Suchergebnisse

Discusses two distinct approaches to welfare state reform in two European Union countries faced with mounting costs of 'welfare without work'

The Netherlands and Belgium exemplified the pathology of 'welfare without work' that characterized continental welfare states - until a political crisis in both countries produced a surprising divergence in scope and extent of policy change in the early 1990s. In Belgium, government announced major reforms but its social security arrangements proved remarkably resilient. In the Netherlands, policy makers announced and implemented unprecedented cutbacks and a major overhaul of the disability benefit administration and supervision. This book argues that reform is the product of the deliberate construction of a crisis as an imperative for change. It explains how crisis rhetoric resulted in drastic policy change in the Netherlands and in incremental change in Belgium. - Nederland en België waren beiden het toonbeeld van 'welvaart zonder werk'. Beide landen kenden een hoge uitkeringsafhankelijkheid en een lage arbeidsparticipatie, totdat begin jaren negentig de 'politieke crisis' losbarstte. In België werd opgeroepen tot een 'Globaal Pakt' en een structurele herziening van het sociale zekerheidssysteem. De Belgische instituties bleken echter weerbarstig en veranderden nauwelijks. In Nederland werd drastisch gesneden in de uitkeringen, de Arbeidsongeschiktheidsverzekering en de corporatistische uitvoeringsstructuur werden ingrijpend gewijzigd. In deze unieke vergelijkende studie wordt onderzocht waarom vergelijkbare problemen in vergelijkbare landen leidden tot verschillende overheidsinterventies. Niet eerder werden Nederland en België op dit onderwerp met elkaar vergeleken. De verschillen in de hervormingen tussen beide landen worden verklaard vanuit de crisisretoriek die door politici werd gebruikt om structurele problemen aan te pakken en ingrijpende hervormingen door te drukken.

The Netherlands and Belgium exemplified the pathology of 'welfare without work' that characterized continental welfare states - until a political crisis in both countries produced a surprising divergence in scope and extent of policy change in the early 1990s. In Belgium, government announced major reforms but its social security arrangements proved remarkably resilient. In the Netherlands, policy makers announced and implemented unprecedented cutbacks and a major overhaul of the disability benefit administration and supervision. This book argues that reform is the product of the deliberate construction of a crisis as an imperative for change. It explains how crisis rhetoric resulted in drastic policy change in the Netherlands and in incremental change in Belgium.

The Netherlands and Belgium exemplified the pathology of 'welfare without work' that characterized continental welfare states - until a political crisis in both countries produced a surprising divergence in scope and extent of policy change in the early 1990s. In Belgium, government announced major reforms but its social security arrangements proved remarkably resilient. In the Netherlands, policy makers announced and implemented unprecedented cutbacks and a major overhaul of the disability benefit administration and supervision. This book argues that reform is the product of the deliberate construction of a crisis as an imperative for change. It explains how crisis rhetoric resulted in drastic policy change in the Netherlands and in incremental change in Belgium.