Europeanization of social policy discourse the case of Croatia

1
Europeanization of social policy discourse the
case of Croatia

• Danijela Dolenec
• CERD, IDIZ
• IPSA conference Dubrovnik - June 2008.

2
Structure of presentation

• Wider context political party systems in
  postcommunist Europe
• Europeanization
• Influence of the European Social Model in Croatia
• Research design
• Findings
• Conclusions

3
Context development of political party systems
in postcommunist countries

• Dawisha and Deets 2006 political learning
  parties as seat maximisers the importance of
  first 3 rounds of elections
• McAllister and White 2007 quick consolidation of
  party systems
• Grzymala Busse 2002 transformation of former
  communist parties into parties of the left PL
  and HU (and Cro)
• Jasiewitz 2007 affiliation with European
  socialists and social democrats
• Parties on the right? Fish and Krickovic 2003

4
Europeanization

• Rule application on the one hand, but also
  informal influence through soft legislation and
  close cooperation between domestic and
  international institutions
• Influences change in domestic institutions,
  affects expectations of actors, and the general
  framing and conceptions of specific policy issues
• Knill and Lehmkuhl 1999, Olsen 2001, Guillen and
  Palier 2004.

5
Europeanization of social policy discourse
focus on the European Social Model

• European Social Model (ESM) conceptualised as a
  modernising project of the European welfare state
  (Jepsen and Pascual 2005)
• ESM embodied in a set of policy prescriptions
  developed since the Lisbon Council in 2000.
• ESM term coined by Jacques Delors to signify an
  alternative to the American form of capitalism,
  and an idea that social and economic progress
  should go hand in hand
• Identity markers of ESM generous welfare state
  and social regulation of economy (Scharpf 2002)

6
Research design

• In this study the influence of Europeanization is
  analysed through content and discourse analysis
  of Croatias two main political parties
  programmes in the period 1999-2007
• The first aim is to establish whether the ESM as
  an instance of Europeanization is exterting
  influence on policymakers as Croatia comes closer
  to EU membership
• The second aim is to couch the case of Croatia
  within the broader analysis of political party
  systems in postcommunist countries, with special
  emphasis on the transformation of the political
  right

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codebook
A. TYPE CODES - POLICY PRECRIPTIONS 1. Increase
incentives for entering employment Tax and
benefit systems should be adapted to make work
pay and encourage the search for jobs. 2. Ensure
that wages better reflect productivity By
modernising employment legislation, taking
account of the need for both flexibility
and security, inter alia, by relaxing overly
restrictive elements that affect labour market
dynamics 3. Invest more in human capital to
increase employability Raise the general standard
of education and reduce the number of early
school-leavers, in particular by continuing with
the Education and Training 2010 work programme.
Lifelong learning is a sine qua non if the Lisbon
objectives are to be achieved, taking into
account the desirability of high quality at all
levels. 4. Increase employability of young
people 5. Improve labour mobility Over
occupations, sectors, regions and across borders,
for example by improving transparency and
recognition between systems of vocational
education. 6. Adapt social protection systems to
development of an individual working
life pattern Allow for career interruptions, for
instance for child upbringing or care for the
elderly, easier transition between full-time and
part-time arrangements, working and training
periods, and enabling the extension of working
life. 7. Encourage more women to enter the labour
market By providing childcare and other policies
for reconciling work and family life 8. Retain
older workers By reducing early retirement
incentives for individuals and the introduction
of early retirement schemes by companies, and
through flexible and gradual retirement formulas
and guaranteeing real access to life long
learning. 9. Convert undeclared work into lawful
employment 10. Actively involve social
partners The success of reform requires
commitment from employers and workers at the
grass roots, and improve governance. 11. Reform
pension systems In order to ensure that they are
both financially sustainable and meet their
social objectives 12. Target help on
underrepresented and disadvantaged groups Develop
priority actions addressed to specific target
groups minority groups, children, the
elderly and the disabled.
8
codebook
B. TYPE CODES - PHRASES European Social
Model Make work pay More and better jobs Active
employment measures Modernise employment
legislation to increase employability Relax
restrictions in job market Flexibility and
security Human capital investment Lifelong
learning Labour mobility Modernise social
protection Equal opportunities Women in the
labour market Better childcare Reconcile work and
family life Retain older workers Extend working
life Discourage early retirement Social
partnership Social cohesion Social
inclusion Social exclusion
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Croatia case findings 1. brief history

• Croatian parliament 1995

10
Croatia case findings 1. brief history

• Croatian parliament 2000

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Croatia case findings 1. brief history

• Croatian parliament 2003

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Croatia case findings 1. brief history

• Croatian parliament 2007

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Findings 2. SDP party programmes

• overal strong influence of ESM as political idea,
  strengthening especially since the 2003 electoral
  programme
• Almost all policy prescriptions present
• Programmatic continuity

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Findings 2. CDU party programmes

• Social programme dominantly conservative
• Programmatic discontinuity
• since the 2003 election there has been a strong
  re-orientation at the level of discourse towards
  Europe in general, and the Christian Democratic
  political option in particular

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Conclusions

• SDP programmatic continuity
• CDU programmatic discontinuity
• Both partiess social policy discourse has become
  Europeanized since 2003 (both parties espouse
  dedication to the European social state of the
  21st century), but there is a significant
  difference between their underlying conceptions
  of society
• even though there is convergence due to external
  political pressure, domestic politics still
  matters

16
thanksDanijela Dolenec danijela_at_idi.hr