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KMID : 1124020050210020001
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Korean Social Security Studies
2005 Volume.21 No. 2 p.1 ~ p.28
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The Politics of Pension Reform: Political Conditions for Structural Pension Reform in the Three West European Countries
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Kim Yeong-soon
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Abstract
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This paper explores the political conditions for structural pension reform focussing on the experiences of the three west European countries, namely, the UK, Sweden, and Italy. In the UK, a structural pension reform was introduced by the government`s unilateral imposition, while Sweden achieved a fundamental transformation of the pension scheme by building a broad policy-oriented coalition among political parties, and Italy, by a government- trade union consensus. Regardless of these different political expressions of social consensus, the most important factor determining the success or failure of pension reform seems to be power relations among the social actors involved in pension reform. In other words, the experiences of the three countries show that the pension reform can be achieved when the social actors defending existing pension system are divided and weak, and thus welfare coalition for the pension system is broken down. This implies that, contrary to the new institutionalist arguments, the power resource and power relations among the class-based social actors are still important in the welfare politics in the mature welfare states.
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KEYWORD
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structural pension reform, the UK, Sweden, Italy, power resource, power relations, welfare politics, welfare coalition
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