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KMID : 1124020100260020253
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Korean Social Security Studies
2010 Volume.26 No. 2 p.253 ~ p.284
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A Fuzzy-Set Ideal Type Analysis on Activation Trends in Continental Welfare States, 2000-2007
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Kim Jong-Il
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Abstract
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Continental European welfare states launched their activation policies in the 1990s. The 2000s have seen their activation ever more consolidated. However, research works on continental welfare states are notedly scarce compared to Anglo-Saxon or Nordic countries. This paper intends to bridge the gap. Its primary focus is on the pattern of Continental activation policies since 2000. A fuzzy-set ideal type analysis has been utilized to analyze the activation trends. We first identified three core concepts of aspects of activation policies, i.e., income generosity, labor market policy activism, employment protection strictness. We then constructed empirical indicators, criteria for qualitative breaking points, and procedures for translation of raw data into fuzzy membership values. Finally we examined membership scores for each country in the three fuzzy sets. The result shows that Germany and France maintained fairly well their previous Continental type while the Netherlands and Belgium did not. The Dutch case confirms the general conception that the country has been changed into something other than a Continental welfare state. However, this claim needs to be put into a wider perspective because this paper only focuses on the nexus of income security and labor markets. Accordingly the path dependence thesis also needs to be tested in a comprehensive frame of analysis. For now a modest conclusion could be drawn.
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KEYWORD
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Continental welfare states, activation policies, activation types, fuzzy-set ideal type analysis
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