Activation or Workfare? Governance and the Neo-Liberal Convergence

Edited by Ivar Lodemel and Amilcar Moreira

International Policy Exchange

This book offers one of the most comprehensive - both in terms of coverage and the range of issues covered - and systematic reviews of the reforms in activation policy introduced during the fist decade of the XXI century, in Europe and the US. The way it systematically reviews the main developments in each of the countries covered makes it a precious resource for students of activation policies everywhere.
The book's most innovative contribution comes from the way it creatively brings together the traditional focus on rights and responsibilities with the insights from the literature on governance and New Public Management, to offer a new framework for the development of future research in this domain.
This book offers a first glimpse of the new wave of reforms that is taking shape following the onset of the sovereign debt crisis.

Activation or Workfare? Governance and the Neo-Liberal Convergence

Edited by Ivar Lodemel and Amilcar Moreira

Description

The last decade of the 20th century was marked by a shift in how welfare-states deal with those at the bottom of the income ladder. This shift involved the introduction/strengthening of work-obligations as a condition for receiving minimum income benefits - which, in some countries, was complemented by efforts to help recipients return to the labour market, namely through the investment in active labour market policies (ALMP).

Based on case-studies of developments in the US and eight European nations (UK, Norway, Denmark, Netherlands, Germany, France, Portugal and the Czech Republic), this book argues that this first set of reforms was followed by a second wave of reforms that, whilst deepening the path towards the focus on work, brings important innovations- be it the tools used to help recipients back to the labour markets (ex., financial incentives) and in how activation policies are delivered (ex., integration of benefit and employment services).

Looking at the array of developments introduced during this period, we discern two key trends.
The first concerns the strengthening of the role of the market in the governance of activation, which is visible in the strengthening of the focus on work, or the marketisation of employment services. The second, concerns a move towards the individualisation of service delivery, visible in the expansion of the use of personal action plans or in efforts to streamline service delivery.

Finally, we show that the onset of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, has triggered a new wave of reforms. Whilst tentative only, our analysis points to a worrying trend of the curtailment or benefits (Portugal) and activation services (Netherlands, Czech Republic) to minimum income recipients and, in parallel, a further deepening of the focus on work-conditionality (UK and Norway).

Activation or Workfare? Governance and the Neo-Liberal Convergence

Edited by Ivar Lodemel and Amilcar Moreira

International Policy Exchange

Chapter 1 - Introduction: Waves of Activation Reform
Amílcar Moreira and Ivar Lødemel
Chapter 2 - Norwegian activation reform on a wave of wider welfare state change: A critical assessment
Erika Gubrium, Ivar Lødemel, and Ivan Harsløf
Chapter 3 - Workfare with welfare revisited: Instigating dual tracks based on ethnicity
Jon Kvist and Ivan Harsløf
Chapter 4 -Activation for all: Welfare reform in the UK, 1995 to 2009
Julia Griggs, Andrew Hammond, and Robert Walker
Chapter 5 - Activation and reform in the United States: What time has told
Theresa Anderson, Katharine Kairys, and Michael Wiseman
Chapter 6 - From legitimacy to effectiveness: Developments in activation in The Netherlands
Henk Spies and Nico van de Vrie
Chapter 7 - Germany: Ambivalent activation
Jochen Clasen and Alexander Goerne
Chapter 8 - Implementing a myth: The evolution of conditionality in French minimum income provision
Daniel Clegg and Bruno Palier
Chapter 9 - From gateway to safety net: The dynamics of activation reforms in Portugal
Amílcar Moreira, Daniel Carolo, and Rui Nicola
Chapter 10 - From protection towards activation: Reform of social assistance in the Czech Republic
Tomáš Sirovátka
Chapter 11 - Governing Activation in the 21st Century: A (hi)story of change
Amílcar Moreira and Ivar Lødemel
Chapter 12 - Trajectories of change: Activation reforms from inception to times of austerity
Ivar Lødemel and Erika Gubrium
Index

Activation or Workfare? Governance and the Neo-Liberal Convergence

Edited by Ivar Lodemel and Amilcar Moreira

International Policy Exchange

Author Information

Edited by Ivar Lodemel, Professor of Social Work, Oslo University College, Norway, and Amilcar Moreira, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow, Oslo University College, Portugal

Ivar Lodemel is Professor of Social Work at Oslo University College. Amílcar Moreira With a PhD in Social and Policy Sciences from the University of Bath (UK), Amilcar Moreira is a Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Institute of Social Sciences, University of Lisbon.

Contributors:

Theresa Anderson
George Washington Institute of Public Policy
The George Washington University
Washington, DC

Daniel Carolo
Institute of Social Sciences
University of Lisbon
Lisbon, Portugal

Jochen Clasen
University of Edinburgh
Edinburgh, United Kingdom

Daniel Clegg
University of Edinburgh
United Kingdom

Alexander Goerne
German Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs
Berlin, Germany

Julia Griggs
NatCen - National Centre for Social Research
London, United Kingdom

Erika Gubrium
Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences
Oslo, Norway

Andrew Hammond
Yale Law School
New Haven, CT

Ivan Harsløf
Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences
Oslo, Norway

Katharine Kairys
George Washington Institute of Public Policy
The George Washington University
Washington, DC

Jon Kvist
University of Southern Denmark
Odense M, Denmark

Rui Nicola
GEP/MSESS
Lisbon, Portugal

Bruno Palier
Centre d'études européennes de Sciences Po
Paris, France

Tomáš Sirovátka
Masaryk University
Brno, Czech Republic

Henk Spies
+Confidence
Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Nico van de Vrie
+Confidence
Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Robert Walker
University of Oxford
Oxford, United Kingdom

Michael Wiseman
George Washington Institute of Public Policy
The George Washington University
Washington, DC

Activation or Workfare? Governance and the Neo-Liberal Convergence

Edited by Ivar Lodemel and Amilcar Moreira

International Policy Exchange

Reviews and Awards

"Activation or Workfare? Governance and the Neo-Liberal Convergence is outstanding and informative" - Jinxian Wang, Reviews & Critical Commentary