Blame Avoidance and Credit Claiming Revisited

Abstract

This chapter deals with some developments observed in European social polices over the last fifteen years that are not explained by prevailing theories of social policymaking. These can be considered as ‘anomalies’ and include the expansion of new policies (childcare, active labour market policy) and the adoption of radical reforms in the field of old age pensions. In order to account for these developments, the chapter proposes a new reading of the twin notion of ‘blame avoidance’ and ‘credit claiming’ that allows us to make sense of the observed developments. It highlights the importance of the visibility of reform and introduces the notion of affordable credit claiming as an objective that is not incompatible with a climate of permanent austerity, but that can be fulfilled only within given policy fields.