Welfare States with Work: Government Partisanship and Policy Responsiveness in the Netherlands

Abstract

AbstractExisting studies of welfare regime generally consider that Christian democratic countries would face severe challenges in the transition to service economy due to its conservative cling to social insurance, breadwinner‐oriented employment, and familialism. In this article, I explain how Christian democratic countries overcame these challenges by focusing on the concept of policy responsiveness. I argue that Christian democratic parties could shift from labor shedding to employment‐friendly policies in transition by implementing a series of policies targeting the preference of unemployed workers. The historical root as the cross‐class coalition party makes it politically feasible and less costly for Christian democratic parties to focus on unemployed workers' interests at the possible expense of labor market insider's interests. To substantiate my argument, I investigate the policy trajectory in the Netherlands, a country that achieved the most prominent employment expansion in Christian Democratic regime.Related ArticlesDekker, Fabian. 2010. “Self‐Employed without Employees: Managing Risks in Modern Capitalism.” Politics & Policy 38 (4): 765‐788. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2010.00257.xFlavin, Patrick, Alexander C. Pacek, and Benjamin Radcliff. 2011. “State Intervention and Subjective Well‐Being in Advanced Industrial Democracies.” Politics & Policy 29 (2): 251‐269. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2011.00290.xWagle, Udaya R. 2014. “The Heterogeneity Politics of the Welfare State: Changing Population Heterogeneity and Welfare State Policies in High‐Income OECD Countries, 1980‐2005.” Politics & Policy 41 (6): 947‐984. https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12053