The Age of Austerity
Contesting the Ethical Basis and Financial Sustainability of Welfare Reform in Europe
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12736769 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Daniel Edmiston (0000-0001-8715-654X, University of Leeds, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2014 |
| Volume | 22 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 118-131 |
| Publication date | 2014-04-03 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Contemporary European Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1478-2790 • E-ISSN: 1478-2804 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/14782804.2014.910179 |
| OpenAlex | W1986995944 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 29 |
This paper examines the policy of austerity in three European welfare regimes with differing levels of social spending and fiscal balance: Italy; Sweden; and the UK. In spite of significant material differences between the three countries, the paper begins by illustrating that there is ultimately convergence in their responses to the economic crisis. These welfare regimes have justified the terms of austerity by suggesting that economic and welfare reforms address questions of ‘need’, ‘fairness’ and ‘sustainability’. Contrary to dominant political and policy rationale, the paper demonstrates that austerity measures in each country fail to meet policy objectives given their own conceptions of social and distributive justice. The three welfare regimes lack cogent strategies to safeguard their financial sustainability and this results in a neo-liberal paradigm that compromises the ethical and internal coherence of austerity
Austerity · Economic policy · Economics · Market economy · Political science · Politics · Sustainability · Welfare · Employment and Welfare Studies · Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism · Law · Social Policy and Reform Studies
Justice as Fairness
Growth Forecast Errors and Fiscal Multipliers
The Aftermath of Financial Crises
Contingent Convergence
Neoliberal Globalization and the Crisis of Swedish Social Democracy
The Theory and Practice of Autonomy
Sweden
Why Sufficiency Is Not Enough
Development as Freedom
Varieties of crisis, varieties of austerity
The scalar dimension of welfare state development
Lone Parents and Welfare-to-work Conditionality
The Rising Public Debt in the EU
Unemployment and economic security for young adults in F inland, N orway and S weden
Irresponsible citizens? New Labour, citizenship and the case of non-payment of local taxation
Falling Back on Old Habits? A Comparison of the Social and Unemployment Crisis Reactive Policy Strategies in Germany, the UK and Sweden
Justice as Fairness
The Theory and Practice of Autonomy
A Theory of Human Need
The Impact of Social Structure on Economic Outcomes
Creeping Conditionality in the UK
Selective Flexicurity' in Segmented Labour Markets
| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,4 |
| Citation span | 2016 - 2025 (10) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |