opment, which includes social capital as one of its explanatory factors. In the absence of this analysis, we do not know if social capital is really driving political development or some other factor, such as economic development. Overall, this is a bold and ambitious book which examines participation across the world with a big theoretical canvas and a broad range of data. However, a more judicious analysis of the data and a greater recognition of the limitations of the sources would have made it a better book.

The Futures of European Capitalism

Nature’s Capacities and their Measurement

This contribution analyses how EU social objectives and policy co-ordination have been integrated into the Union’s post-crisis governance architecture. It argues that between 2011 and 2016, there was a partial but progressive ‘socialization’ of the ‘European Semester’ of policy co-ordination, in terms of increasing emphasis on social objectives in its priorities and key messages, including the Country-Specific Recommendations; intensified social monitoring and review of national reforms; and an enhanced decision-making role for EU social and employment actors. In explaining these developments, the contribution highlights the contribution of strategic agency, reflexive learning and creative adaptation by social and employment actors to the new institutional conditions of the Semester, building on recent theoretical work on ‘actor-centred constructivism’ and the ‘usages of Europe’.

https://tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13501763.2017.1363269

Socializing the European Semester: EU social and economic policy co-ordination in crisis and beyond

Most Continental European labour markets and welfare states have experienced a substantial transformation. Germany is a case in point as it exhibits increasing levels of employment and a growing share of low pay and non-standard work. The article claims that changes in labour market institutions play a major role, but changes in industrial relations at the sectoral level and individual firms' staffing practices are equally important. Regarding labour market institutions, the pattern found in Germany shows sequences of reforms addressing the margins of the labour market and contributing to a growing dualization of employment. This dualization trend was reinforced by micro-level dynamics in industrial relations and company employment practices, where we can observe growing reliance on mechanisms of internal flexibility for the skilled core workforce and increasing use of non-standard types of employment in less specifically skilled occupations, in particular in the private service sector. Hence, the adjustment of the German model can only be understood by taking into account the interaction of policy change and actors' adaptive behaviour.

/pdf/the-unexpected-appearance-of-a-new-german-model-5by23srn71.pdf

The Unexpected Appearance of a New German Model

Most scholars have highlighted the commonalities of labour market reforms under austerity in Europe, mostly in terms of liberalization. We argue that a more differentiated analysis is in order, as empirical developments point to distinct reform trajectories. We analyse in detail the two South-European cases where pressure for austerity was intense but governments maintained a degree of discretion as they were not subjected to direct bailout conditions: Italy and Spain. We examine the period since 2010, which includes a major labour market reform in each of the two states in 2012. Using a theoretical framework that allows distinguishing forms of liberalization, we find that reforms in the two states indeed differed markedly. In Spain flexibilisation and declining coverage of protection prevailed whereas in Italy flexibilisation was combined with improved protection of workers at the margin of the labour market. The differing influence of the centre-left helps to explain this divergence.

/pdf/all-of-one-kind-labour-market-reforms-under-austerity-in-3jlb4c711h.pdf

All of one kind? Labour market reforms under austerity in Italy and Spain

In all European countries, emergency policy measures have been introduced in order to counteract the employment consequences of the economic crisis. In the context of variously composed anti-crisis packages, many European countries have used Short-Time Work (STW) schemes, that is measures to subsidize a temporary reduction in working time intended to maintain an employment relationship. This article focuses on the issue of whether the economic crisis has spurred any convergence in the use of STW in three social-insurance countries – Austria, Germany and Italy – or whether policy change has rather occurred in a path-dependent fashion. In order to do so, the article also adopts a systemic approach, focusing on relationships of complementarity or functional substitution and equivalence among the various schemes comprising income maintenance systems to tackle the risks of partial or total unemployment.

/pdf/the-economic-crisis-as-a-trigger-of-convergence-short-time-4wzbv8do0i.pdf

The Economic Crisis as a Trigger of Convergence? Short-time Work in Italy, Germany and Austria

The EU and the Domestic Politics of Welfare State Reforms: Europa, Europae – Edited by P. Graziano, S. Jacquot and B. Palier

Why did employers pro-actively support the temporary expansion of short time work (STW) schemes during the recent crisis? This paper conceptualizes the role of STW in this contingency as an instrument of subsidized job protection that enabled employers to hoard skilled labor, reduce non-wage labor costs on fallen work hours, and preserve social rest with unions. Two sources of variation are analyzed, at cross-national and cross-sectoral level. By comparing Germany and Italy, the paper finds that employers support for STW was especially strong in skill-intensive manufacturing sectors in both countries, in line with theoretical expectations. However, cross-national diversity in the design and institutional function of STW within their respective labor market regimes shaped different incentive structures for employers in small firms and low-skill services. More generous subsidization of STW through public resources explains the stronger favor of this group in Italy than in Germany.

Capitalists Against Crisis: Employers and Short Time Work in Germany and Italy, 2008-2010

SENZA WELFARE? Federalismo e diritti di cittadinanza nel modello mediterraneo

‘Cheap’ forms of labor have constituted the most prominent case of dualization during the 2000s especially in highly-regulated Continental and Southern European labor markets. Cheap jobs can be broadly defined as those contractual forms that share statutory exemption from collectively agreed wage, diminished social insurance obligations, and low employment protection. To explain the development of dual labor market arrangements, the existing literature tends to give utmost importance to cross-class coalitions between manufacturing employers and unions. This paper argues that too scarce attention has been paid to service actors as crucial agents of dualization. By comparing the cases of marginal employment in Germany and independent contracting work in Italy, the paper finds that service employers have been key actors for the diffusion of cheap jobs at the micro-level in a first stage, and subsequently for the institutionalization of cheap arrangements at the political level. While employers have succeeded to build a wide political consensus in support of their demands, service unions have lacked the power resources to withstand employers’ pressures. The paper concludes that the literature should take service actors and the power relations between them more seriously to assess the political determinants of dualization and more generally of labor market policy.

Federico Pancaldi

Papers

The Economic Crisis as a Trigger of Convergence? Short-time Work in Italy, Germany and Austria

The EU and the Domestic Politics of Welfare State Reforms: Europa, Europae – Edited by P. Graziano, S. Jacquot and B. Palier

Capitalists Against Crisis: Employers and Short Time Work in Germany and Italy, 2008-2010

SENZA WELFARE? Federalismo e diritti di cittadinanza nel modello mediterraneo

The service sector to the fore: the politics of 'cheap jobs' in germany and italy