Restructuring the welfare state: reforms in long-term care in Western European countries

Faced with the problems associated with an ageing society, many European countries have adopted innovative policies to achieve a better balance between the need to expand social care and the imperative to curb public spending. Although embedded within peculiar national traditions, these new policies share some characteristics: (a) a tendency to combine monetary transfers to families with the provision of in-kind services; (b) the establishment of a new social care market based on competition; (c) the empowerment of users through their increased purchasing power; and (d) the introduction of funding measures intended to foster care-giving through family networks. This article presents the most significant reforms recently introduced in six European countries (France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK) as regards long-term care. It analyses their impact at the macro- (institutional and quantitative), meso- (service delivery structures) and micro-level (families, caregivers and people in need). As a result the authors find a general trend towards convergence in social care among the countries, and the emergence of a new type of government regulation designed to restructure rather than to reduce welfare programmes

The policy framework in Bologna

The FLOWS (Impact of local welfare systems on female labour force participation and social cohesion) project has been funded under the EU FP7 program, grant Agreement no: 26680

Urban Policy in Times of Crisis: The Policy Capacity of European Cities and the Role of Multi-Level Governance

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Nem mind arany, ami fénylik: a tartós gondozás reformja Európában az elmúlt két évtizedben

A tanulmány a tartós gondozás (long-term care – LTC) terén az elmúlt két évtizedben végbement reformokat vizsgálja hat európai jóléti államban. Ennek során három kérdéssel foglalkozik: (1) miért történtek a reformok, (2) melyek a reformfolyamat mögött levő fő szereplők, szövetségek és intézményi mechanizmusok, (3) mik a reformfolyamatok fő eredményei? Az LTC-politikák elemzéséhez a tanulmány a történelmi institucionalizmus elméletét alkalmazza. Értelmezésünk szerint az LTC-politikákban az intézményes változás egy olyan hosszas intézményi dinamikában ment végbe, amelyben a kontinuitás és diszkontinuitás elválaszthatatlanul összekapcsolódott, és ahol döntő szerepet játszottak a feszültségek és ellentmondások. Az eredmények vizsgálatakor a tanulmány a lefedettséget és a gondozó szektorban dolgozók állampolgári jogait és munkakörülményeit, valamint a gondozás defamilizálásának és refamilizálásának folyamatait elemzi. A változások végső eredményeként az univerzalizmus szintje általában nőtt Európában, de ez részben egy újfajta „korlátozott univerzalizmusban” jelent meg. Ezt az LTC-juttatásokhoz való univerzális hozzáférés jellemzi, az ellátásokat azonban behatárolják a pénzügyi kényszerek és költségvetési plafonok

Separati a scuola. La segregazione scolastica in Italia

Over the past 20 years, the high concentration of students with low socioeconomic background or ethnic origins in Italian schools has prompted scholars to reflect on the issue of school segregation. Some researchers have begun to identify the key features of this phenomenon, underscoring the need for deeper investigation and the development of targeted policies to address it. School segregation is not only a consequence of structural inequalities but also a driver of the perpetuation of disadvantages. This special issue explores the methodological challenges in studying school segregation in Italy, focusing particularly on the scales of analysis and their implications. It then examines the combined factors contributing to school segregation, including the residential distribution of the population, institutional settings, and the agency of households in school choice. Additionally, it addresses the effects of school segregation on academic achievement and social mobility opportunities, with particular attention to the difficulty of disentangling the various factors influencing educational trajectories (e.g., peer effects, school effects). The overall objective of the special issue is contributing to the knowledge about the phenomenon but also setting the stage for policy-oriented reflections, advocating for a sectorial approach to addressing this issue

Trapped in a blind spot : the Covid-19 crisis in nursing homes in Italy and Spain

Altres ajuts: Govern de Catalunya (2020FI_B1 00049)This article investigates the delay in implementation and inadequacy of specific policy actions in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic in nursing homes. The analysis focuses on Lombardy and Madrid, the two wealthiest regions in Italy and Spain. These were the most severely affected by the onset of the pandemic, both country-wise and at the European level. We compare the chronology of policy decisions that affected nursing homes against the broader policy responses related to the health crisis. We look at structural factors that reveal policy legacy effects. Our analysis shows that key emergency interventions arrived late, especially when compared to similar actions taken by the national health services. Weak institutional embedding of nursing homes within the welfare state in terms of ownership, allocation of resources, regulation and coordination hindered a swift response to the onset of the crisis