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The politics of occupational pension reform in Britain and the Netherlands: the power of market discipline in liberal and corporatist regimes

The politics of occupational pension reform in Britain and the Netherlands: the power of market discipline in liberal and corporatist regimes
The politics of occupational pension reform in Britain and the Netherlands: the power of market discipline in liberal and corporatist regimes
The politics of occupational pension reform has attracted less attention than state pension retrenchment. Yet, in countries with large occupational welfare sectors changes in company provision can be equally important for welfare system generosity. This paper compares recent occupational pension developments in the Netherlands and Britain, exemplars of coordinated and liberal capitalism. The paper argues that despite regime-typical differences in the nature and process of change, recent developments have also been remarkably similar. In both countries retrenchment and individualisation has left most citizens at risk of being less well off in retirement. Corporatist governance in the Netherlands has not challenged the overall orientation of this process, but has merely distributed the costs of retrenchment more fairly than liberal Britain. Instead, the constraints of the globalised financial market directed change: exposure to market discipline, reinforced by national policy actors and international market regulators, made occupational provision vulnerable to retrenchment regardless of regime type. Thus, the significance for levels of social protection of differences between liberal and corporatist governance models of occupational pensions may have been overrated.
0140-2382
586-610
Bridgen, Paul
6a2060f6-cbab-47d4-a831-ff82350055c9
Meyer, Traute
ee469bf0-ab32-43ac-9f25-1261c24123fe
Bridgen, Paul
6a2060f6-cbab-47d4-a831-ff82350055c9
Meyer, Traute
ee469bf0-ab32-43ac-9f25-1261c24123fe

Bridgen, Paul and Meyer, Traute (2009) The politics of occupational pension reform in Britain and the Netherlands: the power of market discipline in liberal and corporatist regimes. West European Politics, 32 (3), 586-610. (doi:10.1080/01402380902779105).

Record type: Article

Abstract

The politics of occupational pension reform has attracted less attention than state pension retrenchment. Yet, in countries with large occupational welfare sectors changes in company provision can be equally important for welfare system generosity. This paper compares recent occupational pension developments in the Netherlands and Britain, exemplars of coordinated and liberal capitalism. The paper argues that despite regime-typical differences in the nature and process of change, recent developments have also been remarkably similar. In both countries retrenchment and individualisation has left most citizens at risk of being less well off in retirement. Corporatist governance in the Netherlands has not challenged the overall orientation of this process, but has merely distributed the costs of retrenchment more fairly than liberal Britain. Instead, the constraints of the globalised financial market directed change: exposure to market discipline, reinforced by national policy actors and international market regulators, made occupational provision vulnerable to retrenchment regardless of regime type. Thus, the significance for levels of social protection of differences between liberal and corporatist governance models of occupational pensions may have been overrated.

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More information

Published date: 2009
Organisations: Sociology & Social Policy

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 65160
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/65160
ISSN: 0140-2382
PURE UUID: a6e8f1db-0484-454e-806a-9719470d1f37
ORCID for Paul Bridgen: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-6039-3254
ORCID for Traute Meyer: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-0767-8351

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 09 Feb 2009
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 03:16

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