Recasting Welfare Capitalism: Economic Adjustment in Contemporary France and Germany

249 Pages·2009·0.66 MB·English

by  Mark Vail

Recasting Welfare Capitalism

Mark I. Vail
Recasting
Welfare
Capitalism
Economic Adjustment in
Contemporary France and Germany
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Philadelphia
Mark I. Vail is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Tulane
University. He is a contributor to The State after Statism, edited by Jonah D. Levy,
and has published work in Comparative Politics, European Journal of Political Research,
and West European Politics, among other venues.
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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Philadelphia PA 19122
www.temple.edu/tempress
Copyright © 2010 by Temple University
All rights reserved
Published 2010
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this publication meets the requirements of the American
National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed
Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Vail, Mark I.
Recasting welfare capitalism : economic adjustment in contemporary France
and Germany / Mark I. Vail.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59213-967-5 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Welfare state—France. 2. Capitalism—France. 3. Welfare state—
Germany. 4. Capitalism—Germany. I. Title.
HN425.5.V35 2009
330.12'60943—dc22 2009013154
2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
In memory of Bernadette Popovitch

Contents
List of Tables ix
Preface xi
Abbreviations xvii
Introduction: Recasting Welfare Capitalism in an
Age of Austerity 1
1 The Politics of Austerity in Advanced Industrial Democracies 16
2 The Rise and Fall of the Postwar Golden Age and the
Development of French and German Welfare Capitalism 33
3 Recasting France’s Political-Economic Order:
The Demise of Dirigisme and the Turn to the Market 50
4 German Reunifi cation and the Economic and Social
Incorporation of Eastern Germany 66
5 Modernizing the French and German Labor Markets
in an Age of Austerity 82
6 The Shifting Politics of French and German
Social-Insurance Reform 115
7 New Social Rights in France and Germany 144
Conclusion: French and German Welfare-Capitalist
Adjustment in Historical and Comparative Perspective 161
Notes 173
Index 221

List of Tables
I.1 Post-1945 Models of French Policymaking 12
I.2 Post-1945 Models of German Policymaking 12
4.1 Programs for Economic Development and Social Welfare
in Eastern Germany 69
5.1 Major French Labor-Market Reforms, 1993–Present 99
5.2 Major German Labor-Market Reforms, 1993–Present 112
6.1 French Health and Pension Reforms, 1993–Present 120
6.2 German Health and Pension Reforms, 1989–Present 132
7.1 French Antipoverty Benefi ts, 1956–Present 153
C.1 Major French Social-Protection Reforms, 1988–Present 166
C.2 Major German Social-Protection Reforms, 1989–Present 167