Support for Redistribution in Western Europe: Assessing the role of religion

Previous sociological studies have paid little attention to religion as a central determinant of individual preferences for redistribution. In this article we argue that religious individuals, living in increasingly secular societies, differ in political preferences from their secular counterparts. Based on the theory of religious cleavages, we expect that religious individuals will oppose income redistribution by the state. Furthermore, in contexts where the polarization between religious and secular individuals is large, preferences for redistribution will be lower. In the empirical analysis we test our predictions in a multilevel framework, using data from the European Social Survey 2002–2006 for 16 Western European countries. After controlling for a wide range of individual socio-economic factors and for welfare-state policies, religion plays and important explanatory role. We find that both Catholics and Protestants strongly oppose income redistribution by the state. The cleavage between religious and secular individuals is far more important than the difference between denominations. Using a refined measure of religious polarization, we also find that in more polarized context the overall level of support for redistribution is lower

Topping Up and the Political Support for Social Insurance

This paper analyzes how the possibility to complement social income insurance schemes with private insurance affects the political support for social insurance. It is shown that political support for social insurance is weakly decreasing in the replacement rate. Policy makers seeking to maintain support for social insurance schemes can do so by lowering the replacement rate and allowing topping up contracts. The strategy is likely to be a partial explanation for the continued political support for welfare states with universal social insurance schemes such as those in Scandinavia

Politics as Organized Combat: New Players and New Rules of the Game in Sweden

Stefan Svallfors takes Sweden as an example of how politics as organized combat has changed quite dramatically in the last couple of decades. Sweden is often cited as an opposite to the US among the rich capitalist countries, but it has experienced a number of rather deep policy changes which have not received the attention they deserve. He argues that there are a number of aspects that have recently changed Swedish organized politics in rather fundamental ways including the dismantling of corporatist arrangements, changes in the economic policy decision-making framework, increased income inequality, weakened political parties and changes in their social bases, decline of blue-collar union strength, growth of the policy professionals category, increased impact of multi-level politics, and the mediatization of politics. What this amounts to, he claims, is a very different form of elite-driven policy-making than the old corporatist structures. An amorphous and quite invisible but still highly elite-driven process has emerged, in which inequality has increased dramatically, and the impact of money on politics has become stronger even in Sweden. In his lecture, he discusses the implications of these developments for current politics and policy-making in Sweden

Politics as Organized Combat: New Players and New Rules of the Game in Sweden

As Hacker and Pierson (2010) have observed, politics is primarily organization: “organized combat.” To understand the outcomes of politics, we have to look at how it is organized over time: by whom and with what resources? I take Sweden as an example of how politics as organized combat has changed quite dramatically in recent decades. Sweden is often cited as an opposite to the United States among the rich capitalist countries, but it has experienced many encompassing policy changes which have not received the attention they deserve. The paper specifies how Swedish organized politics has changed fundamentally, including the dismantling of corporatist arrangements, changes in the economic policy decision-making framework, increased income inequality, weakened political parties and changes in their social bases, the decline of blue-collar union strength, the growth of the policy professionals category, the increased impact of multilevel politics, and the mediatization of politics. Today’s amorphous, invisible mode of elite-driven policy-making diverges greatly from the old corporatist structures and is accompanied by dramatically increasing inequality. Even in Sweden, the impact of money on politics has become stronger. The paper discusses what this implies for current politics and policy-making in Sweden.Hacker und Pierson (2010) definieren Politik in erster Linie als Kampf zwischen organisierten Interessen, als „organized combat“. Um Politikergebnisse zu verstehen, muss die organisatorische Struktur von Politik im Zeitverlauf betrachtet werden: Welche Akteure sind daran beteiligt und welche Ressourcen werden dafür eingesetzt? Am Beispiel von Schweden zeigt das Papier auf, wie drastisch sich Politik im Sinne des organized combat im Laufe der letzten Jahrzehnte verändert hat. Schweden wird unter den modernen Industriegesellschaften oft als Gegensatz zu den Vereinigten Staaten gesehen, hat aber viele einschneidende Politikwechsel erfahren, die bisher nicht ausreichend erforscht worden sind. Die Studie erläutert, wie grundsätzlich sich die organisierte Politik in Schweden verändert hat: Abbau korporatistischer Regelungen, veränderte Rahmenbedingungen für wirtschaftspolitische Entscheidungen, höhere Einkommensungleichheit, geschwächte politische Parteien und ihre veränderte Verankerung in der Gesellschaft, Rückgang gewerkschaftlichen Einflusses, Zuwachs an professionellen Lobbyorganisationen, größerer Einfluss der Mehrebenenpolitik und eine zunehmende Medialisierung. Die amorphe, undurchschaubare und elitengesteuerte Politik von heute unterscheidet sich in hohem Maße von den alten korporatistischen Strukturen und geht einher mit einer dramatisch zunehmenden Ungleichheit. Selbst in Schweden hat der monetäre Einfluss auf Politik zugenommen. Das Papier diskutiert die Auswirkungen dieser Entwicklungen sowohl auf die Tagespolitik als auch auf die politische Entscheidungsfindung in Schweden.1 Changing organized politics, changing Sweden 2 A new political order 3 Conclusion Reference