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The Italian Welfare State in the Crisis: Learning to Adjust?

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  • Stefano Sacchi

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefano Sacchi, 2018. "The Italian Welfare State in the Crisis: Learning to Adjust?," South European Society and Politics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(1), pages 29-46, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:fsesxx:v:23:y:2018:i:1:p:29-46
    DOI: 10.1080/13608746.2018.1433478
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    Cited by:

    1. Bernhard Ebbinghaus & J. Timo Weishaupt, 2022. "Readjusting unemployment protection in Europe: how crises reshape varieties of labour market regimes," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 28(2), pages 181-194, May.
    2. Giliberto Capano & Maria Tullia Galanti & Giovanni Barbato, 2023. "When the political leader is the narrator: the political and policy dimensions of narratives," Policy Sciences, Springer;Society of Policy Sciences, vol. 56(2), pages 233-265, June.
    3. Paul Cairney & Federico Toth, 2023. "The politics of COVID-19 experts: comparing winners and losers in Italy and the UK," Policy and Society, Darryl S. Jarvis and M. Ramesh, vol. 42(3), pages 392-405.

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