Ideational Power or Political Demand? Tracing the Logics of In-Work Benefit Reforms in France and the United Kingdom.
In recent decades, numerous welfare states have implemented in-work benefits to 'make work pay' and tackle in-work poverty. To explain the adoption and institutionalisation of this instrument, studies tend to emphasise either socio-political demand or ideational influences as motivators of policy de...
| Publicado en: | Political Studies Vol. 74; no. 2; pp. 719 - 747 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Sage Publications Inc.
May2026
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=193250714&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 193250714 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00323217 PSZ jtl: Political Studies issn: 00323217 maglogo: Y pubinfo: dt: May2026 vid: 74 iid: 2 pid: 344 pub: Sage Publications Inc. artinfo: ui: 193250714 10.1177/00323217251340856 ppf: 719 ppct: 28 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T db: hlh ui: 193250714 – @attributes: type: P db: hlh ui: 193250714 tig: atl: Ideational Power or Political Demand? Tracing the Logics of In-Work Benefit Reforms in France and the United Kingdom. aug: au: Robertson, Ewan affil: School of Social and Political Science, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK keyword: comparative politics comparative social policy France ideational power in-work benefits in-work poverty making work pay United Kingdom comparative politics comparative social policy France ideational power in-work benefits in-work poverty making work pay United Kingdom ab: In recent decades, numerous welfare states have implemented in-work benefits to 'make work pay' and tackle in-work poverty. To explain the adoption and institutionalisation of this instrument, studies tend to emphasise either socio-political demand or ideational influences as motivators of policy decisions. However, the relative importance of these causal logics, and the relationship between them, remains ambiguous. To advance this debate, this article examines in-work benefit reforms in two welfare states: France and the United Kingdom. Examining reforms from the late 1990s to the 2010s, findings suggest that policy change and convergence were driven by an ideational rather than a demand-based logic. Reforms were more strongly motivated by the shared interpretive frameworks of policymakers and their instrumental use of ideas (ideational power) rather than the demands of voters and organised interests. This finding on the specific drivers of in-work benefits contributes wider insights into the roles of ideas in public policy. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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