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

Considers the policy debates surrounding unemployment in Western Europe after the outbreak of the Great Recession.

Laurent Bernhard (Edited by), Flavia Fossati (Edited by), Regula Hänggli (Edited by), Hanspeter Kriesi (Edited by)

9781108497510, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 2 May 2019

348 pages, 90 tables
23.5 x 15.6 x 2.2 cm, 0.62 kg

'This highly important book studies policy debates about unemployment at the height of the Great Recession in six Western European countries on the basis of innovative survey and interview data and rigorous comparative analysis. It shows that these debates are regime-dependent, and they also strongly depend on the arenas they take place in (parliamentary or administrative/corporatist). Therefore, this masterful book is equally important for scholars in political communication and in policy analysis: the contents and dynamics of debates cannot be understood without context-specific policy knowledge; and understanding policy change requires linking ideas to agency through the study of debates.' Silja Häusermann, Universität Zürich

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.

Subject Areas: Political economy [KCP], Politics & government [JP]