2003), ‘The ‘New Politics’ of the Bismarckian Welfare State

How do veto-heavy European welfare systems engage in reform? In this paper we analyse the pensions policy reform process in four Bismarckian welfare states against the background of recent theorizing about the scope and nature of welfare reform. We develop the notion of a ‘double trade off ’ – involving both politics and policy- to illustrate how governments manage to push reforms forward despite the opposition of strong vested interests. In the process we also reach a number of conclusions about recent theoretical understandings of reform in continental Europe, including both the process of reform and the nature of reform outcomes