The electoral consequences of welfare state retrenchment: Blame avoidance or credit claiming in the era of permanent austerity?

European Journal of Political Research

Volumn 50, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 1-23

  Giger, Nathalie ^a   Nelson, Moira ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF MANNHEIM   (Germany)

^b UNIVERSITY OF BERN   (Switzerland)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 78649779156     PISSN: 03044130     EISSN: 14756765     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-6765.2010.01922.x     Document Type: Article

References (50)

1. Allan, J. & Scruggs, L. (2004). Political partisanship and welfare state reform in advanced industrial societies. American Journal of Political Science 48: 496-512.
2. Anderson, C.J. (2000). Economic voting and political context: A comparative perspective. Electoral Studies 19: 151-170.
3. Armingeon, K. & Giger, N. (2008). Conditional punishment: A comparative analysis of the electoral consequences of welfare state retrenchment in OECD nations, 1980-2003. West European Politics 31: 558-580.
4. Armingeon, K. et al. (2008). Comparative political data set, 1960-2006. Berne: Institute of Political Science. Available online at:
5. Boeri, T. et al. (2001). Would you like to shrink the welfare state? A survey of European citizens. Economic Policy 16: 9-50.
6. Bradley, D. & Stephens, J. (2007). Employment performance in OECD countries: A test of neo-liberal and institutionalist hypotheses. Comparative Political Studies 40(12): 1486-1510.
7. Brambor, T., Clark, W.R. & Golder, M. (2006). Understanding interaction models: Improving empirical analyses. Political Analysis 14: 63-82.
8. Carlsen, F. (2000). Unemployment, inflation and government popularity - Are there partisan effects? Electoral Studies 19: 141-150.
9. Downs, A. (1957). An economic theory of democracy. New York: Harper & Row.
10. Fiorina, M.P. (1981). Retrospective voting in American national elections. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
11. Flora, P. (1989). From industrial to postindustrial welfare state? Annals of the Institute of Social Science 154.
12. Frey, B.S. & Schneider, F. (1979). An econometric model with an endogenous government sector. Public Choice 34: 29-43.
13. Giger, N. (forthcoming). Do voters punish the government for welfare state retrenchment? A comparative study of electoral costs associated with social policy. Comparative European Politics.
14. Hering, M. (2008). Welfare state restructuring without grand coalitions: The role of informal cooperation in blame avoidance. German Politics 17: 165-183.
15. Hood, C. (2002). The risk game and the blame game. Government and Opposition 37: 15-37.
16. Huber, E. & Stephens, J.D. (2001). Development and crisis of the welfare state: Parties and policies in global markets. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
17. Huber, E., Ragin, C. & Stephens, J.D. (1993). Social democracy, Christian democracy, constitutional structure and the welfare state. American Journal of Sociology 99: 711-749.
18. Huo, J., Nelson, M. & Stephens, J. (2008). Decommodification and activation in social democratic policy: Resolving the paradox. European Journal of Social Policy 18(1): 5-20.
19. Key, V.O. (1966). The responsible electorate: Rationality in presidential voting, 1936-1960. New York: Belknap Press.
20. Kiewit, R.D. (1983). Macroeconomics and micropolitics: The electoral effects of economic issues. Chicago, IL: Chicago University Press.
21. Kitschelt, H. (1994). The transformation of European social democracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
22. Kitschelt, H. (2001). Partisan competition and welfare state retrenchment: When do politicians choose unpopular policies? In P. Pierson (ed.), The new politics of the welfare state. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
23. Kittel, B. & Obinger, H. (2003). Political parties, institutions and the dynamics of social expenditure in times of austerity. Journal of European Public Policy 10: 20-45.
24. Korpi, W. (1983). The democratic class struggle. London: Routledge & Kogan Paul.
25. Korpi, W. (2003). Welfare state regress in Western Europe: Politics, institutions, globalization and Europeanization. Annual Review of Sociology 29: 589-609.
26. Korpi, W. & Palme, J. (2003). New politics and class politics in the context of austerity and globalization: Welfare state regress in 18 countries, 1975-1995. American Political Science Review 97: 425-446.
27. Kramer, G.H. (1971). Short-term fluctuations in US voting behavior, 1896-1964. American Political Science Review 65: 131-143.
28. Levy, J. (1999). Vice into virtue? Progressive politics and welfare reform in Continental Europe. Politics and Society 27: 239-273.
29. Lewis-Beck, M.S. (1988). Economics and elections: The major Western democracies. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
30. Lindbom, A. (2007). Obfuscating retrenchment: Swedish welfare policy in the 1990s. Journal of Public Policy 27: 129-150.
31. Mair, P. (1997). Party system change: Approaches and interpretations. New York: Oxford University Press.
32. Nannestad, P. & Paldam, M. (1994). The VP-function: A survey of the literature on vote and popularity functions after 25 years. Public Choice 79: 213-245.
33. Pal, L. & Weaver, R. (2003). The government taketh away: The politics of pain in the United States and Canada. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
34. Pennings, P. & Lane, J. (1998). Comparing party system change. London: Routledge.
35. Pettersen, P.A. (1995). The welfare state: The security dimension. In O. Borre & E. Scarbrough (eds), The scope of government: Beliefs in government. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
36. Pierson, P. (1994). Dismantling the welfare state? Reagan, Thatcher and the politics of retrenchment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
37. Pierson, P. (1996). The new politics of the welfare state. World Politics, 48(2): 143-179.
38. Pierson, P. (1998). Irresistible forces, immovable objects: Post-industrial welfare states confront permanent austerity. Journal of European Public Policy 5: 539-560.
39. Pierson, P. (2001). Coping with permanent austerity: Welfare state restructuring in affluent democracies. In The new politics of the welfare state. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
40. Pierson, P. & Smith, M. (1993). Bourgeois revolutions? The policy consequences of resurgent conservatism. Comparative Political Studies 25(4): 487-520.
41. Powell, G.B. & Whitten, G.D. (1993). A cross-national analysis of economic voting: Taking account of the political context. American Journal of Political Science 37: 391-414.
42. Rattinger, H. (1991). Unemployment and elections in West Germany. In H. Norpoth, M. Lewis-Beck & J. Lafay (eds), Economics and politics: The calculus of support. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
43. Roller, E. (1995). The welfare state: The equality dimension. In O. Borre & E. Scarbrough (eds), The scope of government: Beliefs in government. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
44. Ross, F. (2000). Interest and choice in the 'not quite so new' politics of welfare. West European Politics 23: 11-34.
45. Scruggs, L. (2004). Welfare state entitlements data set: A comparative institutional analysis of eighteen welfare states, Version 1.1. Available online at:
46. Starke, P. (2006). The politics of welfare state retrenchment: A literature review. Social Policy & Administration 40: 104-120.
47. Stephens, J.D. (1979). The transition from capitalism to socialism. London: Macmillan.
48. Swank, O. (1993). Popularity functions based on the partisan theory. Public Choice 75: 339-356.
49. Van Kersbergen, K. (1995). Social capitalism: A study of Christian democracy and the welfare state. London: Routledge.
50. Vis, B. & Van Kersbergen, K. (2007). Why and how do political actors pursue risky reforms? Journal of Theoretical Politics 19: 153-172.