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REGIMES IN RICH DEMOCRACIES Regime = a particular pattern of politics, institutions, and policies Politics: the way people compete for political power through social movements, interest groups, and political parties Institutions: create rules of the game that structure the way political actors compete for political power Policies: outcome of political conflict filtered through institutions Organized along cleavage lines Number, nature, intensity of cleavages varies Different policy choices among regimes Regime types among rich democracies Social democratic (Denmark, Norway, Sweden) Conservative (Austria, Belgium, Germany, Netherlands) Christian democratic (Canada, Ireland, United States) SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC: POLITICS Best exemplified in Scandinavian countries Gradual, smooth process of democratization Far-left Absence of linguistic, ethnic, and religious cleavages Did parties never gained traction not weaken, compete with class basis of political loyalty) Unique set of alliances Disunity among opponents; forged alliances with groups beyond working class (farmers and workers; later, white-collar workers, middle-class voters) Disunity among opponents, social homogeneity, strong working-class attachments, appeal to middle-class voters beyond working-class base SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC: POLICIES Capitalist economic systems (vibrant businesses generates tax revenue for social democratic policies) Big government High rates of state expenditures and government revenues as percent of GDP (Table 5.1, 122) High percentage of public sector employees (Table 5.2, 123) Social democratic welfare state Universal: available to all citizens (health care, day care, pensions, etc. provided to rich and poor alike) Comprehensive: cradle-to-grave protection (day care to home help for the elderly) Generous: replacement rates for income lost due to pregnancy, sickness, injury, unemployment high (around 75% of former earnings) Quality of life detached from performance in labor market (wages and benefits; standard of living does not depend on pay check) Key to binding middle-class welfare state Resources and risks pooled in the welfare state creating a convergence of interest) Certain goods taken out of the market Provided as a right of citizenship Service intensive: range of services delivered by the state is extensive Redistributive: benefits provided to most of the population, and these tend to be equal (which ironically has greater redistributive effect than those regimes that target the poor) SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC WELFARE STATE Critics charge welfare state reduces incentives to work Scandinavian style welfare state has contributed to economic efficiency and productivity, has actually supported the economy High labor force participation rates Contributes to dynamism and competitiveness of economies range of services provided to relieve burden of care that previously required women to stay at home Home markets are small, have to export what they produce Need to adjust continually, adopt new technologies, allocate resources to new sectors depending on shifts in international markets “Creative destruction” poses threats to workers who risk loosing their livelihood when plants close, industries become uncompetitive Welfare state alleviates threats by socializing costs of economic change (they do not fall on workers themselves) Security provided by welfare state reduces opposition to new, labor-saving technologies and demands to maintain uncompetitive firms (think GM) Moderates workers’ wage demands Active labor market policies: retraining, job placement, and relocation assistance to unemployed workers assist in making transition; promotes increasing skill levels among workers Result: Highly competitive capitalist economies and large, redistributive welfare states SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC: INSTITUTIONS Centralized political systems Parliamentary democracies Unitary: power concentrated at national level Judicial review authority generally weak Unicameralism, weak federalism, absence of judicial review, parliamentary government give dissenting groups few opportunities to block legislation majority prefers Large and powerful labor movement Party discipline (strong parties) Governments govern through support of disciplined majorities; potential conflict, stalemate of competing legislative and executive branches avoided (fused executive-legislative) High percentage of unionized workers (high union density) Unions and party closely allied Corporatist interest groups Unions and employers engage in centralized bargaining with encouragement of state (somewhat in decline) CONSERVATIVE: POLITICS Production of goods and services left almost wholly to the market; marginal state intervention/regulation Weakness of left-wing parties Either completely absent (e.g., U.S.), or outsiders Class-voting low: class position does not determine how voters vote to the same degree Class cleavages less intense; other sources of conflict (e.g., in U.S., race, gender, religion cross-cut and weaken class identification) Business politically dominant Interest group advantage (organization, lobbying, campaign contributions) Low voter turnout; lowest among working class (class divide subdued) Politicians deliver policies that appeal to wealthy voters who are most likely to vote and ignore demands of working-class voters less likely to vote Business interests identified with interests of society as a whole (“What’s good for GM…is good for America”) CONSERVATIVE: POLICIES Good at creating new jobs and increasing economic growth (Table 5.4, 130) Small public sector (does not require high taxes) Low state spending and revenues as proportion of GDP Regulatory hand of the state constrained (gives way to managerial authority) when it comes to business activity Low in terms of welfare effort (proportion of GDP devoted to social spending; Table 5.6, 132) Lower payroll taxes and wages reduces labor costs for employers, allowing them to hire more workers Not designed to create broad equality Creates a floor under which poor cannot fall Private to public spending devoted to welfare high (citizens pay larger proportion of cost of day care, health care, retirement) Low levels of public spending on welfare (lesser benefits distributed to poor) Circumstances of those who are not poor determined through private sector (by their fortunes in the labor market rather than shared fate as citizens) Wealthy find policies suitable because small costs of welfare state limits their taxes, and they can afford to purchase privately (through the market) a level of services that fits their income CONSERVATIVE: INSTITUTIONS Great variety of forms Some federal; others unitary Parliamentary and presidential Bicameral (but significant differences in power of second chamber) Different electoral systems (PR and plurality) Differences in judicial review Differences in centralization (from highly centralized to least centralized, U.S.) E.g., U.S.: strong federalism, bicameralism, independent Congress, weak parties, judicial review make it easy for minorities to capture part of state and thwart will of majority Similar interest group structures: pluralist; smaller union movements CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC: POLITICS Organized around both class and church-state cleavages (although more recently both are less prominent than in the past with emergence of new parties and political issues) Tend to be centrist in orientation (catch-all parties): able to attract cross-section of workers, farmers, shopkeepers, business executives Able to more right or left in seeking coalition partners All use PR electoral systems CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC: POLICIES Big government (not as big as social democratic regimes) High levels of welfare expenditures (proportion of GDP devoted to public expenditures) closer to social democratic than conservative regimes Relatively high government expenditures, total tax revenue as proportion of GDP (between Social Democratic and Conservative Regimes) Above average in spending on health and pensions Below average on poverty and social services Medium on replacement rates for income lost due to retirement or unemployment Different kind of collective services than social democratic regimes Provide generous transfer payments and cash benefits to citizens Public sector employment lower than average for conservative regimes State sector ambiguous: large fiscal presence (high taxes and expenditures), but small social presence Goal of social policy: reinforce traditional family values (income security for families so women can remain in traditional domestic role); mitigate effects of inequality Welfare programs managed by union and employer representatives for each sector of the economy Benefits preserve differentials among occupations (more to more highly valued occupations) Social programs do not bind citizens; segment citizens by occupation; reinforce class differences CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC: INSTITUTIONS Parliamentary democracies Bicameral, but differences in power of upper/lower houses Differences in judicial review Differences in unitary-federal forms Corporatist interest groups Limited number of hierarchically structured associations recognized by the state and participate in policy-making process State of corporatism varies across regimes COMPARING CAPABILITY Physical well-being Informed decision-making Social democratic regimes perform best in providing safe environment for citizens (using homicide rates; Table 5.9, 144) Civil and political rights/quality of democracy Social democratic regimes have best literacy scores, conservative regimes the worst (using IALS data; Table 5.8, 143) Safety Social democratic regimes perform best in providing for physical needs of citizens (Absolute poverty rates, Table 5.7, 141) Conservative regimes have highest rate of absolute poverty No noteworthy differences in press freedom, political rights, civil liberties, competitive elections Significant differences in “voice and accountability” (using quality of democracy measures, U.N. Human Development Report; Table 5.10, 145) Social democratic regimes performed better than Christian democratic and Conservative regimes Also, voter turnout rates highest in Social democratic regimes Social democratic regimes perform better in meeting the standards of the good society than Conservative or Christian democratic regimes Quality of democracy higher Levels of safety and security higher Citizens more likely to possess skills needed to make informed decisions Christian democratic regimes do marginally better in meeting physical needs
