusion for workers with poor education;
• Expansion of private services and the de-regulation of their public counterparts.
Luis Moreno, Istanbul, May 23, 2006
New Social Risks (groups)
• Balancing paid work and family responsibilities (especially childcare), being called on for care for a frail elderly relative, or becoming frail and lacking family support;
• Lacking the skills necessary to gain access to an adequately paid and secure job, or having skills and training that become obsolete and being unable to upgrade them through life-long learning;
• Using private provision that supplies an insecure or inadequate pension or unsatisfactory services
Luis Moreno, Istanbul, May 23, 2006
TERRITORIAL DIMENSION
• In 2002, about half of the EU-15 regions were ‘partner regions’, or regions with legislative powers (almost in half of the member states):
Finland (the Åland Islands), Belgium (3 regions, 3 communities), Germany (16 Länder), Austria (9 Länder), Spain (17 Comunidades Autónomas), Portugal (2 autonomous regions), Italy (20 regioni and 2 autonomous provinces), and the United Kingdom (3 parliaments, or regional assemblies).
Luis Moreno, Istanbul, May 23, 2006
Decentralisation (1)
• The principle of subsidiarity (Maastricht Treaty, 1992) provides for decisions to be taken supranationally only if local, regional or national levels cannot perform better.
• The preferred locus for decision-making is as decentralised and closer to the citizen as possible.
Luis Moreno, Istanbul, May 23, 2006
Decentralisation (2)
• Political elites of the member states often interpret the subsidiarity principle as a safeguard for the preservation of their traditional national power bases.
• Sub-state layers of government have found in the principle of European subsidiarity a renewed impulse for the running of public affairs, and new opportunities for policy innovation.
Luis Moreno, Istanbul, May 23, 2006
CONCLUDING REMARKS (1)
• Evidence from diverse European countries shows that similar needs are emerging in the areas of new social risk concerning work-life balance, access to paid work for the lower-skilled and privatisation.
• In general, most EU countries are moving in the direction of the liberal social protection system.
Luis Moreno, Istanbul, May 23, 2006
CONCLUDING REMARKS (2)
• Decentralisation has also become a major embedding factor in European contemporary life.
• Reconstruction of programmes of social citizenship may also be articulated from ‘below’ (mesogovernments and ‘safety nets’).
Luis Moreno, Istanbul, May 23, 2006
CONCLUDING REMARKS (3)
• EU has been remarkably effective in developing common economic institutions, but has been much less successful in creating a common framework for European social policy.
• Both the European-national and the economic-social dichotomies will test the real system-building capacity of the process of Europeanisation.
Luis Moreno, Istanbul, May 23, 2006