Strong governments, precarious workers : labour market policy-making in the era of liberalisation

No Thumbnail Available
Files
There are no files associated with this item.
Date
2016
Editors
Contact
Journal ISSN
Electronic ISSN
ISBN
Bibliographical data
Publisher
Series
URI (citable link)
DOI (citable link)
ArXiv-ID
International patent number
Link to the license
oops
EU project number
Project
Open Access publication
Restricted until
Title in another language
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Publication type
Dissertation of another university
Publication status
Published
Published in
Abstract
Outsiders are perhaps the clearest losers of the neoliberal era. They are either unemployed or have atypical jobs, thereby often lacking adequate coverage in such fundamental areas as wage bargaining, job security, and welfare benefits. The growing number of outsiders in advanced capitalist political economies is associated with several trends that are adverse in their implications for democracy and society: declining voter turnout and political resignation, diverging life chances and growing poverty as well as poor health, and even an increased relative risk of suicide. The willingness of a state to protect workers from the risks of being unemployed or atypically employed is thus of great political and social significance. Why, then, did some European welfare states protect outsiders better than others, given the common constraints of the neoliberal era? My PhD thesis examines this question through a comparative investigation of labour market policy change in Austria, Denmark, and Sweden over the past three decades, complemented with shadow case studies of Italy and Spain. A historical reconstruction of reform trajectories in similar small states with different distributive outcomes allows us to test the explanatory power of different theoretical approaches. Building on primary and secondary sources as well as evidence from 46 interviews with policy-making elites, this thesis follows a qualitative methodological approach that combines co-variation analysis, causal process tracing and counterfactual arguments. Challenging conventional theories, the thesis finds that the enhanced protection of outsiders rests on the interaction between inclusive trade unions and politically weak governments. High levels of inclusiveness continue to provide trade unions with an acute interest in the protection of outsiders. But governments of all partisan colours prioritised fiscal consolidation over the social protection of outsiders in the neoliberal era. When they had a united majority of seats in parliament, they were therefore strong enough to pursue a unilateral reform strategy that excludes unions to the detriment of outsiders. When they were weakened by intra-coalitional divides or a hung parliament, on the other hand, they negotiated political deals with trade unions to mobilise an extra-parliamentary channel of consensus mobilisation. This kind of weakness was instrumental in forcing governments to compensate outsiders for economic uncertainty. The core argument of this thesis can therefore be summarised as follows: the weaker the government, the stronger the capacity of inclusive trade unions to enhance the protection of outsiders through an extension of job security regulations, unemployment benefit entitlements, and active labour market policy spending. This finding calls into question the electoral responsiveness of national governments – and thus political parties – to the social needs of an increasingly numerous group of precarious workers.
Summary in another language
Subject (DDC)
320 Politics
Keywords
Labour Market, Liberalisation
Conference
Review
undefined / . - undefined, undefined. - (undefined; undefined)
Cite This
ISO 690RATHGEB, Philip, 2016. Strong governments, precarious workers : labour market policy-making in the era of liberalisation [Dissertation]. Florence: European University Institute
BibTex
@phdthesis{Rathgeb2016Stron-38276,
  year={2016},
  title={Strong governments, precarious workers : labour market policy-making in the era of liberalisation},
  address={Florence},
  school={European University Institute},
  author={Rathgeb, Philip}
}
RDF
<rdf:RDF
    xmlns:dcterms="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"
    xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
    xmlns:rdf="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
    xmlns:bibo="http://purl.org/ontology/bibo/"
    xmlns:dspace="http://digital-repositories.org/ontologies/dspace/0.1.0#"
    xmlns:foaf="http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/"
    xmlns:void="http://rdfs.org/ns/void#"
    xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#" > 
  <rdf:Description rdf:about="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/server/rdf/resource/123456789/38276">
    <dcterms:abstract xml:lang="eng">Outsiders are perhaps the clearest losers of the neoliberal era. They are either unemployed or have atypical jobs, thereby often lacking adequate coverage in such fundamental areas as wage bargaining, job security, and welfare benefits. The growing number of outsiders in advanced capitalist political economies is associated with several trends that are adverse in their implications for democracy and society: declining voter turnout and political resignation, diverging life chances and growing poverty as well as poor health, and even an increased relative risk of suicide. The willingness of a state to protect workers from the risks of being unemployed or atypically employed is thus of great political and social significance. Why, then, did some European welfare states protect outsiders better than others, given the common constraints of the neoliberal era? My PhD thesis examines this question through a comparative investigation of labour market policy change in Austria, Denmark, and Sweden over the past three decades, complemented with shadow case studies of Italy and Spain. A historical reconstruction of reform trajectories in similar small states with different distributive outcomes allows us to test the explanatory power of different theoretical approaches. Building on primary and secondary sources as well as evidence from 46 interviews with policy-making elites, this thesis follows a qualitative methodological approach that combines co-variation analysis, causal process tracing and counterfactual arguments. Challenging conventional theories, the thesis finds that the enhanced protection of outsiders rests on the interaction between inclusive trade unions and politically weak governments. High levels of inclusiveness continue to provide trade unions with an acute interest in the protection of outsiders. But governments of all partisan colours prioritised fiscal consolidation over the social protection of outsiders in the neoliberal era. When they had a united majority of seats in parliament, they were therefore strong enough to pursue a unilateral reform strategy that excludes unions to the detriment of outsiders. When they were weakened by intra-coalitional divides or a hung parliament, on the other hand, they negotiated political deals with trade unions to mobilise an extra-parliamentary channel of consensus mobilisation. This kind of weakness was instrumental in forcing governments to compensate outsiders for economic uncertainty. The core argument of this thesis can therefore be summarised as follows: the weaker the government, the stronger the capacity of inclusive trade unions to enhance the protection of outsiders through an extension of job security regulations, unemployment benefit entitlements, and active labour market policy spending. This finding calls into question the electoral responsiveness of national governments – and thus political parties – to the social needs of an increasingly numerous group of precarious workers.</dcterms:abstract>
    <dc:date rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime">2017-04-03T14:25:08Z</dc:date>
    <void:sparqlEndpoint rdf:resource="http://localhost/fuseki/dspace/sparql"/>
    <dcterms:available rdf:datatype="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#dateTime">2017-04-03T14:25:08Z</dcterms:available>
    <foaf:homepage rdf:resource="http://localhost:8080/"/>
    <bibo:uri rdf:resource="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/handle/123456789/38276"/>
    <dcterms:title>Strong governments, precarious workers : labour market policy-making in the era of liberalisation</dcterms:title>
    <dc:creator>Rathgeb, Philip</dc:creator>
    <dcterms:isPartOf rdf:resource="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/server/rdf/resource/123456789/42"/>
    <dc:language>eng</dc:language>
    <dcterms:issued>2016</dcterms:issued>
    <dspace:isPartOfCollection rdf:resource="https://kops.uni-konstanz.de/server/rdf/resource/123456789/42"/>
    <dc:contributor>Rathgeb, Philip</dc:contributor>
  </rdf:Description>
</rdf:RDF>
Internal note
xmlui.Submission.submit.DescribeStep.inputForms.label.kops_note_fromSubmitter
Contact
URL of original publication
Test date of URL
Examination date of dissertation
University note
Florence, European University Institute, Doctoral dissertation, 2016
Method of financing
Comment on publication
Alliance license
Corresponding Authors der Uni Konstanz vorhanden
International Co-Authors
Bibliography of Konstanz
Yes
Refereed