Protest and the Politics of Unemployment Insurance: Reforming Welfare States in Times of Austerity

Fiscal austerity and changing societal conditions have put welfare states under increased pressure for reforms. Many countries have undergone processes of radical transformations of their welfare states, and in many others social protections are threatened by the diffusion of austerity politics (Van Kersbergen and Vis, 2013). Previous studies show that reform trajectories have varied considerably across social policy sectors and countries, and range from retrenchment to restructuring to stability and expansion (Pennings, 2005; Starke, 2006). Explanations of these different policy responses have generally emphasized the effect of political parties’ behavior and electoral dynamics (EspingAndersen, 1990; Korpi, 1983; Pierson, 1996). In particular, recent debates have focused on the enduring importance of political ideologies and partisan politics, but few studies investigate the effect of non-electoral forms of political participation such as protest movements, strikes and demonstrations on social policy reform. Yet, citizens engage in politics in different ways and voting is only one of the means that they use to express their political preferences (Fourcade and Schofer, 2016). A notable feature of the current historical period is the diminishing electoral participation of marginalized social groups (the unemployed, the young and the poor) whose interests and needs are poorly represented by traditional actors such as political parties and unions. Declining voter turnout among those groups can further diminishes political parties’ willingness to take their issues on board and risks to cement divisions between insiders and outsiders (Offe, 2013). In this context, protests are routinely used to draw attention to social problems and put pressure on public authorities.