Debating Unemployment Policy: Political Communication and the Labour Market in Western Europe

Cambridge University Press, 4/30/2019
EAN 9781108497510, ISBN10: 1108497519

Hardcover, 348 pages, 23.5 x 15.6 x 2.2 cm
Language: English

In 2008 the world experienced the Great Recession, a financial and economic crisis of enormous proportions and the greatest economic downturn since the 1930s. In its wake, unemployment became a key preoccupation of West European publics and politicians. This comparative study considers the policy debates surrounding unemployment in the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Denmark and Switzerland since 2008. With an over-arching focus on drawing out cross-national commonalities and differences, the authors ask whether patterns of political communication vary across countries. Their analysis draws on interviews with labour market policy-makers in the six selected countries, and paints a revealing picture. Appealing to researchers in comparative politics, political communication and welfare state research, this book will also interest practitioners involved in labour market policy.

Part I. The Context Structures and the Policy-Specific Debates
1. Introduction
shaping the debate on unemployment and the labor market Hanspeter Kriesi, Laurent Bernhard, Flavia Fossati and Regula Hänggli
2. Theoretical framework
production of policy-specific political communication Regula Hänggli and Flavia Fossati
3. The political contexts of the national policy debates Hanspeter Kriesi, Flavia Fossati, Laurent Bernhard
4. The variety of national debates Hanspeter Kriesi, Laurent Bernhard, Flavia Fossati, Regula Hänggli and Christian Elmelund-Præstekær
Part II. The Political Actors and Their Assets
5. What affects power in the labor market domain? Laurent Bernhard
6. The labor market policy space Flavia Fossati
7. Beliefs or interests
what is the driving force behind coalition formation? Laurent Bernhard
8. The action repertoires for shaping the debates Laurent Bernhard
Part III. Communicating in Public
9. Framing strategies
important messages in public debates Regula Hänggli
10. The positioning of the actors in the public debates Hanspeter Kriesi and Regula Hänggli
11. Inside the interaction context Laurent Bernhard
12. Quality of public debates Regula Hänggli and Richard van der Wurff
Part IV. Conclusion
13. Conclusion Laurent Bernhard.