The Politics of Work-Family Policy Reforms in Germany and Italy by Agnes Blome

Author:Agnes Blome [Blome, Agnes]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781317554370
Google: GjslDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 33159153
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2016-11-25T00:00:00+00:00

5 How normative beliefs and voting behavior shape party competition on work-family policies

The previous chapter demonstrated how German and Italian work-family policies developed differently after 1990. While Germany focused on the expansion of the public provision of childcare and implemented a generous parental leave scheme especially in the mid-2000s, Italian work-family policies underwent only minor reforms. This chapter provides the first step of the empirical analyses that will explain these diverging paths. It presents multivariate regressions to examine how the development of normative beliefs and voting behavior shape party competition on work-family policies.

As is explained in Chapter 2, normative beliefs about mothers’ employment are strongly related to peoples’ demand for work-family policies. The design of work-family policies is thus a function of the dominant care ideal in a country (see Kremer 2007) and a change in this care ideal will eventually lead to policy reform. As policy responsiveness theory indicates, in order for reform to take place, the electorate must substantially change its normative beliefs. Also, political actors are more responsive under certain conditions, e.g. when political competition is intense (Hobolt and Klemmensen 2008). Political competition is again influenced by the spatial constellation of the party system, because the positioning of the parties determines where the competition is concentrated (Sartori 1976).

The questions this chapter aims to answer are whether the German and Italian populations changed their opinion regarding mothers’ employment and whether the demand for more progressive work-family policies is driven by certain groups of the electorate. If these groups of voters become important for winning elections, parties might adapt their work-family policy agenda. A change in normative beliefs and shifts in voting behavior is likely to increase competition between parties regarding work-family policy issues. Before turning to the analyses of normative beliefs and voting behavior, the context of party competition is described. This includes the structure and key features of the German and the Italian party systems, as well as the parties’ positions on family policies.

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