Documents Natili, Marcello 4 results

"The absence of a minimum income scheme was a key feature of the Southern European Model. In the past 20 years, countries in this cluster have witnessed major changes in this policy field. In particular, in Spain, regional safety nets have been introduced which cover the entire country and consolidated over time. Also in Italy, regional programmes were introduced, but they do not diffuse throughout the country and were often subsequently discontinued. How can we explain path departure and divergence in the policy trajectories, in those two otherwise similar countries? To solve those puzzles, this article departs from previous claims about the limited relevance of political competition in this policy field, underlying the crucial role of specific political exchange between social actors and political parties. "

" In multi-tiered states, subnational policymakers face a dilemma: on one hand, they must ensure the social legitimacy of their subnational unit by owning relevant policies including their potentially negative consequences; on the other, they have to manage their budget responsibly, which limits the scope of policy development. We study this dilemma in relation to social policies, by examining how the constituent units and municipalities in Germany, Italy, Spain and Switzerland deal with it, taking social assistance as an empirical example. Our analysis suggests that the combination of the federation's history and a multinational political context affects the incentives and the choices made by the policymakers regarding ownership and disownership of policy competencies in the field of social assistance. By analysing mechanisms that are likely to play out in multi-tiered welfare states, our article contributes to both the social policy and the political science literatures."

"The paper addresses a topic still largely under-researched in comparative welfare state literature: the role of right parties in the reform of last resort safety nets. More precisely, the study investigates minimum income schemes' reforms promoted during the Great Recession (2008–2013) by centre-right governments in three countries belonging to the European periphery: Italy, Portugal and Latvia. Despite common political orientation and increased problem pressure, these countries have gone through distinct reform trajectories in their social safety nets that may be labelled expansion (Latvia), retrenchment (Portugal), and continuity (Italy). Against this backdrop, the paper suggests that right parties display substantially different positions and pursue different reform strategies in anti-poverty policies. These differences can be explained by the diverse types of right parties and varying competition and coalition dynamics in the three countries."

"Until recently, the idea of a European minimum wage (EMW) policy had never taken concrete shape, due to the heterogeneity of national wage-setting and collective bargaining institutions, uncertain EU competence on the matter, and widespread scepticism amongst political actors. In 2022, however, the EU adopted a directive on adequate minimum wages. How did this make it to the EU agenda, despite the many political, territorial and institutional tensions? What coalitions supported and opposed it? Based on a reconstruction of the policy process substantiated by an analysis of news media data and 14 interviews, this article investigates the multi-level politics of the EMW. It shows that, despite enduring ‘euro-social scepticism' in northern Europe, the emergence of pro-minimum wage coalitions in key member states and the increase of party-competition dynamics at the EU level were crucial in overcoming the lines of conflict that had long hindered EU initiatives on minimum wage co-ordination."