Explaining Welfare State Developments: Towards a Comparative Research Agenda

The aim of this paper is to provide a first sketch of an analytical framework which could be used for the comparative analysis of wel-fare state developments, under the form of emergence, consolidation, expansion and reform. We shall do so inspired by Flora and Hei-denheimer’s (1981) seminal work on the development of the welfare state, and more specifically we shall depart from the ‘sequencing’ which is provided at the end of the book in the contribution by Hugh Heclo (“Towards a New Welfare State?”) which differentiates the ‘stages of welfarism’ in four phases: experimentation, consolidation, expansion, reformulation based on the analysis of political and eco-nomic events (Heclo, 1981: 386-387). Furthermore, we will also use Flora’s ‘macro-constellation’ of factors in proposing an analytical framework which will be used also for comparative purposes. The article is organised as follows: section 2 traces the main similarities and differences with respect to welfare state developments in Western Eu-rope and Latin America; section 3 critically discusses the most relevant theories of welfare state developments used for the analysis of welfare state developments in the two continents; section 4 discusses the results of our review and presents the analytical framework which should allow us to better understand – from a theoretical perspective – the evolution of welfare states in the two continents under scrutiny, and beyond

Fighting poverty and social exclusion. Including through minimum income schemes

The study pursues two main aims. Firstly, it addresses the issue of poverty and social exclusion from a theoretical perspective – assessing the relevant concepts – and an empirical perspective – discussing the limitations of different indicators and data with reference to EU countries. Secondly, it focuses on national and EU-level policies dealing with poverty and social exclusion, in particular, on minimum income schemes, presenting 6 country case studies and evaluating the feasibility of an EU minimum income framework. This document was provided by the Policy Department for Economic, Scientific and Quality of Life Policies at the request of the committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL)

La Riforma Dini vent’anni dopo. Promesse, miti, prospettive di policy. Un’introduzione

Questo numero speciale di Politiche Sociali propone dunque una lettura ad ampio raggio circa l’evoluzione, le criticità e le prospettive del sistema pensionistico italiano, con particolare riferimento a pregi e difetti del modello delineato dalla riforma del 1995. Al fine di meglio inquadrare tale lettura, dopo aver richiamato obiettivi e contenuti della riforma Dini nel paragrafo 2, nel prosieguo di questo saggio introduttivo proponiamo una riflessione preliminare circa la capacità del sistema pensionistico italiano di rispondere in modo appropriato alle nuove e vecchie sfide che esso si trova a fronteggiare

Due decenni dopo le grandi riforme: i nervi scoperti del sistema pensionistico italiano

Le domande cruciali cui rispondere diventano perciò le seguenti: pensioni adeguate per chi, per quali tipi di lavoratori, con quale profilo di carriera? Quali lavoratori sono in grado – per ragioni di salute e opportunità occupazionali – di proseguire effettivamente l'attività, oggi fino a quasi 67 anni e fino alla soglia dei 70 anni e oltre nei decenni a venire? Qual è la relazione fra aspettative di vita e condizioni socio-culturali e professionali degli individui, visto che nel sistema contributivo, in cui la prestazione dipende dall'aspettativa di vita media al pensionamento, differenze nelle aspettative di vita a favore dei più abbienti genererebbero flussi redistributivi regressivi? E, infine, potrebbe un ulteriore sviluppo della previdenza integrativa costituire una risposta efficace alle criticità finora delineate? Nel concentrarci su tali domande e relative criticità, è anche opportuno presentare sinteticamente quali fattori, spesso interagendo tra loro in modo non coordinato, hanno contribuito all’emersione delle stesse

Italian pensions from vices to challenges. Assessing actuarial multi-pillarization twenty years later

In the next section we present in more detail the architecture of the Italian pension system before the Great Recession and the main reforms adopted during the “crisis”. The third section addresses the main pension challenges after the latest wave of reform by focusing on the three analytical dimensions mentioned above. The fourth section analyses both pension politics and governance after two decades of reforms, with a special focus on the challenges for the trade unions and their constituencies in the novel pension arenas. The fifth section concludes

Pensioni e disuguaglianze. Una sfida complessa, l’equità necessaria

Life conditions and market mechanisms generate inequalities, which may be neutralized, reproduced or even aggravated by welfare systems and pension rules. Therefore, the article first outlines the complex relationship between inequality and pensions both analytically and in a comparative-historical perspective. Then, it applies the conceptual and analytical framework in order to capture the main inequality profiles emerged after three decades of retrenchment reforms in the field of pensions in Italy. In the conclusion, we argue that reforms strategies aimed at tackling inequality in retirement should necessarily be inspired by equity principles

Fighting poverty and social exclusion - including through minimum income schemes

The study pursues two main aims. Firstly, it addresses the issue of poverty and social exclusion from a theoretical perspective – assessing the relevant concepts – and an empirical perspective – discussing the limitations of different indicators and data with reference to EU countries. Secondly, it focuses on national and EUlevel policies dealing with poverty and social exclusion, in particular, on minimum income schemes, presenting 6 country case studies and evaluating the feasibility of an EU minimum income framework. This document was provided by the Policy Department for Economic, Scientific and Quality of Life Policies at the request of the committee on Employment and Social Affairs (EMPL)

Nuova destra, vecchio Welfare?

La forza dei partiti cosiddetti neopopulisti, in specie sovranisti e di de stra, \ue8 vieppi\uf9 evidente nelle recenti tornate elettorali, oltre che nel di battito pubblico, tanto nei Paesi europei quanto negli Stati Uniti. Sono pochi gli Stati in cui i partiti populisti di destra\u2013su cui si concentra questo contributo\u2013non sono divenuti rilevanti sullo scacchiere po litico, alterando significativamente le dimensioni della competizione elettorale nonch\ue9 l\u2019agenda dei governi. Una serie di ricerche in scienza politica e sociologia ha iniziato a investigare le ragioni del successo elettorale, le caratteristiche organiz zative e, pi\uf9 recentemente, le posizioni ei programmi di questi (pi\uf9 o meno) nuovi partiti nei diversi settori di politica pubblica. Nel campo delle politiche sociali la letteratura ha tradizionalmente riservato un ruolo di second\u2019ordine allo studio dei rapporti tra partiti di destra e trasformazione dei sistemi di Welfare

The right(s) and minimum income in hard times: Southern and Eastern Europe compared

The paper addresses a topic still largely under-researched in comparative welfare state literature: the role of right parties in the reform of last resort safety nets. More precisely, the study investigates minimum income schemes’ reforms promoted during the Great Recession (2008–2013) by centre-right governments in three countries belonging to the European periphery: Italy, Portugal and Latvia. Despite common political orientation and increased problem pressure, these countries have gone through distinct reform trajectories in their social safety nets that may be labelled expansion (Latvia), retrenchment (Portugal), and continuity (Italy). Against this backdrop, the paper suggests that right parties display substantially different positions and pursue different reform strategies in anti-poverty policies. These differences can be explained by the diverse types of right parties and varying competition and coalition dynamics in the three countries