147 Politics, Policies and Governance in South European Welfare States

South European welfare states under strain: impacts, processes and actors
Wednesday, June 26, 2013: 2:00 PM-3:45 PM
2.22 (Binnengasthuis)
The big recession has struck South European economies both hard and long and it is still far from reaching an end. South European welfare states are undergoing stringent pressures and tensions stemming both from within and from without. The need to comply with the objective of attaining budgetary balances has been conducive to severe cuts in public budgets and the adoption of retrenchment measures. Moreover, the protraction of the crisis is posing challenges for the ability of social protection programmes to act as anti-cyclical stabilizers. This panel assesses comparatively the processes of policy reforms in the fields of pensions and health care, the evolution of the welfare-mix, as well as challenges to existing patterns of government and governance.
Chair:
Ana Marta Guillen
Discussant:
Berta Įlvarez-Miranda
Reassessing South-European pensions: Evidence from two decades of reform
David Natali, University of Bologna; Furio Stamati, European University Institute
Threats and challenges to South European health care systems in the time of crisis
Maria Petmesidou, Democritus University of Thrace; Emmanuele Pavolini, Macerata University; Ana Marta Guillen, University of Oviedo, Spain
Civil Society, the Welfare Mix and Southern European Welfare States: what has been happening in the last decade?
Ugo Ascoli, Universitą Politecnica delle Marche; Miguel Glatzer, La Salle University