The present article has a twofold objective. First, it proposes the Long-Term Care Coordination Index (LTC-CoIn), an analytical tool designed to systematically evaluate the scope of intergovernmental and intersectoral coordination mechanisms in long-term care (LTC) systems, applicable to any territorially complex country. Second, it applies this index to analyse the governance of the Spanish LTC system (SAAD) from its creation in 2006 to the present day. The methodology adopts a mixed-methods approach grounded in historical neo-institutionalism, combining documentary analysis and 16 semi-structured interviews with public decision-makers at the state, regional, and municipal levels, as well as sector experts, with the systematic ordinal scoring of the LTC-CoIn indicators through the triangulation of this qualitative evidence. The findings reveal a significant asymmetry between the two dimensions of coordination: while intergovernmental mechanisms show a moderate degree of development, intersectoral integration between health and social services remains an unresolved structural challenge, with critical deficits in integrated information systems, referral protocols, and interprofessional training. Beyond the Spanish case, the LTC-CoIn provides a replicable analytical framework for synchronic and diachronic comparative studies across different federal and multilevel systems
Abstract This paper explores how homestay policies for displaced Ukrainians can be structured around hospitality and shaped by dynamics of reciprocity. Drawing on 29 interviews in Poland and 26 in the UK with individuals hosting Ukrainian war refugees, we apply Komter and van Leer’s (2012) hospitality framework to examine the selectivity, reciprocity, and potential for power imbalances within host–guest relationships. The article highlights how hospitality is selectively extended, with a clear preference for Ukrainian refugees, and how policy can facilitate selectivity (e.g. when hosts can choose their guests). We show that despite differences in contexts, hosting policy and practice in the two countries, reciprocity remains a central organising principle. Our findings also demonstrate the risks of dependency and unequal power relations inherent in hospitality-based arrangements. We argue for a greater role for the state in mediating these exchanges through financial support and regulatory safeguards, ensuring more equitable and secure hosting practices.
Abstract Social investment policies have introduced a shift in the normative underpinnings of European welfare states but are layered into compensatory and workfarist policies. This article questions the normative outcomes of social investment from a citizen perspective, asking how hybrid active labour market policies (ALMPs) shape citizen-level norms of social solidarity. Building on normative feedback theory, we conduct a comparative qualitative secondary analysis of focus-group datasets from France and Belgium (2006; 2019), where enabling instruments were gradually introduced between observation points. Based on a two-fold operationalization of citizen-level norms, we report that compensatory and workfarist cues dominate discussions with scarce reference to capacitation. The frames participants rely on feature normative tensions, particularly the ambivalent coexistence of compensation and individual responsibility. The normative feedback of ALMPs takes the form of a dilemma between generous-yet-stringent solidarity. Social investment policy norms have not (yet) reshaped citizen-level norms of social solidarity.
Abstract This article assesses whether recent Irish activation reforms for lone parents’ function as capacitating elements of a social investment (SI) strategy. Although activation is presented as evidence of Ireland’s shift towards SI, our analysis questions this claim using the concept of agentic capacity – the structured conditions enabling individuals to balance care, employment, and education. Drawing on two small-scale studies, we centre lived experiences of activation requirements and income supports and find that while access to education and training can strengthen autonomy and future planning, these benefits are constrained by conditionality, administrative burdens, childcare shortages, and age-based thresholds. The reforms thus represent a model in which coercive activation logics persist within SI rhetoric. By advancing agentic capacity as an evaluative criterion, the article contributes to debates on activation and SI, highlighting how institutional design, childcare provision, temporal alignment, and conditionality shape meaningful choice for lone parents.
Implementation represents the most crucial step in the policy process; it is at this stage where the hardest battles for policy success are fought. Implementation is also the most complex of the policy cycle stages, with the largest amount of resources and highest number of actors involved in it. In the realm of social policy, outputs and outcomes determined during the implementation stage have a direct impact on the welfare of the population. However, in both political and academic domains, the analysis of implementation activities commonly receives less attention than the other stages. This article seeks to address this gap by reviewing and comparing relevant issues of social policy implementation in Latin America and Southern Europe, regions that share similar historical and political legacies. Research on these two regions enables the identification of many critical obstacles that social policy implementation faces today in these and other contexts and of opportunities for its improvement.
Digitalisation in health introduces new actors, risks, and challenges into health governance. Global health institutions such as World Bank, World Health Organisation, and the now-disbanded US Agency for International Development play a central role in shaping how governments navigate this evolving technical terrain. This paper examines digital health discourses of these organisations in the early 2020s, asking why, how, and by whom digital health is promoted. Using Political Discourse Analysis, we study three flagship documents, selected from 72. Our analysis shows that these organisations engage in depoliticisation, portraying digital health as an inevitable wave that governments must adopt rapidly and extensively. This techno-optimist framing overlooks government capacity gaps concerning the complexity of strategic adoption and asymmetric power relations with technology providers, and the absence of political engagement with risks and challenges. These discourses foster a depoliticised vision of digital health, overlooking the political mechanisms for digitalisation to benefit the public.
Housing issues are a growing global concern and a key topic on the European policy agenda. Across EU, challenges such as immigration, economic stagnation, inequality, and ageing populations exacerbate housing provision issues. This growing concern demands effective solutions, guided by research, data-driven insights, and comparative analysis. This study overviews and compares housing provision in the EU countries. Using OECD and Eurostat data from 2010 to 2021, we examine governments’ roles in housing provision and assess availability, affordability, and adequacy, while exploring their interrelationships. Through hierarchical cluster analysis and cartographic visualization, we identify clusters of countries with similar housing characteristics. The findings reveal significant variation, with some countries struggling with availability, others with affordability or adequacy. Our results highlight a clear divide in housing challenges between Eastern, Western, Southern, and Northern Europe, largely aligning with welfare state regimes.
Brazil has a longstanding and significant tradition in the development of social housing; however, this topic remains underexplored within the field of social policy. This study adopts qualitative methods, including an analysis of housing legislation, from the past two decades and, and data from 20 semi-structured interviews conducted between June and September 2021 with key stakeholders in housing policy, such as policymakers, and activists. The findings reveal a persistent gap between policy promises and actual implementation, alongside a continuing trend toward the financialization and commodification of social housing – particularly in programs such as Minha Casa, Minha Vida (My House, My Life) and Casa Verde e Amarela (Green and Yellow House). The study offers novel empirical insights into the role of social housing within broader ecosocial policy frameworks. One of the central findings is the interconnection between social housing, environmental concerns, and sustainability. The Brazilian case, in particular, stands out as a distinctive and pioneering contribution to the field.
Digital solutions are seen as ways to improve citizens’ access to public services and raise their trust. Yet, the specific impact of digital public services for migrants, remains understudied. Therefore, this study investigates migrants’ use of digital public services and examines the impact of such services on migrants’ satisfaction with migration agencies. We rely on original data from an online survey ( N = 22,659) in Sweden consisting of migrants who received decisions from the migration agency regarding a variety of applications. Our results show that online applications are not related to higher satisfaction among migrant groups when measured as satisfaction during general contact. However, with more specific measurements, such as satisfaction when visiting the migration agency, online applications are related to higher satisfaction. We also find that satisfaction with the migration agency is stratified across different types of applications, with asylum-seekers being the least satisfied in their contact with the migration agency.
Latin American and South European countries share a common policy legacy of public Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) pension systems, yet reform paths taken over the past decades between and within the two regions have varied. Latin American countries opted for the full or partial privatization of their public pension systems, yet subsequent reforms have challenged the public–private mix. Meanwhile, countries in Southern Europe opted for a less radical path, entailing different degrees of reform of their public pillars and the introduction of supplementary private ones. Our analysis focuses on Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay – in Latin America – and Spain, Italy, and Greece – in Southern Europe – and the reforms implemented since 1990. In understanding reform variation, we argue that by focusing on the role of political institutions and policy legacies, it is possible to identify reform mechanisms.
Throughout the 21st century, many welfare states have expanded family policies. However, the COVID-19 pandemic spurred significant, though varied, adjustments in family benefits across countries. This study conducts a qualitative comparative policy analysis of ten high-income countries, selected on the basis welfare regime theory, to examine how family policy changed during the COVID-19 crisis and whether these changes marked the beginning of new policy paths. The analysis shows that most institutional responses for families with children were incremental and temporary in nature, serving to reinforce rather than overhaul existing welfare systems. These results align with historical institutionalist theory and its emphasis on path dependence. Despite some convergence in emergency measures, long-standing differences in areas such as childcare availability and benefit generosity persist across the studies welfare state regimes. While the pandemic acted as a catalyst for certain policy innovations, it did not fundamentally disrupt the institutional logic underpinning family policy.
Implementation arrangements are increasingly recognized as a decisive factor in the success of contemporary welfare policies, particularly those that combine income support with activation requirements. This paper examines the Italian case of minimum income schemes - the Reddito di Inclusione and the Reddito di Cittadinanza - to explore how local implementation arrangements shape one of their core objectives: reintegrating beneficiaries into the labour market. Drawing on an original dataset that integrates administrative data with a unique INAPP survey of local institutions, we operationalize “implementation arrangements” along three dimensions: institutional capacity, alignment between organizational missions and policy goals, and the quality of institutional cooperation within a multilevel governance framework. Using regression models at the municipal level, we find that implementation strength matters, but horizontal cooperation and effective communication between Public Employment Services (PES) and Local Social Planning Institutions (LSPIs) emerge as the strongest predictors of successful outcomes. While PES performance is central due to their policy mandate, LSPIs’ ability to foster integrated networks also contributes positively when well-coordinated. These findings highlight that policy success depends less on formal design than on the quality of local governance and institutional complementarities. The results provide new evidence for the literature on implementation, underscoring the importance of horizontal multilevel governance in active social policies.
This article provides new exploratory information on child support amounts expected for non-resident fathers of children living with low-income, unemployed mothers in Colombia, Finland, Peru, the United States, and Uruguay. Using vignette data obtained through extensive interviews with judicial and social service personnel and child support experts, we investigated whether child support is expected and its amount when single mothers are unemployed, considering four different levels of earnings for fathers. In all countries but Finland, child support is expected when the father has only temporary employment. For the lowest income fathers, child support expectations in Colombia, Peru, and Uruguay are similar or higher than the United States and higher in Finland. In all countries except Colombia, child support expectations are higher when father’s income is higher. We discuss implications for policy and future research.
Welfare regime theory remains a central framework in social policy literature, valued for its theoretical insights and policy relevance. However, as this framework is increasingly applied to countries in the Global South, scholars have questioned whether all contexts fit neatly into the established welfare regime types. Recent contributions suggest adopting a hybrid lens, which recognizes that welfare arrangements often vary within the same country, with different populations experiencing distinct forms of social protection. This study contributes to this evolving debate by exploring the development of Iraq’s welfare system and proposing a hybrid classification within the welfare regime framework. We argue that Iraq functions as a hybrid welfare regime, where access to welfare and social protection is unevenly distributed across different segments of society. In doing so, the study extends welfare regime theory by classifying Iraq as a case of hybrid welfare regime and highlights the importance of hybrid welfare models for understanding welfare systems in the Global South.
This article addresses a critical research gap by investigating the link between social polarization and contemporary societal challenges, such as poverty and crime. Despite the existence of numerous studies describing the effects of income disparity, the role of social stratification in inducing delinquency and poorness in transitional economies has not received sufficient consideration. The author conducts an analysis of income inequality metrics (IIMs) across Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) nations, examining dependencies that provide a precise depiction of the correlation between socioeconomic disparity and urgent society’s problems. The study disclosed that the lowest proportion of the impoverished was observed in countries with a minimal income disparity, such as Belarus and Kazakhstan; in contrast, nations that exhibit a significant degree of income differentiation, such as Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Armenia, demonstrate the highest proportion of the impoverished. Following a linear regression approach, the study revealed a strong positive correlation between IIMs and crime rate. By shedding light on these dependencies, the article provides fresh insights into the dynamic relationship between major social problems in the CIS countries.
While most Conditional Cash Transfer programs in Latin America expanded from rural to national coverage, Peru’s Juntos program maintained a strict rural focus for 15 years, systematically excluding poor urban households. This article examines the Peruvian paradox: why, despite regional trends and internal efforts to broaden coverage, Juntos remained territorially constrained. Using process tracing and semi-structured interviews with policymakers, senior bureaucrats, former congress members, and policy experts, the study identifies two institutional legacies rooted in the neoliberal reforms of the Fujimori era. First, the institutional consolidation of the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) as a powerful veto player with control over public spending; and second, the diffusion of an ideational framework centered on fiscal austerity, efficiency, and aversion to clientelism. These legacies gave rise to two policy locks, a persistent rural bias and a regime of horizontal and fiscal control, that have limited the program’s adaptability to shifting poverty dynamics and urban demands.
Countries in Africa face serious and worsening poverty brought about by historical and recent factors including the global economic downturn and national debt crises. Different actors have tested several mechanisms with the promise to alleviate poverty. Bottom-of-the-pyramid (BoP) and social assistance programmes in the form of cash transfers are such models. Despite the hype associated with the models, both demonstrate little achievement in the promotion of well-being in Africa, but instead, businesses are profiting at the expense of the poor. In this paper, we argue that the two models are precursors, handmaidens and the embodiment of the financialisation of social policy in Africa. Drawing on field interviews in Kenya, we demonstrate how the models have enabled financialisation of social policy through a narrative of financial inclusion of the poor, integration of market players in social protection, and through motives to orient the poor towards service-oriented markets.
This article presents an analytical framework for studying implementation failure in minimum income programs targeted against poverty and applies it to a case study focused on the recent introduction in Spain of the first national minimum income programme, the Minimum Living Income (MLI). The framework combines two criteria (the type of agent potentially triggering failure, and the type of administrative challenge) to produce four types of implementation problems in targeted minimum income schemes: identification failure, administrative incapacity, nontake-up, and overpayments. We apply this framework in the case of MLI by conducting an exhaustive review of empirical research on its implementation problems. This evidence suggests that the special political circumstances in which the MLI was approved, some features of its design, and its insertion into a complex institutional landscape of regional minimum incomes, explain part of these problems. We conclude with some final remarks and recommendations.
Self-rated health (SRH) is widely used as an indicator of health in population studies, and there has been an increased interest in cross-national variations. Numerous studies have found an association between SRH and health, including whether there are interactional effects at both the micro and the macro levels. This article compares the effect of social meetings on SRH across different welfare regimes in Europe. We discuss whether differences in welfare design may explain some of the variations in the impact of social meetings on SRH. We observe regime-specific patterns and identify cross-national variations. One main finding is that the effect of social meetings on SRH is stronger in all other welfare regimes compared to the social-democratic regime. Examining the pattern of association between SRH and social meetings across welfare regimes offers valuable insight into whether welfare systems may moderate potential health risks stemming from fewer social meetings.
