CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2018
| Author | Hasker, Sien |
|---|---|
| Title | From Welfare State to Participation Society: Studying Social Service Access and Equity in the Netherlands |
| Summary | In September 2013, the Dutch government announced it was time to transition from the traditional welfare state to a so-called participation society, instantly bombarding the term to much-maligned word of the year. While the opposition decried it as austerity under another name, proponents argued it was a necessary reinvigoration of personal responsibility in the face of challenges like globalization and an aging population. Localized and targeted solutions would yield better outcomes and promote social cohesion beyond the cold state bureaucracy. This thesis takes stock of the literature investigating this apparent transition, before contextualizing it within broader welfare state change and participation research. Prominent shortcomings are identified and then addressed by presenting a comprehensive theoretical framework, built around the distinction between neoliberal and communitarian models of participation. This framework connects empirical and normative debates, explicitly identifies often unchallenged assumptions, and provides specific guidance as to how to locate and study potential access and equity issues in the shifting welfare landscape. A case study analysis of the Dutch participation society as national policy offers support for the framework’s internal linkages, and highlights how the responsibility and self-sufficiency goals of the neoliberal model mean access and equity matter primarily in terms of outcomes. The subsequent micro-level analysis of citizen initiatives in Gouda identifies a communitarian model, centered on fostering social cohesion, and as such requires attention to the representativeness of participants. This thesis suggests a structured research agenda necessary to ensure participation society studies talk to rather than past each other. |
| Supervisor | Duman, Anil |
| Department | Political Science MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2018/hasker_sien.pdf |
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