Repressive Welfare States: The Spiral of Obligations and Sanctions in Social Security

Abstract

This article discusses the trend of introducing increasingly strict obligations and sanctions for social security claimants in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. It is argued that this trend should be judged critically because it upsets the balance between rights and obligations for benefit claimants and may undermine the ‘elevating function’ of social security. Courts play an important role in maintaining the balance between rights and obligations. The article discusses recent case law in the three countries and also refers to a remarkable case at the Czech Constitutional Court of November 2012, which paves the way for a more fundamental approach to scrutinising repressive welfare state excesses.