Sotirios Zartaloudis

How party linkages shape austerity politics: clientelism and fiscal adjustment in Greece and Portugal during the eurozone crisis

ABSTRACT Drawing on an analysis of austerity reforms in Greece and Portugal during the sovereign debt crisis from 2009 onwards, we show how the nature of the linkages between parties and citizens shapes party strategies of fiscal retrenchment. We argue that parties which rely to a greater extent on the selective distribution of state resources to mobilize electoral support (clientelistic linkages) are more reluctant to agree to fiscal retrenchment because their own electoral survival depends on their ability to control state budgets to reward clients. In Greece, where parties relied extensively on these clientelistic linkages, austerity reforms have been characterized by recurring conflicts and disagreements between the main parties, as well as a fundamental transformation of the party system. By contrast, in Portugal, where parties relied less on clientelistic strategies, austerity reforms have been more consensual because fiscal retrenchment challenged to a lesser extent the electoral base of the mainstream parties.

Europeanization Mechanisms and Process Tracing: A Template for Empirical Research

While the literature on Europeanization has exhibited considerable awareness of the methodological challenge of establishing causal relations between non‐binding EU stimuli and domestic change, less work has been done on how this challenge might be met. This article contributes to the literatures attempts to meet this challenge by: 1) reformulating four explanations of Europeanization based on four distinct causal mechanisms (instrumental learning, social learning, naming and shaming and peer pressure); 2) specifying their observable implications for three intervening steps between EU stimuli and change in national policy (the definition of the policy problem, the alternative courses of action considered and the manner in which they were assessed); 3) defending process tracing against critiques of its usefulness for research on Europeanization; and 4) providing practical guidelines on how process tracing can be used to test these four explanations empirically, using examples from employment policy, where non‐binding EU stimuli feature most prominently.

European Discourses on Managing the Greek Crisis: Denial, Distancing and the Politics of Blame

Since the beginning of the financial crisis a number of studies have dealt with the deficiencies of Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) (cf. D inan, 2012; Cap or aso and Min-Hyung, 2012) and the effects of the eurozone crisis on member states’ politics (cf. George and Panizza, 2013). This chapter aims to examine an often-neglected aspect of the eurozone’s recent troubles; that is, the evolution of European discourses on the ‘rescue’ of Greece. For the purposes of this chapter, we focus our analysis predominantly on discourses by senior EU officials, rather than the wider public debate on the fate of Greece which also included the media and other more specialised epistemic communities. Our analysis is grounded on the conceptual literature of Discursive Institutionalism, using an extensive dataset of media reports from one of the largest databases on EU affairs, EurActiv,1 and other leading European newspapers.

When soft law overshadows other European resources: Portuguese reconciliation policies and usages of Europe

In the analysis of the usages of Europe in Portuguese reconciliation policies presented in this article, we found a general concordance/temporal sequence between EU and national level developments. In an overall context of limited policy change induced by the EU, the main actors using EU resources were political entrepreneurs: firstly, ministerial elites, and secondly, high-level officials either in government or in the independent bodies for gender equality. These actors used primarily cognitive and financial resources: the European Employment Strategy (cognitive usage), and EU funds (strategic usage), whereas legal resources were not used. Finally, cognitive usage occurred in the beginning of the reform process (the EU was reform initiator) whereas strategic usage took place to support existing goals during the reform process (the EU was reform supporter).

European elites and the narrative of the Greek crisis: A discursive institutionalist analysis: EUROPEAN ELITES AND THE GREEK CRISIS

This article examines elite European discourses during the Greek financial crisis from its pre‐history in September 2008 up to the arrival of the SYRIZA government in January 2015. The article employs the conceptual literature on Discursive Institutionalism (DI) and Historical Institutionalism (HI). Having coded 1,153 unique quotes drawn from a dataset of 15,354 news wires from Reuters, the authors argue that the communicative discourse of 63 senior European (and IMF) officials on the Greek crisis during that period demonstrates significant volatility. Four distinct narrative frames are identified: ‘neglect’, ‘suspicious cooperation’, ‘blame’ and ‘reluctant redemption’, punctuated by three discursive junctures in 2010, 2011 and 2012, which reflect the content of the changing communicative discourse of the Greek crisis. The articles contribution is twofold: empirically, it is the first to provide a systematic analysis of the protagonists’ communication of the Greek crisis; and theoretically, it combines DI and HI in an effort to conceptualise an important part of our understanding of ‘bail‐out politics’ throughout the Eurozone crisis.

Flexicurity between Europeanization and Varieties of Capitalism? A Comparative Analysis of Employment Protection Reforms in Portugal and Greece*

The article examines the adoption of Flexicurity principles in Portugal and Greece during 2006–2009. Despite the similar conditions between the two cases and common EU stimulus, the process and final outcomes in the reform of their employment protection systems differed. In Portugal, the government persevered and implemented a reform in line with Flexicurity principles. By contrast, the Greek government initially favoured Flexicurity and initiated a reform process of the legal framework; however the reform was halted. The article explains this divergence by combining the insights of Europeanization and Varieties of Capitalism literatures. It is argued that in cases of Mixed Market Economies, ‘misfit’ with EU stimuli is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for institutional change. Instead, reforms depend on union structure and the existence of policy entrepreneurs favouring reform, which explains the divergent reform paths.

Flexicurity between Europeanization and Varieties of Capitalism

The article examines the adoption of Flexicurity principles in Portugal and Greece during 2006–2009. Despite the similar conditions between the two cases and common EU stimulus, the process and final outcomes in the reform of their employment protection systems differed. In Portugal, the government persevered and implemented a reform in line with Flexicurity principles. By contrast, the Greek government initially favoured Flexicurity and initiated a reform process of the legal framework; however the reform was halted. The article explains this divergence by combining the insights of Europeanization and Varieties of Capitalism literatures. It is argued that in cases of Mixed Market Economies, ‘misfit’ with EU stimuli is a necessary, but not sufficient condition for institutional change. Instead, reforms depend on union structure and the existence of policy entrepreneurs favouring reform, which explains the divergent reform paths.

Tracing the Europeanization of Greek Employment Policy with Regard to Gender Equality Promotion: Following the ESF Money?

This chapter examines the impact of the EES on GEP with regard to gender equality promotion. This chapter is divided into four sections. The first section discusses the content of GEP before the introduction of the EES, arguing that gender equality promotion in the GEP was absent, first, because it was neglected by the Greek elites and political system, and second, because of the underdevelopment of the Greek welfare state. The second section examines the reforms promoting gender equality in employment policy after the introduction of the EES, arguing that it was only after 2001 that there was a substantial policy change in GEP with regard to gender equality promotion, which can be traced in two areas: (i) expanding training and start-up subsidies to women and (ii) expanding care facilities to promote the reconciliation of work and family life. The third examines the EES’s influence on domestic employment policy with regard to gender equality promotion, focusing on two areas: gender mainstreaming (GM) and dedicated equality measures in employment policy (reconciliation of work and family and pay gaps). It is argued that the EES impact on GEP occurred through the ESF conditionality (3rd Europeanization pathway). In other words, Greek policymakers did not change their views nor use the EES to empower themselves to promote a pre-existing agenda. This is deduced from the fact that they were obliged to adapt and conform to the ESF’s regulations on gender equality in order to keep receiving the ESF funds.

Gender Equality Promotion in Portuguese Employment Policy: Europeanization through Domestic Empowerment

This chapter examines the PEP reforms with regard to the promotion of gender equality. As in the Greek case, for analytical reasons this inquiry is divided into two policy areas: (i) GM and (ii) dedicated equality measures in employment policy. The first section of the chapter outlines the features of Portuguese employment policy (PEP) before the mid-1990s, with a particular focus on gender equality promotion, arguing that, despite Portugal’s very good labour market performance for women and some significant reforms after the late 1970s reforms, gender equality promotion lost salience and disappeared from the agenda concerning PEP until the mid-1990s. The second section examines the reforms that took place after the mid-1990s, which aimed at promoting GM and dedicated equality measures in employment policy. As in all other cases of the book, this division is made in order to examine the temporal sequences of reforms and the content of the agenda and policy before and after the EES and thus establish any causal significance of the EES. It is argued that, despite its considerably better labour market situation, Portugal showed a similar reform pattern to Greece regarding gender equality promotion in PEP. More specifically, after 1995, contrary to the previous period of immobility since the Portuguese entry to the EU (1986), a plethora of measures and reforms took place aiming at promoting gender equality in PEP.

The European Employment Strategy and National Employment Policies

This chapter discusses the variables of this study. The first part examines the independent variable of this study — the European Employment Strategy (EES) — arguing that the EES is composed of two kinds of stimuli:1 (i) soft law instruments (EES guidelines, country-specific recommendations and benchmarks) and (ii) financial conditionality (funding from the ESF). This conceptualization of the EES diverges from most of the literature on the topic as the EES is usually treated primarily as a soft law instrument (cf. Hodson and Maher 2001; Regent 2003; de la Porte 2002; for a review, see Trubek and Trubek 2005; Kroger 2009b; Borras and Radaelli 2010). The benefit of this understanding is that it encompasses all possible EES stimuli when examining the domestic impact of the EES. The second part discusses the way the impact of the EES will be measured on the study’s dependent variable — national employment policy. The book will use a combination of established indicators and typologies to do so, namely the policy cycle model, Hall’s and Europeanization typologies of change.