Norway: Social Security, Active Labour Market Policies and Economic Progress

In 1990 Esping-Andersen distinguished among three ideal-types of welfare state regimes, defined according to two dimensions; degree of decommodification and stratification and labour market participation. The former refers to the extent to which social policies make individuals independent of the market, while the latter concerns the extent to which the welfare state differentiates in the treatment of different groups. He claimed that it is not possible to understand welfare state variations linearly; rather, there are qualitative differences in the way social provision is provided and that welfare states tend to cluster into three different regimes forming interconnected configurations of state and market, and later, the family. Echoing Titmuss, Esping-Andersen identified three ‘worlds of welfare states’, which he labelled ‘conservative-corporatist’, ‘liberal’ and ‘social-democratic’ (or Nordic) regimes. The first is characterized by strong emphasis on the role of social partners, on the principle of subsidiarity, on an underdeveloped service sector and on the existence of labour market ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’. Empirically it is illustrated, for example, by France and Germany. The second is characterized by minimal and targeted assistance measures, re-enforcement of job-seeking behaviour and promotion of systems of private welfare provision, and it is illustrated by the United Kingdom and the United States.