Valeria Fargion

Continental Inconsistencies on the path to activation: consequences for social citizenship in Italy and France

A priori, Italy and France would appear as unfit for activation policies. Yet, when activation is seen as a diversified strategy of restructuring welfare states across Europe, and not only the ‘activation’ of individuals from assistance, then the empirical picture over the last 20 years is much more complex. One of the main differences between both countries is with regard to the role of the state, whilst at the same time they share many common features. However, French achievements in matters of activation seem to be important, whereas in Italy institutional features have consistently impaired the development of comprehensive strategies.

Europeanisation and territorial representation in Italy

This article aims to examine how, and to what extent, the process of Europeanisation has affected the reshaping of territorial representation in Italy. To explore this research question, it was considered how European Cohesion Policy and structural funds exercise a potential influence over the key dimensions of representation by providing regions with the opportunity to strengthen their roles as both ‘actors’ and ‘arenas’ of representation. Empirical research conducted through interviews and the analysis of documents in all twenty Italian regions revealed how each region has reacted to structural funds in a distinctive way due to different internal factors, such as the legacy of pre-existing policy styles and political structures, and the attitudes of the political/administrative elite. The article discusses this point in detail by focusing on the changes that occurred (or did not occur) at the regional level in light of the aforementioned dimensions of representation.

Social Assistance and the North–South Cleavage in Italy

Abstract This article discusses the effects of regional decentralization on the Italian welfare state, focusing on the development of social assistance policies in the different parts of the country. The analysis of the legislation passed by the regions over the past twenty years suggests, first, that the North–South cleavage obtains and, second, that politics matters. While in most southern regions an archaic system of poverty relief is dominant, the centre-north is characterized largely by a modern system of social services. However, the differences in the performance of regional governments cannot be fully explained by referring exclusively to historical legacy. It must also take account of political variables. In the final section these findings are discussed in a comparative perspective.

Children, Gender and Families in the Italian Welfare State

Notably, the Italian welfare state suffers from major functional and distributive problems originating from the country’s distorted pattern of social spending. In particular, while pension spending is around 15 percentage points above the EU25 average, expenditure for family policies only accounts for 4% of total social spending, compared to an EU average of 8%. Given this data, it is hardly surprising that the major expert on the Italian social protection system, Maurizio Ferrera, devoted his latest book “E’ tempo di donne” to this topic.

Book Review: Rescued by Europe? Social and Labour Market Reforms in Italy from Maastricht to Berlusconi

result of enhanced international competition. Rather, average levels of social expenditure have either increased or remained constant between 1980 and 1998. While there has been a modest degree of change in terms of spending priorities, downsizing at specific programme levels has been counterbalanced by upsizing in other areas. The strongest tendency of the past two decades is a convergence towards ‘steady-state’ welfare spending. Castles also examines the likely effects of demographic developments on welfare states. Many commentators interpret the ageing society as the major threat to welfare states in the future. Again, however, evidence from the past does not support this hypothesis: while demographic changes had an effect on the cross-national distribution of pension spending, it has been of minor significance compared to changes in programme coverage and generosity. Castles thus concludes that the ‘rhetoric about the budgetary consequences of population aging is motivated more by short-term considerations of containing or cutting back public budgets than by justified anxieties concerning the consequences of demographic change’ (p. 139). A second demographic challenge Castles examines is declining fertility rates. He acknowledges that the risk of rapid population decline is not merely a myth, even though the ‘birth-rate blues’ (p. 141 ff.) is not yet an established reality. According to the author, only family-friendly policies might be able to reverse the extent of fertility decline. The essence of the book is that threats of welfare-state crisis made since the mid-1970s have largely remained unfulfilled. Moreover, the findings imply a more prosperous future for welfare states than anticipated by many actors in contemporary debates.