Resisting austerity measures to social policies
Multiple explanatory case studies
Bibliographic Data
Since Margaret Thatcher reached power in the United Kingdom, European governments have increasingly turned to neoliberal forms of policy-making, focusing, especially after the 2008 Great Recession on ‘austerity policies’ rather than investing in social protection policies. We applied a multiple explanatory case studies methodology to examine how and why challenges and resistance to these austerity measures are successful or not in four settings for three different social policy issues: using a gender lens in state budgeting in Andalusia (Spain), maintaining unemployment benefits in Italy and cuts to fuel poverty reduction programs in Northern Ireland and England. In particular, we intended to learn about whether resistance strategies are shared across disparate cases or whether there are unique activities that lead to successful resistance to austerity policies. As our approach drew from realist philosophy of science, we started with initial theories concerning collective action, political ideology and political power of affected populations. Our findings suggest that there are similarities between the cases we studied despite differences in political and policy contexts. We found that joint action between advocacy groups was effective in resisting cuts to social spending. Evidence also indicates that the social construction of target populations is important in resisting changes to social programmes. This was observed in both England and Northern Ireland where pensioners held significant political clout.
Austerity · Collective action · Development economics · Economic growth · Economics · Explanatory power · Ideology · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Recession · Resistance (ecology) · Social policy · Sociology · Unemployment · Employment and Welfare Studies · Health disparities and outcomes · Law · Social Policy and Reform Studies
Handbook of Social Psychology
Elections and Voters
Left and Right in Global Politics
The Silent Revolution
Greece's health crisis
Financial crisis, austerity, and health in Europe
Income Inequality, Social Cohesion, and Class Relations
The public health effect of economic crises and alternative policy responses in Europe
Using case studies in research
The Politics of Public Health Policy
Managing the margins
Austerity
Agendas, alternatives, and public policies
The Democratic Class Struggle
Social Movements and Protest
Networking Futures
The Possibility of Naturalism
Chavs - The Demonization of the Working Class
Work and Time Use By Gender
How to Resist Austerity
Policy making and collective action
Social Construction of Target Populations
Social Democracy, Christian Democracy, Constitutional Structure, and the Welfare State
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,5 |
| Citation span | 2024 - 2026 (3) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |