This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Feltenius, D. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Client organizations in a corporatist country: pensioners' organizations and pension policy in Sweden

UmeÅ University, Sweden, David.Feltenius{at}pol.umu.se

In this article, the relevance of Paul Pierson's argument about the important role played by organizations for welfare clients is scrutinized. This is done through a case-study of pensioners' organizations in Sweden and their influence on pension policy between 1980 and 2002. In terms of Pierson's argument, Sweden is considered to be a least likely candidate, because its strong labour movement is expected to crowd out other organized interests from the policy process. The investigation reveals, however, that pensioners' organizations have been able to exert influence on pension policy on different occasions. Their influence is explained by their high rating as an organization, which enables them to represent an important group of voters. These findings contradict previous research suggesting that client organizations are weak, particularly in corporatist countries with a strong labour movement, and demonstrate that Pierson's argument also has relevance in such countries.

Key Words: pensioners' organizations • pension policy • Sweden • welfare retrenchment

Journal of European Social Policy, Vol. 17, No. 2, 139-151 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/0958928707075203


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?