Decentralization and the Welfare State: Activation Policies between Decentralization and Centralization

López-Santana’s presentation will focus on territorial and governance transformation in the policy area of Active Labor Market Policy since the 1990s. The presenter will discuss how Germany, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States have transformed the postwar organization of the labor market policy structures through decentralization, centralization, and delegation reforms. By differentiating between administrative, political, and fiscal reforms, the author will also highlight common cross-national trends, as well as cross-national dissimilarities, in the nature of reconfiguration reforms. More specifically, López-Santana will argue that while these countries have introduced reforms to increase flexibility, institutional models have not converged--some countries have transferred significant powers downward, while others have matched flexibility with a strong role of central levels of government.