Social Democratic Government Research Articles

Universities need leadership, academics need management: discursive tensions and voids in the deregulation of Swedish higher education legislation

In this article, we discuss how ‘managerialist’ and ‘leaderist’ discourses (O’Reilly and Reed Public Administration 88:960–978, 2010; Organization Studies 32:1079–1101, 2011) are drawn upon in the context of the deregulation of Swedish higher education. As of 2011, there has been new legislation that frames Swedish universities as ‘autonomous’ and transfers most of the regulative responsibilities from the government level to university vice-chancellors. The aim of this article is to inquire into how tensions within and between managerialist and leaderist discourse are handled in the promotion of New Public Management reforms and the consequences thereof in terms of how leadership in the higher education sector is constructed. We analyse how these discourses are employed in the core documents leading up to the 2010 Riksdag decision to enact most of the proposed deregulations, and the subsequent evaluation undertaken by the social democratic government that took over in 2014. Based in this analysis, we suggest that the texts indeed draw upon notions of leadership and leaders as necessary for Swedish universities to survive and thrive in the future, but that the envisaged practise of this ‘strong leadership’ can either be characterised as a discursive void or described in terms of de-personalised, instrumental managerial surveillance and control.

The growing disconnect between food prices and wages in Europe: cross-national analysis of food deprivation and welfare regimes in twenty-one EU countries, 2004-2012.

Food insecurity has been rising across Europe following the Great Recession, but to varying degrees across countries and over time. The reasons for this increase are not well understood, nor are what factors might protect people's access to food. Here we test the hypothesis that an emerging gap between food prices and wages can explain increases in reported inability to afford protein-rich foods and whether welfare regimes can mitigate its impact. We collected data in twenty-one countries from 2004 to 2012 using two databases: (i) on food prices and deprivation related to food (denoted by reported inability to afford to eat meat, chicken, fish or a vegetarian equivalent every second day) from EuroStat 2015 edition; and (ii) on wages from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 2015 edition. After adjusting for macroeconomic factors, we found that each 1 % rise in the price of food over and above wages was associated with greater self-reported food deprivation (β=0·060, 95 % CI 0·030, 0·090), particularly among impoverished groups. However, this association also varied across welfare regimes. In Eastern European welfare regimes, a 1 % rise in the price of food over wages was associated with a 0·076 percentage point rise in food deprivation (95 % CI 0·047, 0·105) while in Social Democratic welfare regimes we found no clear association (P=0·864). Rising prices of food coupled with stagnating wages are a major factor driving food deprivation, especially in deprived groups; however, our evidence indicates that more generous welfare systems can mitigate this impact.

Private health insurance in Sweden: Fast-track lanes and the alleged attempts to stop them

According to the Health and Medical Services Act (1982:763), those who have the greatest need for healthcare shall be given priority. This is being challenged by the rapid emergence of private health insurance which increases the share of private funding and creates fast-track lanes where some people get faster access to healthcare than others. The Stop Law, implemented by a Social Democratic government in 2006, was generally regarded as a way to put an end to the fast-track lanes in Swedish healthcare. Based on a thorough examination of the law and its legislative history – official reports, propositions, comments on official reports – this article argues that the Stop Law was so full of exceptions and loopholes that it did not threaten the existence of fast-track lanes. The same goes for a similar Social Democratic proposal from 2016, which is also examined in the article. Further, the article analyses centre-right wing positions on fast-track lanes in Swedish healthcare. In summary, it is argued that politicians of all stripes have allowed the development to proceed in spite of unanimous support for the idea that Swedish healthcare shall be provided to all on equal terms.

Receipt of Formal and Informal Help with Specific Care Tasks among Older People Living in their Own Home. National Trends over Two Decades

AbstractSweden is seen as a typical example of a social democratic welfare regime, with universal and generous welfare policies. However, in the last decades, there have been substantial reductions in the Swedish provision of care for older people. This study aimed to examine trends in sources of care‐receipt in older people (77+) living in their own home and with a perceived need for help with two specific tasks: house cleaning and/or food shopping. Trends in care‐receipt were examined in relation to gender, living alone, having children and socio‐economic position. Data from the 1992, 2002 and 2011 data collection waves of the national study, Swedish Panel Study of Living Conditions of the Oldest Old (SWEOLD), were used. Response rates varied between 86 and 95 per cent, and the sample represents the population well. Trends and differences between groups were explored in bivariate and logistic regression analyses. There was a reduction in formal care‐receipt regarding house cleaning and food shopping over the study period. It was more common for women than men to receive formal care, and more common for men than women to receive informal care. Reductions in formal care have affected older women more than older men. Still, living alone was the most influential factor in care‐receipt, associated with a greater likelihood of formal care‐receipt and a lower likelihood of informal care‐receipt. It can be concluded that public responsibility for care is becoming more narrowly defined in Sweden, and that more responsibility for care is placed on persons in need of care and their families.

New public housing: a selective model disguised as universal? Implications of the market adaptation of Swedish public housing

Building upon the universal characteristics of the social democratic welfare regime, public housing in Sweden has traditionally been a central instrument in contributing to socially inclusive cities; however, changes in policy have gradually changed the landscape. This paper presents concerns for public housing's endeavour for social inclusion and suggests that the universal approach, of which Swedish public housing is a standing role model, is diminishing in favour of an ambiguous model of universal discourse and selective output. A ‘New Public Housing’ is emerging with higher thresholds, making it harder for economically disadvantaged groups to gain access to housing; at the same time, this is compensated by the increase of ‘social contracts’, which provides the financially vulnerable with an entrance to the housing market, however on very uncertain conditions. Increasingly catering for the most well off and the most vulnerable in society, this New Public Housing appears to exist in a contradictory state between its claims of universalism and the practice of excluding certain groups.

Euroscepticism and the ‘Missing Left’: The Slovak Case Study

The nature of Euroscepticism in Slovakia has changed notably since 2014. Objections to the European Commission’s refugee quotas that first occurred in 2015 have far more traction with voters than earlier Eurosceptic arguments, and less emphasis is now placed on the positive role of EU funds. The Visegrad Four states have collaborated closely in their responses to the refugee crisis, but the Slovak case study is particularly revealing because opposition to immigrants is led by an allegedly social democratic government that supports EU membership. It is questionable whether its securitisation of the refugee crisis and the portrayal of Muslims as terrorists is the result of Islamophobia or indicative of a general hostility to immigration that could be construed as representing a problematic form of Euroscepticism. These attitudes stem less from the rise of far-right and overtly Eurosceptic parties and more from the lack of a political left. The fact that left-wing value orientations are weak can be demonstrated by surveys of voter and party views in Slovakia. Revisiting the idea that the main axes of party competition differ in Central and Eastern Europe and in Western Europe, post-communist states may have the potential to disrupt the pact between the mainstream right and left which underpins the entire European integration project.

Pięć lat europejskich aspiracji Islandii – od wniosku o członkostwo do zawieszenia procesu akcesyjnego

In view of the consequences of the crisis that erupted in Iceland in early October 2008, the most effective solution – according to the new social democratic government elected in 2009 – leading to economic recovery, had become the membership in the European Union. The article analyzes the causes of Reykjavik’s interest in accession, the strengths and weaknesses of the Iceland’s candidacy (including comparison with the other candidate countries and potential candidates) as well as the reasons for which the accession process was firstly suspended and then – terminated. An attempt to summarize the Iceland’s integration with the EU was madeprimarily on the basis of the legal and institutional framework, which sets out the accession procedure, the level of the existing cooperation between Iceland and the EU and the actions taken by them since 2009.

New Ways of Doing the ‘Good’ and Gender Equal Family: Parents Employing Nannies and Au Pairs in Sweden

The last decade, Nordic families have started to employ nannies and au pairs to an extent previously never experienced. Political initiatives such as tax deductions for household services, together with global trends of ‘care chains’, have created a private market for care services, which have made it possible for families to hire cheap female, and often migrant, care labour. In the case of Sweden, this is an indication of a re-familializing trend in politics of care and family; a move away from a social democratic welfare regime, towards the privatized and marketized care/family solutions of other Western countries. This qualitative study of Swedish families who hire nannies/au pairs shows how the dual earner/dual carer ideal is being replaced by a dual earner/privately outsourced care ideal, a shift that requires particular forms of accounting for their practices on the part of the parents, related to the discourse of gender equality as well as narratives of what is ‘best for children’. This, we argue, indicates that gender equality and ‘good care’ for children is increasingly becoming a class privilege.

Vienna's path to sustainable transport

ABSTRACTVienna, Austria reduced the car share of trips by a third between 1993 and 2014: from 40% to 27%. The key to Vienna's success has been a coordinated package of mutually reinforcing transport and land-use policies that have made car use slower, less convenient, and more costly, while improving conditions for walking, cycling, and public transport. During 32 in-person interviews in Vienna in May 2015, a wide range of politicians, transport planners, and academics almost unanimously identified the expansion of the U-Bahn (metro) and parking management as the most important policies accounting for the reduction in car mode share since 1993. Implementation of sustainable transport policies in Vienna has been a long-term, multi-staged process requiring compromises, political deals, and coalition-building among political parties and groups of stakeholders. This consensual approach to policy development has been time-consuming. Vienna has not been the first city to introduce any particular policy, but it has masterfully adopted successful policies from other cities. The continuity of social democratic governments in Vienna since 1945 has provided a crucial political basis for long-term implementation. The Greens have vigorously pushed for accelerating implementation of sustainable transport policies since becoming part of the ruling coalition government in 2010. The progressive political environment in Vienna has been essential to its increasingly sustainable transport system. Other major cities in Western Europe have also reduced the share of trips by car since 1990. Together with Vienna, they provide useful lessons for other cities throughout the world on how to reduce car dependence.

How Labour Made Neoliberalism

Critical explanations of neoliberalism regularly adhere to a dominant narrative as to the form and implementation of the neoliberal policy revolution, positing neoliberalism in its vanguard period as a project implemented by governments of the New Right, imposed coercively on civil society by state elites and only subsequently adopted by social democratic parties. In such accounts, labour is typically posited as the object and victim of neoliberalising processes. In contrast, this article focuses upon the active role of labour within the development of neoliberalism. The period of social democratic government in Australia (1983–1996) is used as a case study to illuminate labour’s active role in constructing neoliberalism. Indicative evidence from the USA and UK is then presented to argue that the agency of labour can usefully be ‘written in’ to the presently dominant narrative regarding the rise of neoliberalism to provide a more satisfactory account of its nature and resilience over time.

Are health care inequalities unfair? A study on public attitudes in 23 countries.

BackgroundIn this article we focus on the following aims: (1) to analyze national and welfare state variations in the public perception of income-related health care inequalities, (2) to analyze associations of sociodemographic, socioeconomic, health-related, and health care factors with the perception of health care inequalities.MethodsData were taken from the International Social Survey Programme (ISSP), an annually repeated cross-sectional survey based on nationally representative samples. 23 countries (N = 37,228) were included and assigned to six welfare states. Attitude towards income-related health care inequalities was assessed by asking: “Is it fair or unfair that people with higher incomes can afford better health care than people with lower incomes?” with response categories ranging from “very fair” (1) to “very unfair” (5). On the individual level, sociodemographic (gender, age), socioeconomic (income, education) health-related (self-rated health), and health care factors (health insurance coverage, financial barriers to health care) were introduced.ResultsAbout two-thirds of the respondents in all countries think that it is unfair when people with higher incomes can afford better health care than people with lower incomes. Percentages vary between 42.8 in Taiwan and 84 in Slovenia. In terms of welfare states, this proportion is higher in Conservative, South European, and East European regimes than in East Asian, Liberal, and Social-Democratic regimes. Multilevel logistic regression analyses show that women, people affected by a low socioeconomic status, poor health, insufficient insurance coverage, and foregone care are more likely to perceive income-related health care inequalities as unfair.ConclusionsIn most countries a majority of the population perceives income-related health care inequalities as unfair. Large differences between countries were observed. Welfare regime classification is important for explaining the variation across countries.

Patterns of family salience and welfare state regimes: sociability practices and support norms in a comparative perspective

ABSTRACTThis research explores patterns of family salience based on sociability and solidarity norms according to the institutional context. The data come from the International Social Survey Program (ISSP), from respondents living in four types of welfare regime countries: Mediterranean, corporatist, liberal, and social-democratic. Based on cluster analyses, we found that the salience of family in sociability practices and solidarity norms to a significant extent varies according to welfare regimes. Individuals from a Mediterranean welfare regime more often develop a pattern of sociability by a focus on children or parents. Normatively, they develop a pattern stressing the salience of both family and state. Individuals from a corporatist welfare regime more often develop a pattern of sociability focused on extended kin or feature a lack of sociability. At the normative level, they promote either the patterns of state support or reliance on the self. Individuals from a liberal welfare regime stress patterns of family support or self-reliance at the normative level. They develop a pattern of associational activity or show a lack of sociability. Individuals from social-democratic welfare regimes are more frequently normatively oriented toward state support while promoting participation in associations or showing a lack in their sociability.

THE PATH-DEPENDENT NATURE OF URBAN GOVERNANCE: EMERGING MODES IN FINLAND AND ITALY

The socio-economic changes and the territorial reorganisation they imply (new productive districts, new emerging regional economies, etc) together with the processes of political and administrative reform bring about a deeper process of rescaling strongly affecting European urban societies since the end of the 70s. Among the main consequences we find the processes of welfare state reform towards new forms of local welfare arrangements characterised by the rhetoric of activation policies. Cities are now increasingly the main actor in the design of new welfare policies within the broader context of the reconfiguration of urban governance. The aim of the paper is to investigate the modes of urban governance emerging from the reform process common to most EU countries. My hypothesis is that there is a relationship between urban governance modes and welfare regimes. The analysis of urban welfare modes of governance in two EU capitals, Helsinki and Rome bring to light the role of local institutional milieus in shaping modes of governance. Although there are common challenges and a common response toward an increasing neoliberal role of activation policies, local institutional milieus have played a crucial role in defining a path-dependant process of reform. In social democratic welfare regimes a managerial mode of governance has emerged, stressing the central role of the State. In the familistic welfare regime, the consolidated role of third sector organizations and the non-structured and fragmented position of local public authorities in welfare policies has shaped a mode of clientelistic and corporatist governance.

Kampen om de tyske skoler i Danmark efter 1945

Kampen om de tyske skoler i Danmark efter 1945

Thomas Piketty und das Massaker von Marikana

Schlüsselwörter: Piketty, Marikana, Massaker, African National Congress, Lonmin, Bergleute, Streik, Südafrika-----Thomas Piketty and the Marikana Massacre. AbstractThomas Piketty opens his bestselling Capital in the Twenty-first Century with the spectre of South Africa’s 2012 Marikana Massacre. He uses the example to illustrate the awful realities of contemporary inequality, the way these throw up “distributional conflict”, and the threat that is posed to democratic societies. This article responds to Piketty’s “telescope of historically grounded economics” with the “microscope of forensic sociology”. What Piketty finds is a conflict over production of value, not just its distribution, and the way this is rooted in a capitalist crisis. Moreover, the massacre arose from a commonality of interests linking the victims’ employer, a major mining corporation, and South Africa’s social democratic government. Despite loss of lives, workers continued their struggle and won a significant victory. It is proposed that, in keeping with Piketty’s account of historical reversals in inequality trends, and in contrast with his latest proposals, the creation of egalitarian society will involve massive social struggles, of which Marikana is a small yet important example. Keywords: Piketty, Marikana, massacre, African National Congress, Lonmin, miners, strike, South Africa-----Bibliographie: Alexander, Peter: Thomas Piketty und das Massaker von Marikana, PERIPHERIE, 1-2015, S. 12-28. http://dx.doi.org/10.3224/peripherie.v35i137.23010

Income inequality and social capital, are they negatively related?: European cross-country analyses 2006-2012

Theoretical notions in the literature suggest the existence of a negative relationship between earnings inequality and social capital as measured by interpersonal trust. In a number of crosscountry studies this negative relationship has been confirmed. However, in later cross country-studies that control for per capita wealth and several characteristics of the population and analyse one year or shifts over longer periods find no relationship between inequality and trust. In our study we take into account that socio-cultural factors may obscure this relationship. Our main focus is on the role of a country’s welfare regime. Four regimes are distinguished: social democratic regime, conservative regime, liberal regime and transition country. We further examine the impact on interpersonal trust of per capita GDP and the societal indicators percent of residents with tertiary education, percent urbanization, government spending as a percent of GDP. We use data over four points of time from 17 European countries. Besides cross-section OLS regression models using averaged data, fixed-effects models are estimated to control for unobserved time-invariant factors. We find the hypothesised negative relationship between earnings inequality and interpersonal trust not confirmed by our data. Our findings do suggest associations between interpersonal trust and welfare regime. With regard to the welfare regime, we found in particular that a conservative regime, a liberal regime and a transition regime are all associated with a much lower level of interpersonal trust than a social democratic regime. The difference in the level of interpersonal trust from countries with a social democratic regime is largest in countries in transition and smallest in countries with a liberal regime. For the development of institutions that can raise the transition countries to higher levels of social capital and economic development, those from the social democratic welfare regime appear to offer the best perspective. The social democratic welfare regime not only pays more attention to the socially vulnerable in society by paying their benefits, but – in addition to that – by investing in strengthening their productive capabilities to improve their chances on the labour market.

Alemania 1918-1919: la revolución de la violencia

This article examines the role of violence in the German revolution of 1918-1919, after the defeat of Germany in the First World War. It demonstrates that the brutal violence employed by the new social democratic government against the revolutionary left was a turning point in the history of the German state. The period between November 1918 and mid-January 1919 was marked by the persistence of war mentalities that allowed for the use of violence in politics. However, government violence was not only a simple product of the war experience. It had a performative role: demonstrating and reinforcing the authority of the new state.

The Swedish wage-earner funds and economic democracy: is there anything to be learned from them?

In 1983, the Social Democratic government in Sweden proposed that wage-earner funds should be implemented in the country and this proposal was adopted by parliament. The reform was initiated by LO, the large blue-collar trade union, and had been debated for more than a decade. Its purpose was to develop economic democracy, counteract the concentration of capital ownership but also to increase collective savings and supply capital for investments. When a coalition government, led by the conservatives, took office in 1991, the wage-earner funds were abolished. It is unlikely that this type of reform will reappear on the Swedish political agenda in the foreseeable future. Nonetheless, collective funds of some kind might be a way to start dealing with the lack of economic democracy and the unequal distribution of capital. In light of the Swedish experience with wage-earner funds, this article discusses some issues related to such a strategy.

THE EUROPEAN WELFARE STATE REGIMES: QUESTIONING THE TYPOLOGY DURING THE CRISIS

This paper examines the nature of changes within the EU–15 welfare states affected by the 2008 crisis. We try to answer the question of whether the differences that exist among different welfare state regimes, according to prevailing welfare state typologies, lead to different responses to the consequences of the crisis. Welfare state regimes are the result of different institutional perceptions of social risks hence it is realistic to expect specific responses to the effects of crisis among different welfare state regimes, and similar responses among the countries that belong to the same welfare state regimes. In order to recognize convergent vs. divergent processes, we perform a comparative analysis of the dynamics of the key welfare state determinants of the EU–15 countries, grouping according to welfare state regimes, in the pre-crisis and crisis periods. The results indicate that institutional rigidity and inherent inertia has remained a key factor of convergent welfare state processes in countries that belong to the Social Democratic and Corporatist welfare state regimes. Deviations from such a course are the most evident in the Mediterranean welfare state regimes, especially in Greece and Portugal where austerity measures have been formulated under the strong influence of the Troika.

Social Democracy and the Labor Share of National Income in Affluent Capitalist Democracies

Complementing the existing literature that focuses mostly on the personal distribution of income, this paper studies how social democratic governments affect the factor distribution of national income between capital and labor, in the corporate sector. Drawing from the literature on partisanship and macroeconomic performance, I show that, conditional on strong corporatism, left governments increase the capital/labor input ratio in the corporate sector. I connect this finding to the literature on the labor share, which suggests that a higher capital/labor ratio reduces the labor share when labor is low-skilled but increases the labor share when labor is high-skilled. Drawing from data across 15-18 OECD countries (1985-2005), I show that left governments tilt the division of income in favor of labor when labor is high-skilled, but in favor of capital when labor is low-skilled. Furthermore, left partisanship influences the labor/capital division of income only when corporatist institutions are strong.