Twelve From financial crisis to welfare retrenchment: assessing the challenges to the Irish welfare state
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Mairéad Considine
Abstract
This chapter considers the impact of the global economic crisis on the Irish welfare state. It begins by focusing on the vulnerability of Ireland’s highly neo-liberalised and financialised economy and the debt burden of the ensuing banking crisis which was borne by the state and ultimately resulted in the intervention of the EU/IMF. This sets the context for examining how predominant crisis discourses tended to conflate the fiscal crisis with profligate public spending, leading to a perception that the welfare state is itself part of the problem. The chapter then looks at how the welfare state has also been challenged by the social costs of the recession while its capacity to cope has been weakened by retrenchment. The challenges for social protection are highlighted in particular. The final part takes stock of the politics of retrenchment and what bearing this may have on the welfare state post-crisis.
Abstract
This chapter considers the impact of the global economic crisis on the Irish welfare state. It begins by focusing on the vulnerability of Ireland’s highly neo-liberalised and financialised economy and the debt burden of the ensuing banking crisis which was borne by the state and ultimately resulted in the intervention of the EU/IMF. This sets the context for examining how predominant crisis discourses tended to conflate the fiscal crisis with profligate public spending, leading to a perception that the welfare state is itself part of the problem. The chapter then looks at how the welfare state has also been challenged by the social costs of the recession while its capacity to cope has been weakened by retrenchment. The challenges for social protection are highlighted in particular. The final part takes stock of the politics of retrenchment and what bearing this may have on the welfare state post-crisis.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of tables and figures v
- Notes on contributors vii
- 40th anniversary preface xi
- Introduction 1
-
Current developments
- Universal Credit: overview and gender implications 15
- Family support and the Coalition: retrenchment, refocusing and restructuring 35
- Housing, the welfare state and the Coalition government 55
- The 2012/13 reforms of higher education in England: changing student finances and funding 77
- Division and opposition: the Health and Social Care Bill 2011 97
-
Social policy in the developed and developing worlds
- Immigrant-targeted activation policies: a comparison of the approaches in the Scandinavian welfare states 117
- Welfare retrenchment under Left and Right government leadership: towards a consolidated framework of analysis? 137
- From black hole to spring: the coming of age of social policy in the Arab countries? 165
- China’s developmental model in Africa: a new era for global social policy? 183
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Severe crisis: social policy in most challenging circumstances
- The Greek welfare state in the age of austerity: anti-social policy and the politico-economic crisis 205
- From opportunity to austerity: crisis and social policy in Spain 231
- From financial crisis to welfare retrenchment: assessing the challenges to the Irish welfare state 257
- The Great Recession and US social policy: from expansion to austerity 277
- Seeking refuge in the Nordic model: social policy in Iceland after 2008 297
- Index 319
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- List of tables and figures v
- Notes on contributors vii
- 40th anniversary preface xi
- Introduction 1
-
Current developments
- Universal Credit: overview and gender implications 15
- Family support and the Coalition: retrenchment, refocusing and restructuring 35
- Housing, the welfare state and the Coalition government 55
- The 2012/13 reforms of higher education in England: changing student finances and funding 77
- Division and opposition: the Health and Social Care Bill 2011 97
-
Social policy in the developed and developing worlds
- Immigrant-targeted activation policies: a comparison of the approaches in the Scandinavian welfare states 117
- Welfare retrenchment under Left and Right government leadership: towards a consolidated framework of analysis? 137
- From black hole to spring: the coming of age of social policy in the Arab countries? 165
- China’s developmental model in Africa: a new era for global social policy? 183
-
Severe crisis: social policy in most challenging circumstances
- The Greek welfare state in the age of austerity: anti-social policy and the politico-economic crisis 205
- From opportunity to austerity: crisis and social policy in Spain 231
- From financial crisis to welfare retrenchment: assessing the challenges to the Irish welfare state 257
- The Great Recession and US social policy: from expansion to austerity 277
- Seeking refuge in the Nordic model: social policy in Iceland after 2008 297
- Index 319
