What are the welfare preferences of right-wing parties? Do they pursue neoliberal social policy reforms only, or rather different right-wing parties have diverse ideas and positions on key welfare issues? Does competition among right parties - and with left-wing parties as well - also involve social policy reform? What are the potential consequences of the recent rise of radical right parties for established welfare arrangements in the EU?

While the welfare state literature has often highlighted the role of left-wing parties in welfare state expansion and retrenchment, the positions, programmatic options and welfare preferences of right-wing parties - Christian democratic, conservative, liberals, radical right - remain largely under-researched. The panel aims to bridge this gap addressing the questions above from a trans-Atlantic, interdisciplinary and multidimensional perspective. It thus brings together political scientists and sociologists working in the fields of comparative politics, electoral and opinion studies, as well as social policies in order to highlight right parties’ welfare preferences in Europe and in USA through the analysis of party manifestos, electoral strategies and welfare reforms.

The various papers show that at least four factors contribute shaping welfare preferences on the right of the political spectrum: i) either new or well-entrenched Rokkanian cleavages; ii) welfare state settings – i.e. universalistic vs occupational vs means-tested; iii) welfare state sectors – e.g. health care, pensions, unemployment, anti-poverty policies; iv) political competition dynamics both among (right vs left) and within camps (right vs right).