Ability to change in the social area, veto points and strategies used: the example of French pensions' reforms in 1993 and in 1995 in Bonoli's book The Politics of Pension Reform: Institutions and Policy Change in Western Europe (2000)

Abstract

Several authors underline the fact that Europe's 'conservative-corporatist' regime of countries faces the most difficult combination of problems due to strong challenges to its foundational assumptions (particularly strong and constant economic growth, full employment, family stability, a low level of female work force participation) and an institutional structure that is resistant to reform . Empirical evidence thus suggests that Bismarckian pension systems are less resistant to reform than is frequently assumed. France belongs to this category and does not escape from these issues. That is why, the country has been facing these problems, since the 1970s, and a series of pressures have shaken the social protection structures that were created and developed in Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. This theme became central to the European social policy agenda.