Browsing by Subject "Retrenchment"

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Open Access
Conceptualizing and operationalizing social rights: towards higher convergent validity in SCIP and CWED
(Sage Publications Ltd., 2018) Bölükbaşı, H. Tolga; Öktem, Kerem Gabriel
There is widespread consensus in the comparative welfare state literature that the welfare state can be best conceptualized in terms of social rights of citizenship. The Social Citizenship Indicator Program (SCIP) and the Comparative Welfare Entitlements Dataset (CWED), which rely on operational definitions of quantified legislated social rights, constitute centrepieces of this thriving research. As leading state-of-the-art tools for capturing welfare stateness, these two datasets are being widely used. Scholars in general have also been treating them as interchangeable measurement tools. Upon closer inspection, however, we discover that the two datasets point to contrasting images of welfare state change for certain countries and time periods. This article aims to contribute to the scholarly exchange on the validity problem in measuring welfare state generosity. The exchange has hitherto been confined to problems of dataset choice with respect to only replacement rates, a set of key indicators included in both datasets. However, there are 11 key non-replacement rate indicators SCIP and CWED have in common, whose convergent validity has yet to be questioned. We thus explore the convergent validity of these non-replacement rate indicators across the two datasets. We then replicate the two leading composite indexes (Decommodification Index (DI) and Benefit Generosity Index (BGI)) constructed on the basis of these indicators. We identify problems of invalidity manifested in discrepancies in non-replacement rate indicator scores and index values for DI and BGI. We show how these discrepancies could lead to contrasting assessments of welfare state change. We then identify a set of potential sources for these discrepancies, most of which are related to different operationalizations of similar concepts. We conclude by calling for more dialogue among developers of SCIP and CWED to further clarify their conceptual and operational points of departure
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The politics of (non) retrenchment in two most different cases: a comparative analysis of societal response in France and Türkiye between 1980-2018
(2024-09) Uslu, Sıla
The neoliberalism brings the notion of welfare state retrenchment into discussion that is followed by welfare state transformation. This thesis compares France and Türkiye’s welfare states after the neoliberal revolution of the 1980s. It argues that both states avoided retrenchment because of the existence of a causal mechanism that is societal response thar also has a root cause that is familization. The thesis adopts most different systems design (MDSD). It identifies similarities in two dissimilar cases to establish the causal mechanism that produces similar outcomes, namely, non-retrenchment. France is a continental-European welfare state that had a developed welfare state at the time and is regarded as most resilient to change, whereas Türkiye is a Southern European welfare that is not developed but emerging. Therefore, the thesis analyzes France and Türkiye’s as most different cases’ responses to neoliberal pressures for fiscal retrenchment to determine the common characteristics that produce similar outcomes. Causal analysis is used to investigate the relationship between cause and outcome. The empirical analysis uses social expenditure (SOCX) as the quantitative data source and analyzes policy paradigms between 1980- 2018. The thesis identifies that even though France and Türkiye are significantly different cases, the legitimacy of the incumbent party for citizens is quintessential in policymaking, which is the causal mechanism. The role of the family as a structural constraint is seen through familization and its resistance to the changes that would weaken the family. The established gender and intergenerational roles within a family create the societal response to the retrenchment in social welfare. The trilemma of state-family-market is visible in both cases, with the mere strong state and family that retains family as a structural constraint.