Why are they doing it? Social democracy and market-oriented welfare state reforms
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6406071 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Michael Baggesen Klitgaard (0000-0001-6561-8774, University of Southern Denmark, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2007 |
| Volume | 30 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 172-194 |
| Publication date | 2007-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | West European Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0140-2382 • E-ISSN: 1743-9655 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/01402380601019753 |
| OpenAlex | W2118353757 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 51 |
| References cited | 48 |
Comparative research emphasises social democratic parties as leading political forces when universal welfare states are reformed in accordance with market-oriented principles. This is surprising considering the many portrayals of universal welfare states as an institutional feature, which favours the social democrats in political terms. Thus, this article raises a question contemporary research so far has left unanswered: why are they doing it? This question is answered through comparisons of reforms in labour market policy and primary school policy in Sweden and Denmark since the late 1980s, and the theoretical argument is as follows: social democratic governments decide upon reforms when the party elite perceive policy problems as a threat to the legitimacy of the universal welfare state. Political institutions, i.e. welfare policies, functioning as power resources, need to be legitimate otherwise they may work against basic political interests. This argument emphasises strategic and intentional actors as well as institutional politics as explanatory variables and is, with some modifications, empirically supported
Argument (complex analysis · Democracy · Economic system · Economics · Elite · Legitimacy · Market economy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Social policy · Sociology · State (computer science · Welfare · Welfare state · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Labor Movements and Unions · Law · Social Policy and Reform Studies
A Social Democratic Response to Market-Led Education Policies
Teachers Unions in the Nordic Countries
Towards a New Swedish Model?
How the Radical Right Has Changed Capitalism and Welfare in Europe and the USA
The Electoral Consequences of Third Way Welfare State Reforms
The Electoral Consequences of Third Way Welfare State Reforms
Paradoxes of Hegemony
Paradoxical outsourcing? – outsourcing in left-leaning municipalities
Running out of road? Dilemmas and issues for the British Labour Party and the Swedish Social Democratic Party in their search for a ‘modern’ welfare state narrative
New public management as a global education policy
Social Policy Attitudes in the UK
Increasing school autonomy in Western Europe
The Transition to ‘New’ Social Democracy
What are the Policy Lessons from Sweden? On the Rise, Fall and Revival of a Capitalist Welfare State
Push, ignore or surrender? Party responses to the ideational momentum of foreign events
The importance of socio-economic and political losses and gains in welfare state reform
Jørn Henrik Petersen and the origins of the third way
Neo-liberalism and universal state education
Winning the war by losing the battle? The marketization of the expanding preschool sector in Sweden
Do they matter in education politics? The influence of political parties and teacher unions on school governance reforms in Spain
Educación inclusiva y nueva gestión pública en las políticas de liderazgo escolar en Chile
Nordic Employment Policies – Change and Continuity Before and During the Financial Crisis
Partisan Effects on Welfare State Retrenchment
Root and Branch Restructuring to Achieve Major Cuts
The new privatized market
An odd couple
Signalling a change of heart? How parties’ short-term ideological shifts explain welfare state reform
The Politics of Welfare State Reform in the Netherlands
The Relationship Between Perceptions of Social Service Quality and Subjective Well‐Being
The Politics of Labor Market Reform in Coordinated Welfare Capitalism
Marx’ or the Market? Intra-party Power and Social Democratic Welfare State Retrenchment
Liberalization without Retrenchment
Do Welfare State Regimes Determine Public Sector Reforms? Choice Reforms in American, Swedish and German Schools
The Politics of Competitive Tendering
Behind the Veil of Vagueness
Policy or institution? The political choice of retrenchment strategy
Precarious work and challenger parties
Globalization and the Welfare State
A New Wave of Social Democracy? Policy Change across the Social Democratic Party Family, 1970s–2010s
School Vouchers and the New Politics of the Welfare State
Making markets with active labor market policies
What wins public support? Communicating or obfuscating welfare state retrenchment
Will to power? Intra-party conflict in social democratic parties and the choice for neoliberal policies in Germany, the Netherlands and Spain (1980–2010)
Structural stress or deliberate decision? Government partisanship and the disempowerment of unions in Denmark
Inequality, marketisation and the left
Subverted expectations and social democratic austerity
La trayectoria de una reforma educativa global
Nueva gestión pública y educación
Advancing Universalism in Neoliberal Times? Basic Income, Workfare and the Politics of Conditionality
A Comparative Political Economy of Rural Capitalism
The Illusion of Class in Welfare State Politics
Trust and governance
'A Dutch Miracle'
Institutions and Social Conflict
Culture Shift in Advanced Industrial Society
Politics against Markets
Political Institutions
Labor-market institutions and working-class strength
Democracy, Bureaucracy and Public Choice
Negotiated Policy Change
Partisan Competition and Welfare State Retrenchment
Social Democracy and Welfare Capitalism
Dismantling the Welfare State?
Consent, Dissent, and Patriotism
Sweden and Denmark Defending the Welfare State
Public Policy and Political Ideas
Just institutions matter
The New Politics of the Welfare State
Just Institutions Matter
Work and citizenship
Coping With Permanent Austerity Welfare State Restructuring in Affluent Democracies
Coping with Permanent Austerity
The Democratic Class Struggle
Capitalism and Social Democracy
How do welfare states change? Institutions and their impact on the politics of welfare state reform in Western Europe
On ‘Politics, Markets, and American Schools‘
Renewal of the Public Sector in Sweden
The ‘Swedish model’ and public sector reform
New Public Management Reforms of the Danish and Swedish Welfare States
Welfare-State Retrenchment Revisited
The New Politics of the Welfare State
Theories and Values of Local Government
Legitimacy, Institutional Change, and the Politics of Public Administration in Sweden
Beyond Left and Right
A Prescription Rejected
From Safety Net To Trampoline
Welfare-state Retrenchment in Denmark and the Netherlands, 1982-1998
The Politics of Retrenchment in a Social Democratic Welfare State
Political Trust and Trustworthiness
Issue Ownership in Presidential Elections, with a 1980 Case Study
Political Partisanship and Welfare State Reform in Advanced Industrial Societies
The quality of government
The Possibility Principle
| Unique citing works | 51 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2,68 |
| Citation span | 2007 - 2025 (19) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 51 |