Deconstructing social cohesion: towards an analytical framework for assessing social cohesion policies

Abstract Academics as well as policy-makers consider social cohesion to be an important quality of cities. A high level of social cohesion is associated with a wide variety of positive characteristics of cities: for instance low crime rates, high economic growth, low unemployment and happy citizens. This has lead to a wide variety of policy initiatives explicitly or implicitly aimed at increasing social cohesion. The perceived importance of social cohesion is in remarkable contrast to the lack of its clear definition and a widely agreed-upon analytical framework. The lack of conceptual consensus may be explained by the complexity of the concept. It has multiple dimensions and can be found on different institutional levels: from the level of states to the level of local neighborhoods. In this article I develop an analytical framework that builds upon these multi-dimensional and multi-level characteristics and connect this with an attempt to classify policies aimed at increasing social cohesion

Van wie is de verzorgingsstaat? Over het eigenaarschap van publieke instituties

Veel van de hedendaagse sociale regelingen vinden hun oorsprong in het particulier initiatief. Herkenbare en vaak plaatselijke gemeenschappen waren verantwoordelijk voor de uitvoering en de controle. De regelingen waren ingebed in de ‘leefwereld’ van de burgers die gekenmerkt wordt door vertrouwen, nabijheid en gemeenschappelijkheid. Door de uitbouw en hervorming van de verzorgingsstaat zijn deze regelingen eerst ‘verstatelijkt’ en daarna ‘vermarkt’. De oorspronkelijke waarden hebben plaats gemaakt voor wantrouwen, objectiviteit en kosteneffectiviteit. De verzorgingsstaat is onderdeel geworden van de systeemwereld waarin bureaucratische rationaliteit en uitvoeringslogica centraal staan. De verzorgingsstaat die van ons allemaal zou moeten zijn, is van niemand geworden. Dit proces van institutionele onteigening leidt niet alleen tot overbenutting en misbruik van sociale regelingen, maar leidt ook tot re

Welfare regimes in Central and Eastern Europe. Incorporating post-communist countries in a welfare regime typology

Abstract This article uses hierarchical cluster analysis to empirically assess if the postcommunist welfare states of Central and Eastern Europe can be classified according to any of Esping-Andersen’s well-known welfare types, or if they form a distinct group of their own. It shows that at the start of the twenty-first century, there are clear differences in the governmental programmes and the social situation between traditional Western welfare states and post-communist welfare states. The article argues that the welfare states in post-communist countries might be subdivided into three groups: (1) a group of former-USSR countries, including Russia and Belarus; (2) a group of rather successful Central and Eastern European countries including Poland and the Czech Republic, and (3) a group of developing welfare states, consisting of Romania, Moldova and Georgia

Trade Unions and Welfare Refrom in Central and Eastern Europe

Session 3: Institutional rearrangement of the public domai

Hoogwaardig handhaven in de gemeentelijke praktijk

__Abstract__ Begin oktober 2013 verstuurden de minister en staatssecretaris van het Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid [SZW] een informatiebrief richting de tweede kamer ter voorbereiding van het Algemeen Overleg Handhaving. Hierin wordt erkend dat ‘de meeste burgers en bedrijven de regels naleven’, maar desalniettemin wordt er hard ingezet opdat ‘de aanpak van fraude en het niet naleven van regels […] stevig en zichtbaar zijn om (potentiële) fraudeurs af te schrikken en goed willenden te ondersteunen in hun goede gedrag’ (Ministerie SZW, 2013, p.1). De toon is weer gezet: een stevige aanpak van fraude is noodzakelijk om de sociale zekerheid betaalbaar te houden en een voldoende niveau van draagvlak en solidariteit te behouden

Het aanspreken van klanten op verplichtingen.

__Abstract__ Dit onderzoek heeft als doel bij te dragen aan het vermogen en de motivatie van professionals in de sociale zekerheid om klanten op adequate wijze aan te spre

National report on the labour market position of vulnerable groups in the Netherlands

__Abstract__ Like other European countries, the Dutch economy has been struggling with great difficulties as a result of the outbreak of the financial crisis by the end of 2008. The crisis was in first instance mainly dominated by the threat of failing banks and capital inflows from the government. Other challenges, such as financial shortfalls, risk-averse behaviour by banks and a growing feeling of uncertainty among investors, firms and households, resulted in an economic crisis that followed (Bijlsma & Suyker, 2008). Third, a fiscal crisis can be distinguished from the financial and economic crisis, caused due growing national debts and decreasing tax revenues (Kickert, 2012, pp. 442-443). The impact of the crisis on economy and thereby related decline in employment, has proven to be significant in the Netherlands and other European countries (Bigos et al., 2013). Although decreasing levels of GDP growth have great influence on the resilience1 of labour markets, it is not the only factor that determines the performance of the labour market during a recession. Country-specific contextual factors, such as institutional structures, national and regional policies, social-cultural aspects and the industry structure, have a significant impact on the resilience of labour markets as well. Consequently, even countries who are comparable in terms of their welfare system, size and economy, like Belgium and the Netherlands, may differ in their responses to crisis as a result of their country-specific features. However, although these responses may dif

The social policy agendas of populist radical right parties in comparative perspective

In many European countries and in the US, populist right-wing parties are gaining ground. The political agenda of these parties is dominated by their reluctant or even out-right hostile position against migration and foreigners and a strong emphasis on nationalist values in combination with an anti-globalisation economic agenda. In most cases, the social agenda of the radical right parties and politicians are more ambiguous and less clearly explicated. These parties rely on working class ‘insiders’ and therefore may be expected to oppose austerity measures, but at that same time have firm opinions about deservingness and conditionality that may sometimes harm the interests of their voters. This article sets out to explore the social policy agenda of radical right parties in six different countries: the US, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France. The article uses content analysis of speeches and party manifestos as its main method of data analysis