 The Italian Welfare State in the Crisis: Learning to Adjust?Stefano Sacchi South European Society and Politics, 2018, vol. 23, issue 1, 29-46 Abstract: After a decade of inertia, that left it unprepared to withstand the blow of the great recession, the Italian welfare state has witnessed significant changes since 2012. Externally driven consolidation in the wake of the sovereign debt crisis spurred yet another wave of social policy reforms after that of the 1990s. These reforms did not however invariably entail retrenchment. Both the Monti and the Renzi governments combined liberalisation with expansion of social rights, particularly in income support. As a result, the Italian welfare state looks more comprehensive than it was before the crisis. At the same time, there was no overall strategy of welfare modernisation based on coordinated social investment measures. The changes in Italian social policy since the outburst of the great recession highlight the importance of domestic politics interacting with external drivers of change. They also facilitate an assessment of the opportunity structures for further reforms in a political system that appears to be veering again towards consensus democracy. Date: 2018 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:fsesxx:v:23:y:2018:i:1:p:29-46 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from DOI: 10.1080/13608746.2018.1433478 Access Statistics for this article South European Society and Politics is currently edited by Susannah Verney More articles in South European Society and Politics from Taylor & Francis Journals |
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