Resilient Welfare States in the European Union

Crises of the welfare state, resilience, and pessimism of the intellect

“…The outcomes variously conceptualised and reconceptualised over time include restructuring, recalibration, recasting and retrenchment, but ultimately all maintain a ‘resilience’ outlook aiming to show empirically that while degraded along some measures, and in some countries, the welfare state had survived economic globalisation, demographic changes, and ideological attack (Esping‐Andersen, 1999; Huber & Stephens, 2001; Kuhnle, 2000; Pierson, 2001). Despite sweeping welfare reform since the 1990s, and even following the 2008 Financial Crisis (Starke et al, 2013) and through the lost decade of austerity (Hemerijck & Huguenot‐Noël, 2022; van Kersbergen et al, 2014), the welfare state resilience position has itself been remarkably resilient.…”

“…These events crystalise and expose the distance over half a century of ideological corrosion, fiscal stress and socio‐political malfunctioning between capitalism and the welfare state as a post‐war transformative project and its contemporary variable form. They also pose a serious challenge to the historically idealised and optimistic vision of the welfare state as a resilient and permanent feature of capitalism (Castles, 2002; Gamble, 2016; Hacker & Pierson, 2018; Hemerijck et al, 2022; Huber & Stephens, 2001; Moran, 1988; van Kersbergen et al, 2014). Despite persistent critiques from both Right and Left, not to mention paradigmatic shifts in economic and political ideology since the 1940s that have remodelled the post‐war social contract, the optimism of welfare state scholars' will has characterised the assumption that welfare states not only adapt, they endure.…”

EU employment policy and social citizenship (2009–2022): an inclusive turn after the Social Pillar?

“…Finally, capacitating reforms most obviously assume their redistributive role by targeting groups facing more difficulties in accessing decent employment. By contrast to the kind of 'targeted' or 'residual' policies identified by Garritzmann et al (2022), 'capacitating' policies in this framework are conceived as necessary building blocks or 'stepping stones' allowing disadvantaged groups to benefit from new social rights, thereby fully participating in society (Hemerijck and Huguenot-Noël, 2022). Here, the kind of comprehensive 'social insertion' approach to the longterm unemployed pursued by Denmark in the 1990s represents a good example (Kvist, 2000).…”

“…Employment protection thus progressively regained centrality in the Semester's recommendations, increasingly highlighting the importance of accompanying employment growth policies with measures strengthening social protection systems . The EU's response to the pandemic, marked by the introduction of a re-insurance scheme for short-time working schemes (Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency, SURE) and a Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) explicitly calling for an 'employment rich' post-pandemic recovery, finally seems to have marked a tipping point in the EU's gradual shift to promoting quality employment (Hemerijck and Huguenot-Noël, 2022).…”

Introduction: Mapping the Shifts in Russian and European Welfare Polities

“…The themed section begins with a 'State of the Art' article by co-editors Linda J. Cook and Mike Titterton that expands on the comparative context and conceptual framework for the case studies that follow. As EU welfare states are more researched and better known (Hemerjick and Huguenot-Noël, 2022), we focus on the Russian case and bring it into comparison with the others. Drawing on literature from the 'new social risks' agendas, we then highlight common challenges with which policy makers across the continent grapple and briefly compare their responses, setting the stage for the case study chapters.…”