Menno Fenger
Biographic Data
| ID | 4159710 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Menno Fenger |
| GIVEN NAMES | Menno |
| FAMILY NAME | Fenger |
| SIGNATURE | FENGER M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Erasmus University Rotterdam |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-7019-9452 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 36 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 105 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 33 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 3 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2000 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
The Ten Commandments of Engaging Vulnerable Citizens in Collaborative Innovation: A Systematic Review
Becoming an Interdisciplinary Discipline? An Analysis of the Development of the Policy Sciences, 1975–2020
The implosion of the Dutch surveillance welfare state
From the 1990s onwards, fraud detection has become an increasingly important focus in the design and implementation of a variety of welfare schemes, including unemployment benefits, social assistance benefits, pensions, and personal care budgets. This culminated in the 2014 Fraud Act, which introduced a system of high sanction in all cases of benefit fraud, even if they were causes by administrative errors. In 2020 a parliamentary investigation c…
Preparing for the future of work: Strategic responses to uncertainty in labour markets
The future of work is uncertain with various developments that are difficult to foresee. Despite this uncertainty, governments need to prepare the labour market for the future. This article identifies four types of government responses to uncertainty: robustness, resilience, agility, and anti-fragility. These policy responses are differentiated according to the intention and timing of governments' considerations of uncertainty. Document analysis …
Preparing for the future of work: Strategic responses to uncertainty in labour markets
The future of work is uncertain with various developments that are difficult to foresee. Despite this uncertainty, governments need to prepare the labour market for the future. This article identifies four types of government responses to uncertainty: robustness, resilience, agility, and anti-fragility. These policy responses are differentiated according to the intention and timing of governments' considerations of uncertainty. Document analysis …
Non-cognitive skills and immigrant-native inequalities in the labor market in Europe
Non-cognitive skills are increasingly essential in the labor market, especially given technological advances and evolving work environments. Unequal distribution of non-cognitive skills among various groups in the population may contribute to labor market inequalities. This article investigates the significance of non-cognitive skills for immigrant-native inequalities in the European labor market. Specifically, we examine the potential difference…
Conceptualizing new forms of volunteering in urban governance
This article argues that developments in the spheres of the state, the market, and the community have changed their boundaries, affecting volunteering in urban governance. Shifts in the division of tasks between the state and community have led to a new form of manufactured volunteering, while technological developments have made it easier to bridge trust gaps, resulting in platform volunteering. Moreover, business organizations pursuing public g…
The Public Value of Citizens’ Initiatives: Evidence from a Dutch Municipality
Active citizens who take initiative are generally regarded as desirable. However, the precise reasons why citizens’ initiatives are considered valuable and what their value consists of remain unclear, vague, and often unanswered. In this study, we used Q methodology to explore how civil servants, local politicians, and societal actors in a Dutch municipality view the public value of citizens’ initiatives. The analysis reveals four distinct views …
Stimulating civic behavior? The paradoxes of incentivising self-organization
Crowding theory has highlighted the unintended consequences that well-meant financial incentives can have on behaviour. Using field research, this study applies crowding theory to self-organising citizens’ initiatives in the Netherlands. Citizens’ initiatives create different kinds of goods and services and are sometimes supported by governmental ‘citizens’ initiatives stimulation funds’. We found that (1) the crowding effect is multifaceted; (2)…
Do local circumstances affect attitudes towards local social policies? Exploring the role of economic, political and demographic conditions
Purpose This article aims to explore whether and how economic, political and demographic municipal conditions shape citizens' attitudes regarding decentralised social policies. Design/methodology/approach The authors analysed the 2018 wave of the Dutch Local Election Studies, which includes a novel survey item asking respondents whether they prefer local social policies to be primarily: (1) protection-based, (2) cohesion-building or (3) activatio…
Principals or puppets? Analysing variation in local political parties’ social policy positions
The decentralisation of policy responsibilities from the national to the local level in the domain of social policies is meant to facilitate a better fit to local conditions, and, consequently, inspire local variation in social policy positions. This article examines two questions: (1) to what extent do Dutch local party branches’ social policy positions deviate from their national mother party and local peer parties and (2) do local conditions e…
Exclusivity of citizens’ initiatives: Fuel for collective action
Self-organized citizens’ initiatives are a form of collective action and contribute to society through the production of public goods and services. Traditional collective action theory predicts that such initiatives are near impossible because of the persistent problems of free-riding. Citizens’ initiatives however do exist and function properly, and their numbers seem to be increasing in countries such as the Netherlands. This article argues tha…
Spanish trade unions against labour market reforms: Strategic choices and outcomes
Trade unions are considered to be key political actors in the formation of welfare states. Their importance for the current fate of welfare states, however, has been disputed within academia. Aiming to contribute to this vast body of literature, this article analyses the participation of Spanish trade unions in labour market reforms since the restitution of democracy in Spain. The article analyses the strategic choices open to trade unions, parti…
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 expli…
Social Investment Risks? An explorative analysis of new social risks in the social investment state
Individual responsibilities and individual capabilities are becoming increasingly important in public policies of European welfare states. Therefore, it is said that European welfare states develop in the direction of social investment states. In this article we argue that the shift towards the social investment state may lead to new social risks and new inequalities. Building upon Bonoli’s (2005) seminal article, we introduce the concept of ‘soc…
Contested knowledge in Dutch climate change policy
In dealing with wicked problems, policymakers increasingly are confronted with three competing ‘knowledge claims’: the notion of evidence-based policy, alternative ‘commons knowledge’ created by citizens, and ‘fact-free’ politics. Consequently, the knowledge base for dealing with wicked problems is becoming increasingly contested. This paper analyses the ways in which these three competing knowledge claims interact, and the consequences of their …
Social Policy Review 28: Analysis and Debate in Social Policy, 2016
Drawing together a mix of internationally renowned contributors, Social Policy Review 28 provides an up-to-date and diverse review of the best in social policy scholarship. This book contains three parts. The first part focuses on the state of affairs in each of the pillars of the welfare state. It assesses to what extent the traditional ‘evil giants’ have been defeated, which new problems and unintended consequences have emerged and how this aff…
Social Policy Review 28: Analysis and debate in social policy, 2016
Social Policy Review 28: Analysis and Debate in Social Policy 2016
The Global Financial Crisis in Comparative Perspective: Have Policy Makers “Learnt Their Lessons”
Have policy makers “learnt their lesson” from the global financial crisis that began in 2007? This article addresses this question by examining the regulatory responses to the global financial crisis in the European Union, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Theoretically, the article is informed by an advocacy coalition approach to policy change and learning. Methodologically, it process-traces regulatory and supervisory changes in the selec…
De veerkrachtige arbeidsmarkt
The resilient labor market. An exploration across 29 countries This paper presents a novel way of conceptualizing and measuring the resilience of labor markets. While earlier accounts of resilience focus on explained variance and concentrate on economic circumstances, the analyses presented here starts from the premise that much can be learned about the adaptability of labor markets by focusing on the unexplained variance of empirical models. Bas…
Smart Policies or Sheer Luck? Labour Market Resilience in the Low Countries
This article explores the labour market resilience of B elgium and the N etherlands. We define labour market resilience as the capacity of labour markets to resist, withstand or quickly recover from negative exogenous shocks and disturbances and to renew, adjust or re‐orientate in order to benefit from positive shocks. This article focuses on the labour market consequences of the crisis in these two countries and discusses their policy responses.…
Policy innovations for including disabled people in the labour market: A study of innovative practices of D utch sheltered work companies
In its disability strategy, the E uropean U nion has expressed the central aim to improve the employment situation of people with disabilities. This article discusses D utch policies, but specifically the S heltered Work Act which contributes to this aim by regulating sheltered employment. The goal is to identify and explore innovative practices that have been applied by D utch sheltered work companies for increasing the inclusion of disabled peo…
The responsiveness of social policies. Explaining institutional change in three policy domains
This article analyses and explains the responsiveness of social policies by comparing the impact of institutional logics, public preferences and external conditions on the evolution of three social policy domains in the Netherlands. It focuses on the institutional development of the policy domains of social assistance, labour market regulation and sheltered work over the last 15 years. The article integrates exogenous and endogenous explanations …
Introduction: ‘New’ Welfare in Practice: Trends, Challenges and Dilemmas
European welfare states have a tradition of compensating for social risks. But across Europe, remarkable transformations may be observed that shift the focus from a needs/rights based compensatory approach towards a more individualistic ‘social risk management’ approach to welfare (see Schmid, 2006; Abrahamson, 2010). The basic idea of social risk management is that citizens have their own responsibility for preventing social risks. The ‘new’ wel…
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 expli…
Interdependency, beliefs, and coalition behavior: A contribution to the advocacy coalition framework
The responsiveness of social policies. Explaining institutional change in three policy domains
This article analyses and explains the responsiveness of social policies by comparing the impact of institutional logics, public preferences and external conditions on the evolution of three social policy domains in the Netherlands. It focuses on the institutional development of the policy domains of social assistance, labour market regulation and sheltered work over the last 15 years. The article integrates exogenous and endogenous explanations …
Social Investment, Protection and Inequality within the New Economy and Politics of Welfare in Europe
The welfare state is one of the hallmarks of a civilised society. All developed countries have them and the less developed ones are striving to establish their own. Welfare states depend on a fair collection and redistribution of resources, which in turn rests upon the maintenance of trust between different sections of society and across generations. Misleading rhetoric concerning those who have to seek support from the welfare state, such as the…
The implosion of the Dutch surveillance welfare state
From the 1990s onwards, fraud detection has become an increasingly important focus in the design and implementation of a variety of welfare schemes, including unemployment benefits, social assistance benefits, pensions, and personal care budgets. This culminated in the 2014 Fraud Act, which introduced a system of high sanction in all cases of benefit fraud, even if they were causes by administrative errors. In 2020 a parliamentary investigation c…
The Global Financial Crisis in Comparative Perspective: Have Policy Makers “Learnt Their Lessons”
Have policy makers “learnt their lesson” from the global financial crisis that began in 2007? This article addresses this question by examining the regulatory responses to the global financial crisis in the European Union, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Theoretically, the article is informed by an advocacy coalition approach to policy change and learning. Methodologically, it process-traces regulatory and supervisory changes in the selec…
Principals or puppets? Analysing variation in local political parties’ social policy positions
The decentralisation of policy responsibilities from the national to the local level in the domain of social policies is meant to facilitate a better fit to local conditions, and, consequently, inspire local variation in social policy positions. This article examines two questions: (1) to what extent do Dutch local party branches’ social policy positions deviate from their national mother party and local peer parties and (2) do local conditions e…
Challenging Solidarity? An Analysis of Exit Options in Social Policies
Processes of adverse selection are generally considered as challenges to the viability of the solidarity that has been institutionalized in insurance schemes in the social domain. This article analyses to what extent the introduction of free choice in social policies might trigger processes of adverse selection in modern welfare states. Free choice not only concerns the choice between different providers or different types of services, but also c…
Stimulating civic behavior? The paradoxes of incentivising self-organization
Crowding theory has highlighted the unintended consequences that well-meant financial incentives can have on behaviour. Using field research, this study applies crowding theory to self-organising citizens’ initiatives in the Netherlands. Citizens’ initiatives create different kinds of goods and services and are sometimes supported by governmental ‘citizens’ initiatives stimulation funds’. We found that (1) the crowding effect is multifaceted; (2)…
Non-cognitive skills and immigrant-native inequalities in the labor market in Europe
Non-cognitive skills are increasingly essential in the labor market, especially given technological advances and evolving work environments. Unequal distribution of non-cognitive skills among various groups in the population may contribute to labor market inequalities. This article investigates the significance of non-cognitive skills for immigrant-native inequalities in the European labor market. Specifically, we examine the potential difference…
Conceptualizing new forms of volunteering in urban governance
This article argues that developments in the spheres of the state, the market, and the community have changed their boundaries, affecting volunteering in urban governance. Shifts in the division of tasks between the state and community have led to a new form of manufactured volunteering, while technological developments have made it easier to bridge trust gaps, resulting in platform volunteering. Moreover, business organizations pursuing public g…
Exclusivity of citizens’ initiatives: Fuel for collective action
Self-organized citizens’ initiatives are a form of collective action and contribute to society through the production of public goods and services. Traditional collective action theory predicts that such initiatives are near impossible because of the persistent problems of free-riding. Citizens’ initiatives however do exist and function properly, and their numbers seem to be increasing in countries such as the Netherlands. This article argues tha…
Contested knowledge in Dutch climate change policy
In dealing with wicked problems, policymakers increasingly are confronted with three competing ‘knowledge claims’: the notion of evidence-based policy, alternative ‘commons knowledge’ created by citizens, and ‘fact-free’ politics. Consequently, the knowledge base for dealing with wicked problems is becoming increasingly contested. This paper analyses the ways in which these three competing knowledge claims interact, and the consequences of their …
Smart Policies or Sheer Luck? Labour Market Resilience in the Low Countries
This article explores the labour market resilience of B elgium and the N etherlands. We define labour market resilience as the capacity of labour markets to resist, withstand or quickly recover from negative exogenous shocks and disturbances and to renew, adjust or re‐orientate in order to benefit from positive shocks. This article focuses on the labour market consequences of the crisis in these two countries and discusses their policy responses.…
Policy innovations for including disabled people in the labour market: A study of innovative practices of D utch sheltered work companies
In its disability strategy, the E uropean U nion has expressed the central aim to improve the employment situation of people with disabilities. This article discusses D utch policies, but specifically the S heltered Work Act which contributes to this aim by regulating sheltered employment. The goal is to identify and explore innovative practices that have been applied by D utch sheltered work companies for increasing the inclusion of disabled peo…
Introduction: ‘New’ Welfare in Practice: Trends, Challenges and Dilemmas
European welfare states have a tradition of compensating for social risks. But across Europe, remarkable transformations may be observed that shift the focus from a needs/rights based compensatory approach towards a more individualistic ‘social risk management’ approach to welfare (see Schmid, 2006; Abrahamson, 2010). The basic idea of social risk management is that citizens have their own responsibility for preventing social risks. The ‘new’ wel…
Complex causality in improving underperforming schools: A Complex Adaptive Systems Approach
When designing and implementing policies, policy makers usually assume linear, proportionate causation between interventions and consequences. Yet frequently unexpected consequences occur that seem unintended and disproportionate. This article argues that interventions are more appropriately understood as loops, not lines. System dynamics shows that causes and consequences interact in circular patterns, creating unexpected outcomes and self-reinf…
The expansion of Christianity
In the course of the fourth and fifth centuries, Roman Christianity experienced some divisive arguments, which, even if of small importance when compared with the conflicts raging in the eastern churches, nevertheless allowed certain minorities – such as Manichaeans, Arians and Novatians – to maintain a presence in the city. As early as the mid-fourth century, even before Christianity became the only religion upheld by the state, the bishop of Ro…
Interdependency, beliefs, and coalition behavior: A contribution to the advocacy coalition framework
Administering welfare reform: International transformations in welfare governance
Administering welfare reformInternational transformations in welfare governance: International Transformations in Welfare Governance
While reforms of welfare policies have been widely analysed, the reform of welfare administration has received far less attention. Using empirical case studies, this book provides significant new insights into the way welfare administration is being internationally transformed. Particular attention is given to the effect on welfare clients, staff and agencies. “Administering welfare reform” presents a critical analysis of governance practices in …
Promoting or Preventing Reforms: Trade Unions and Social Policy Reforms in Central and Eastern Europe
In the dominant perspective on trade unions, stronger trade unions are supposed to lead to higher wages and less extensive welfare reforms. This article focuses on the role of trade unions in the processes of welfare reform in Central and Eastern European countries in the last decade, and aims to assess the extent to which this role is comparable to that of trade unions in Western countries. The article analyses key characteristics of trade union…
Challenging Solidarity? An Analysis of Exit Options in Social Policies
Processes of adverse selection are generally considered as challenges to the viability of the solidarity that has been institutionalized in insurance schemes in the social domain. This article analyses to what extent the introduction of free choice in social policies might trigger processes of adverse selection in modern welfare states. Free choice not only concerns the choice between different providers or different types of services, but also c…
Individualisation and the Delivery of Welfare Services: Contestation and Complexity
Introduction: ‘New’ Welfare in Practice: Trends, Challenges and Dilemmas
European welfare states have a tradition of compensating for social risks. But across Europe, remarkable transformations may be observed that shift the focus from a needs/rights based compensatory approach towards a more individualistic ‘social risk management’ approach to welfare (see Schmid, 2006; Abrahamson, 2010). The basic idea of social risk management is that citizens have their own responsibility for preventing social risks. The ‘new’ wel…
Social Investment, Protection and Inequality within the New Economy and Politics of Welfare in Europe
The welfare state is one of the hallmarks of a civilised society. All developed countries have them and the less developed ones are striving to establish their own. Welfare states depend on a fair collection and redistribution of resources, which in turn rests upon the maintenance of trust between different sections of society and across generations. Misleading rhetoric concerning those who have to seek support from the welfare state, such as the…
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New Welfare in Health Insurances? Trends in Risk-Coverage and Self-Responsibility in Four European Countries
In the current economic and financial crisis, many European governments are debating cuts in healthcare costs. These debates, on the one hand, have a financial perspective, with cutting healthcare costs the highest ambition. On the other hand, they also have a moral perspective, for example when dealing with the coverage of lifestyle related health risks like binge drinking or smoking. Increasingly, the ideas of ‘positive’ or ‘new’ welfare are in…
Complex causality in improving underperforming schools: A Complex Adaptive Systems Approach
When designing and implementing policies, policy makers usually assume linear, proportionate causation between interventions and consequences. Yet frequently unexpected consequences occur that seem unintended and disproportionate. This article argues that interventions are more appropriately understood as loops, not lines. System dynamics shows that causes and consequences interact in circular patterns, creating unexpected outcomes and self-reinf…
De veerkrachtige arbeidsmarkt
The resilient labor market. An exploration across 29 countries This paper presents a novel way of conceptualizing and measuring the resilience of labor markets. While earlier accounts of resilience focus on explained variance and concentrate on economic circumstances, the analyses presented here starts from the premise that much can be learned about the adaptability of labor markets by focusing on the unexplained variance of empirical models. Bas…
Smart Policies or Sheer Luck? Labour Market Resilience in the Low Countries
This article explores the labour market resilience of B elgium and the N etherlands. We define labour market resilience as the capacity of labour markets to resist, withstand or quickly recover from negative exogenous shocks and disturbances and to renew, adjust or re‐orientate in order to benefit from positive shocks. This article focuses on the labour market consequences of the crisis in these two countries and discusses their policy responses.…
Policy innovations for including disabled people in the labour market: A study of innovative practices of D utch sheltered work companies
In its disability strategy, the E uropean U nion has expressed the central aim to improve the employment situation of people with disabilities. This article discusses D utch policies, but specifically the S heltered Work Act which contributes to this aim by regulating sheltered employment. The goal is to identify and explore innovative practices that have been applied by D utch sheltered work companies for increasing the inclusion of disabled peo…
The responsiveness of social policies. Explaining institutional change in three policy domains
This article analyses and explains the responsiveness of social policies by comparing the impact of institutional logics, public preferences and external conditions on the evolution of three social policy domains in the Netherlands. It focuses on the institutional development of the policy domains of social assistance, labour market regulation and sheltered work over the last 15 years. The article integrates exogenous and endogenous explanations …
The Global Financial Crisis in Comparative Perspective: Have Policy Makers “Learnt Their Lessons”
Have policy makers “learnt their lesson” from the global financial crisis that began in 2007? This article addresses this question by examining the regulatory responses to the global financial crisis in the European Union, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Theoretically, the article is informed by an advocacy coalition approach to policy change and learning. Methodologically, it process-traces regulatory and supervisory changes in the selec…
Social Policy Review 28: Analysis and Debate in Social Policy, 2016
Drawing together a mix of internationally renowned contributors, Social Policy Review 28 provides an up-to-date and diverse review of the best in social policy scholarship. This book contains three parts. The first part focuses on the state of affairs in each of the pillars of the welfare state. It assesses to what extent the traditional ‘evil giants’ have been defeated, which new problems and unintended consequences have emerged and how this aff…
Social Policy Review 28: Analysis and debate in social policy, 2016
Social Policy Review 28: Analysis and Debate in Social Policy 2016
Social Investment Risks? An explorative analysis of new social risks in the social investment state
Individual responsibilities and individual capabilities are becoming increasingly important in public policies of European welfare states. Therefore, it is said that European welfare states develop in the direction of social investment states. In this article we argue that the shift towards the social investment state may lead to new social risks and new inequalities. Building upon Bonoli’s (2005) seminal article, we introduce the concept of ‘soc…
Contested knowledge in Dutch climate change policy
In dealing with wicked problems, policymakers increasingly are confronted with three competing ‘knowledge claims’: the notion of evidence-based policy, alternative ‘commons knowledge’ created by citizens, and ‘fact-free’ politics. Consequently, the knowledge base for dealing with wicked problems is becoming increasingly contested. This paper analyses the ways in which these three competing knowledge claims interact, and the consequences of their …
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 expli…
Spanish trade unions against labour market reforms: Strategic choices and outcomes
Trade unions are considered to be key political actors in the formation of welfare states. Their importance for the current fate of welfare states, however, has been disputed within academia. Aiming to contribute to this vast body of literature, this article analyses the participation of Spanish trade unions in labour market reforms since the restitution of democracy in Spain. The article analyses the strategic choices open to trade unions, parti…
Exclusivity of citizens’ initiatives: Fuel for collective action
Self-organized citizens’ initiatives are a form of collective action and contribute to society through the production of public goods and services. Traditional collective action theory predicts that such initiatives are near impossible because of the persistent problems of free-riding. Citizens’ initiatives however do exist and function properly, and their numbers seem to be increasing in countries such as the Netherlands. This article argues tha…
Political science (26 works) · Economics (21 works) · Law (19 works) · Social Policy and Reform Studies (19 works) · Law (15 works) · Sociology (15 works) · Business (14 works) · Welfare (14 works) · Politics (12 works) · Public economics (11 works)