Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-r6qrq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T14:25:44.368Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Political Competition and Unequal Social Rights

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 February 2011

Margitta Mätzke
Margitta Mätzke*
Affiliation:
Sociology, University of Göttingen
*
Margitta Mätzke Institute of Sociology Georg August University of Göttingen Platz der Göttinger Sieben 3 37073 Göttingen Germany e-mail: mmaetzk@gwdg.de
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Major social reforms affect the extent to which social rights are granted widely and equally or selectively and in a manner re-enforcing social stratification. Thus, they affect the amount of institutionally sanctioned inequality in a welfare state. This paper seeks to explain the politics of making decisions about unequal social rights. It emphasizes the importance of studying the substantive contents of the policy changes that are on the reform agenda; the kind of actors involved in reform controversies; and the kind of demands they raise. Which actors involved prevail in these controversies, however, is a function of the dynamic of political competition at the time of legislative decision-making. That dynamic tends to be centrifugal; it empowers groups at strategic positions in the political constellation. The paper develops analytical categories for capturing both typological distinctions of substantive policy contents and the empowering dynamic. It demonstrates the significance of this model by analyzing four instances of major welfare reform in Germany.

Keywords

welfarerightspolicymakingsocial insuranceGermany
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 31 , Issue 1 , 23 February 2011 , pp. 1 - 24
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Baldwin, P. (1990) The Politics of Social Solidarity. Class Bases of the European Welfare State 1875-1975. Cambridge et al.: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Blankenburg, E., Schmid, G.Treiber, H. P. (1976) Legitimitäts- und Implementationsprobleme “aktiver Arbeitsmarktpolitik”. In: Ebbinghausen R. (ed.), Bürgerlicher Staat und politische Legitimation. Frankfurt/M: Suhrkamp Verlag, 247–280.Google Scholar
Bonoli, G. (1997) Classifying Welfare States: A Two-dimension Approach. Journal of Social Policy 26(3): 351–372.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Esping-Andersen, G. (1990) The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Green-Pedersen, C.Haverland, M. (2002) The new politics and scholarship of the welfare state. Journal of European Social Policy 12(1): 43–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, P. A. (1993) Policy Paradigms, Social Learning, and the State. The Case of Economic Policymaking in Britain. Comparative Politics, April 1993, 275–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hentschel, V. (1978) Das System der sozialen Sicherung in historischer Sicht 1880 bis 1975. Archiv für Sozialgeschichte 18: 307–352.Google Scholar
Hermann, C. (1988) Die Rentenreform 1972 – Bilanz und Perspektive nach 15 Jahren. Deutsche Rentenversicherung 1–2: 1–21.Google Scholar
Hockerts, H. G. (1980) Sozialpolitische Entscheidungen im Nachkriegsdeutschland. Alliierte und deutsche Sozialversicherungspolitik 1945 bis 1957. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta.Google Scholar
Hockerts, H. G. (1992) Vom Nutzen und Nachteil Parlamentarischer Parteienkonkurrenz. Die Rentenreform 1972 – Ein Lehrstück. In Bracher K. D., Mikat P., Repgen K., Schumacher M. and Schwarz H.-P. (eds.), Staat und Parteien. Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 903–934.Google Scholar
Huber, E.Stephens, J. D. (2001) Development and Crisis of the Welfare State. Parties and Politics in Global Markets. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Imbeau, L. M., Pétry, F.Lamari, M. (2001) Left-right party ideology and government policies: A meta-analysis. European Journal of Political Research 40: 1–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katz, R. S.Mair, P. (1995) Changing Models of Party Organization and Party Democracy. Party Politics 1(1): 5–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Katzenstein, P. (1987) Policy and Politics in West Germany. The Growth of a Semisovereign State. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.Google Scholar
Kirchheimer, O. (1966) The Transformation of the Western European Party Systems. In LaPalombara J. and Weiner M. (eds.), Political Parties and Political Development. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 177–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitschelt, H. (1994) The Transformation of European Social Democracy. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitschelt, H. (2001) Partisan Competition and Welfare State Retrenchment. When Do Politicians Choose Unpopular Policies?. In Pierson P. (ed.), The New Politics of the Welfare State. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 264–302.Google Scholar
Kitschelt, H. (2003) Accounting for Postcommunist Regime Diversity: What Counts as a Good Cause?. In Ekiert G. and Hanson S. E. (eds.), Capitalism and Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe: Assessing the legacy of Communist rule. New York: Cambridge University Press, 49–86.Google Scholar
Kitschelt, H.Streeck, W. (eds.) (2004) Germany: Beyond the Stable State. London: F. Cass.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klotzbach, K. (1982) Der Weg zur Staatspartei: Programmatik, prakische Politik und Organisation der deutschen Sozialdemokratie 1945 bis 1965. Bonn: Dietz.Google Scholar
Knorr, H. (1975) Der parlamentarische Entscheidungsprozess während der Großen Koalition 1966 bis 1969. Struktur und Einfluss der Koalitionsfraktionen und ihr Verhältnis zur Regierung der Großen Koalition. Meisenheim am Glan: Verlag Anton Hain.Google Scholar
Kocka, J. (1981) Class formation, interest articulation, and public policy: The origins of the German white collar class in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In Berger S. (ed.), Organizing Interests in Western Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 63–81.Google Scholar
Korpi, W. (1983) The Democratic Class Struggle. London et al.: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Google Scholar
Kühl, J. (1982) Das Arbeitsförderungsgesetz (AFG) von 1969. Grundzüge seiner arbeitsmarkt- und beschäftigungspolitischen Konzeption. Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung 3/82: 251–260.Google Scholar
Lamping, W. (1994) Finanzierungsstrukturen, Verteilungskonflikte und politische Gestaltung der GKV. In Blanke B. (ed.), Krankheit und Gemeinwohl. Opladen: Leske+Budrich, 245–289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lauer-Kirschbaum, T. (1994) Kollektivverhandlungen und Selbstverwaltungskonsens: Interessenegoismus und Gemeinwohlorientierung in der Entwicklung und Reform der Gesetzlichen Krankenversicherung. In Blanke B. (ed.), Krankheit und Gemeinwohl. Opladen: Leske+Budrich, 207–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laver, M. (2005) Policy and the Dynamics of Political Competition. American Political Science Review 99(2): 163–281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leitner, S.Lessenich, S. (2003) Assessing Welfare State Change: The German Social Insurance State between Reciprocity and Solidarity. Journal of Public Policy 23(3): 325–347.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowi, T. J. (1964) American Business, Public Policy, Case Studies, and Political Theory. World Politics 16: 667–715.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowi, T. J. (1972) Four Systems of Policy, Politics, and Choice. Public Administration Review 32(4): 298–310.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mares, I. (2001) Firms and the Welfare State: When, Why, and How Does Social Policy Matter to Employers?. In Hall P. A. and Soskice D. (eds.), Varieties of Capitalism. The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 185–212.Google Scholar
Mätzke, M. (2003) Conservative Innovation: The Development of Germany's Social Insurance System after WW II. In Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association. Chicago, Illinois.Google Scholar
Mätzke, M. (2005) Man-Made Distinctions in the Welfare State. Political Decisions about Inequality in Major German Social Policy Reforms. Ph.D thesis, Political Science, Northwestern University.Google Scholar
Mätzke, M. (2009) Welfare Policies and Welfare States. Generalizations on the Comparative Study of Policy History. Journal of Policy History 21(3): 308–329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palier, B.Martin, C. (eds.) (2009) Reforming the Bismarckian Welfare Systems. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.Google Scholar
Pierson, P. (1994) Dismantling the Welfare State? Reagan, Thatcher, and the Politics of Retrenchment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierson, P. (2004) Politics in Time: History, Institutions, and Political Analysis. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pierson, P. (2005) The Study of Policy Development. Journal of Policy History 17(1): 34–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prinz, M. (1991) Die Arbeiterbewegung und das Modell der Angestelltenversicherung. Zu einigen Bedingungen für die besondere Bürgerlichkeit des Wohlfahrtsstaates in der Bundesrepublik. In Tenfelde K. (ed.), Arbeiter im 20. Jahrhundert. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 435–460.Google Scholar
Ross, F. (2000) “Beyond Left and Right”: The New Partisan Politics of Welfare. Governance 13(2): 155–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmidt, M. G. (1996) When parties matter: A review of the possibilities and limits of partisan influence on public policy. European Journal of Political Research 30: 155–183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shalev, M. (1983) Class Politics and the Western Welfare State. In Spiro S. E. and Yuchtman-Yaar E. (eds.), Evaluating the Welfare State. Social and Political Perspectives. Paris et. al.: Academic Press, 27–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stinchcombe, A. L. (1985) The Functional Theory of Social Insurance. Politics and Society 14(4): 411–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swank, D. (2002) Global Capital, Political Institutions, and Policy Change in Developed Welfare States. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swenson, P. (2002) Capitalists Against Markets. The Making of Labor Markets and Welfare States in the United States and Sweden. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thelen, K. (2004) How Institutions Evolve: The Political Economy of Skills in Germany, Britain, the United States, and Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
von Berlepsch, H.-J. (1982) ‘Sozialistische Sozialpolitik?’ Zur sozialpolitischen Konzeption und Strategie der SPD in den Jahren 1949 bis 1966. In Tenfelde K. (ed.), Arbeiter im 20. Jahrhundert. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta, 461–482.Google Scholar
Wanek, V. (1994) Machtverteilung im Gesundheitswesen: Struktur und Auswirkungen. Frankfurt/M: VAS.Google Scholar
Wasem, J. (1993) Der kassenartübergreifende Risikostrukturausgleich. Chancen für eine neue Wettbewerbsordnung in der GKV. Sozialer Fortschritt 2: 32–38.Google Scholar
Webber, D. (1982) Zwischen programmatischem Anspruch und politischer Praxis: Die Entwicklung der Arbeitsmarktpolitik in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland von 1974 bis 1982. Mitteilungen aus der Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung 3/82: 261–275.Google Scholar
Webber, D. (1988) Krankheit, Geld und Politik: Zur Geschichte der Gesundheitsreformen in Deutschland. Leviathan 16(2): 156–201.Google Scholar