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Balancing Territorial Politics and Social Citizenship in Germany and Britain: Constraints in Public Opinion

2007; Routledge; Volume: 16; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09644000601157384

1743-8993

Charlie Jeffery,

European Union Policy and Governance

Abstract This contribution explores the tensions between the established expectations for a uniform delivery of welfare provisions and the growing demands for diversity of provisions in devolved or federal states. Using opinion poll evidence, it examines these tensions in the UK and Germany, arguing that a convergence in these challenges to established statehood appears to be in evidence. Notes 1. C. Jeffery, 'Federalism: The New Territorialism', in S. Green and W. Paterson (eds.), Governance in Contemporary Germany. The Semi-Sovereign State Revisited (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005). 2. See for example J. Adams and P. Robinson (eds.), Devolution in Practice. Public Policy Differences within the UK (London: IPPR, 2002); J. Adams and K. Schmuecker (eds.), Devolution in Practice 2006 (London: IPPR, 2006); M. Keating, 'Policy Making and Policy Divergence in Scotland after Devolution', Devolution Briefings No. 21, available at http://www.devolution.ac.uk/Briefing_papers.html (2005); D. Wincott, 'Social Policy and Social Citizenship: Britain's Welfare States', Publius. The Journal of Federalism 36/2 (2006), pp. 169–88; A. Trench (ed.), Devolution and Power (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2007 forthcoming). 3. See for example U. Münch, 'Konkurrenzföderalismus für die Bundesrepublik: Eine Reformdebatte zwischen Wunschdenken und politischer Machbarkeit', in Jahrbuch des Föderalismus 2001 (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2001); T. Fischer and M. Grosse Hüttmann, 'Aktuelle Diskussionsbeiträge zur Reform des deutschen Föderalismus – Modelle, Leitbilder und die Chancen ihrer Übertragbarkeit', in Jahrbuch des Föderalismus 2001 (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2001); R. Hrbek and A. Eppler (eds.), Die unvollendete Föderalismus-Reform (Tübingen: Europäisches Zentrum für Föderalismusforschung, 2005); A. Benz, 'Kein Ausweg aus der Politikverflechtung? Warum die Bundesstaatskommission scheiterte aber nicht scheitern musste', Politische Vierteljahresschrift 46/2 (2005); R. Sturm, 'Föderalismusreform: Kein Erkenntnisproblem, warum aber ein Gestaltungs- und Entscheidungsproblem?', Politische Vierteljahresschrift 46/2 (2005); C. Jeffery, 'Cycles of Conflict: Fiscal Equalisation in Germany', Regional and Federal Studies 13/4 (2003). 4. C. Jeffery, 'Devolution and Social Citizenship. Which Society, Whose Citizenship?', in S. Greer (ed.), Territory, Democracy and Justice. Rethinking Territorial Politics (London: Palgrave, 2006); C. Jeffery, 'Devolution and Divergence: Public Attitudes and Institutional Logics', in Adams and Schmuecker (eds.), Devolution in Practice 2006; J. Curtice, 'A Stronger or Weaker Union? Public Reactions to Asymmetric Devolution in the United Kingdom', Publius. The Journal of Federalism 36/1 (2006). 5. N. Grube, 'Föderalismus in der öffentlichen Meinung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland', in Jahrbuch des Föderalismus 2001 (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2001); N. Grube, 'Unverzichtbares Korrektiv oder ineffective Reformbremse? Wahrnehmungen föderaler Strukturen und Institutionen in Deutschalnd', in Jahrbuch des Föderalismus 2004 (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 2004). 6. T.H. Marshall, 'Citizenship and Social Class', in T.H. Marshall and T. Bottomore, Citizenship and Social Class (London: Pluto Press, 1992). 7. For example: M. Lister, '"Marshall-ing" Social and Political Citizenship: Towards a Unified Conception of Citizenship', Government and Opposition 40/4 (2005); E. Rieger, 'T.H. Marshall: Soziologie, gesellschaftliche Entwicklung und die moralische Ökonomie des Wohlfahrtsstaates', in T.H. Marshall (ed.), Bürgerrechte und soziale Klassen. Zur Soziologie des Wohlfahrtsstaates (Frankfurt a.M.: Campus, 1992); K. Banting, 'Social Citizenship and Federalism: Is the Federal Welfare State a Contradiction in Terms?', in Greer (ed.), Territory, Democracy and Justice. 8. Jeffery, 'Devolution and Social Citizenship', esp. pp.82–9; N. McEwen and L. Moreno (eds.), The Territorial Politics of Welfare (London: Routledge, 2005); M. Keating and N. McEwen (eds.), 'Devolution and Public Policy: A Comparative Perspective', special issue of Regional and Federal Studies 15/4 (2005); N. McEwen, Nationalism and the State. Welfare and Identity in Scotland and Quebec (Brussels: Peter Lang, 2006). 9. For a recent overview of scholarship on federalism and the welfare state see H. Obinger, F. Castles and S. Leibfried, 'Introduction: Federalism and the Welfare State', in H. Obinger, F. Castles and S. Leibfried (eds.), Federalism and the Welfare State. New World and European Experiences (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005). 10. Wincott, 'Social Policy and Social Citizenship', p.169. See also P. Manow, 'Germany: Co-operative Federalism and the Overgrazing of the Fiscal Commons', in Obinger et al. (eds.), Federalism and the Welfare State. 11. R. Sturm, 'Der Föderalismus im Wandel. Kontinuitätslinien und Reformbedarf', in E. Jesse and K. Löw (eds.), 50 Jahre Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1999), p.85. 12. See Fischer and Grosse Hüttmann, 'Aktuelle Diskussionsbeiträge zur Reform des deutschen Föderalismus'. 13. Jeffery, 'Cycles of Conflict', pp.34–5. 14. See C. Jeffery, 'From Cooperative Federalism to a "Sinatra-Doctrine" of the Länder?', in C. Jeffery (ed.), Recasting German Federalism. The Legacies of Unification (London: Pinter, 1998). The usage of the term is now becoming adopted elsewhere. See M. Knodt, 'Europäisierung à la Sinatra. Deutsche Länder im europäischen Mehrebenensystem', in M. Knodt and B. Kohler-Koch (eds), Mannheimer Jahrbuch zur Europäischen Sozialforschung 2000 (Frankfurt: Campus, 2000); M. Knodt, 'Europäisierung regionalen Regierens. Mit Sinatra zum autonomieorientierten Systemwechsel im deutschen Bundesstaat', Politische Vierteljahresschrift 43/2 (2002). 15. S. Rokkan and D. Urwin, The Politics of Territorial Identity (London: Sage, 1982). 16. Cf. J. Mitchell, 'Evolution and Devolution: Citizenship, Institutions and Public Policy', Publius. The Journal of Federalism 36/2 (2006), pp.162–3. 17. With thanks to Daniel Wincott, the following draws on C. Jeffery and D. Wincott, 'Devolution in the United Kingdom: Statehood and Citizenship in Transition', Publius. The Journal of Federalism 36/2 (2006), p.12. 18. Cited in Mitchell, 'Evolution and Devolution', p.163. 19. G. Brown, Speech at the Smith Institute, 15 April 1999. 20. S. Greer, 'The Fragile Divergence Machine. Citizenship, Policy Divergence and Devolution', in Trench (ed.), Devolution and Power. 21. For example, see V. Bogdanor, 'Constitutional Reform', in A. Seldon (ed.), The Blair Effect (London: Little, Brown & Co, 1999), p.154; K. Woods, 'Health Policy and the NHS in the UK 1997–2002', in Adams and Robinson (eds.), Devolution in Practice, p.28; R. Hazell and B. O'Leary, 'A Rolling Programme of Devolution: Slippery Slope of Safeguard of the Union', in R. Hazell (ed.), Constitutional Futures. A History of the Next Ten Years (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999), p.46. This does not necessarily imply a reduction of welfare standards or a 'race to the bottom'. Where post-devolution Scottish and Welsh governments have debated or introduced divergences from England in social policy, they have often done so in the aim of re-introducing post-war commitments to universalism that more market-oriented Westminster governments have increasingly challenged over the last 25 years. See Jeffery, 'Devolution and Social Citizenship', pp.89–91; R. Simeon, 'Free Personal Care. Policy Divergence and Social Citizenship', in R. Hazell (ed.), The State of the Nations 2003 (Thorverton: Imprint Academic, 2003). 22. Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach, IfD-Umfrage 6019 (Sept. 1995). 23. There is good data for all four UK nations. However, the focus here is on Scotland, Wales and England. Though the broad pattern of Northern Ireland data is similar to that of Scotland and Wales, identity issues excepted, the absence of devolved government there since the suspension of devolution in October 2002 provides a different and, arguably, less reliable context for the data. 24. Curtice, 'A Stronger or Weaker Union?', p.103. 25. Ibid., p.107. 26. Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach, IfD-Umfrage 6019, p.5. 27. Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung, Generationenstudie 2003. Heimat und Heimatgefühl in Bayern (Munich: Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung, 2003), p.49. Unfortunately the questions used were poorly designed, asking about autonomy and independence compared with the status quo in separate questions, and then allowing the rather odd option of supporting autonomy or independence 'in part'. In addition to the 24 per cent of unequivocal supporters of autonomy, another 33 per cent supported more autonomy 'in part'; and in addition to the 17 per cent supporting independence, another 21 per cent support 'partial' independence. 28. A. Heath, 'Is a Sense of British Identity in Decline?', Devolution Briefings No. 36, available at http://www.devolution.ac.uk/Briefing_papers.htm (2005). 29. P. Surridge, 'A Better Union?', in C. Bromley, J. Curtice, D. McCrone and A. Park (eds.), Has Devolution Delivered? (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2006), p.35. 30. Mitchell, 'Evolution and Devolution', pp.165–6. 31. Scottish Constitutional Convention, Scotland's Parliament, Scotland's Right (Edinburgh: Scottish Constitutional Convention, 1995). 32. Jeffery, 'Devolution and Social Citizenship', pp.78–80. 33. Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach, IfD-Umfrage 6019, p.5. 34. Grube, 'Unverzichtbares Korrektiv oder ineffective Reformbremse?', p.166. 35. Ibid., p.166. 36. Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach, IfD-Umfrage 6019, p.14. 37. A similar picture was found by Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach, IfD-Umfrage 6019, pp.24–5, 28 in 1988 and 1995. 38. YouGov, Voting Intention and Attitudes to Scotland, available at http://www.yougov.com/archives/pdf/TEL060101009_1.pdf (accessed 1 Sept. 2006). 39. W. Bürklin and C. Jung, 'Deutschland im Wandel. Ergebniss einer repräsentativen Meinugsumfrage', in K.-R. Korte and W. Weidenfeld (eds.), Deutschland-Trendbuch (Bonn: Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, 2001), p.683. 40. Ibid., pp.691–5. 41. Though the terminology of 'uniformity' of living conditions remains in the constitutional clause enabling federal intervention in areas of Länder legislative responsibility, 'uniform' was replaced by the notionally weaker term of 'equivalent' living conditions in the constitutional reform process conducted after German unification. 42. C. Jeffery, 'The Politics of Territorial Finance', Regional and Federal Studies 13/4 (2003), pp.189–91. 43. Grube, 'Unverzichtbares Korrektiv oder ineffective Reformbremse?', p.171. 44. J. Adams, P. Robinson and A. Vigor, A New Regional Policy for the UK (London: IPPR, 2003), p.7; K. Morgan, 'Devolution and Development: Territorial Justice and the North–South Divide', Publius. The Journal of Federalism 36/1 (2006), p.201. 45. Cf. D. Hough, The Fall and Rise of the PDS in Germany (Birmingham: Birmingham University Press, 2002). 46. Marshall, 'Citizenship and Social Class', pp.8–17. 47. See M. Zürn and S. Leibfried, 'Reconfiguring the National Constellation', in S. Leibfried and M. Zürn (eds.), Transformations of the State? (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005). 48. Marshall, 'Citizenship and Social Class', p.9. 49. These scenarios draw on Jeffery, 'Devolution and Social Citizenship', pp.83–9. 50. Jeffery, 'Cycles of Conflict', pp.30–35. 51. B. Stamm, 'Wettbewerbsföderalismus in der Sozialversicherung', in U. Männle (ed.), Föderalismus zwischen Konsens und Konkurrenz (Baden-Baden: Nomos, 1998), p.240. 52. M. Russell and G. Lodge, 'The Government of England by Westminster', in R. Hazell (ed.), The English Question (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2006), p.84. 53. See U. Wachendorfer-Schmidt, Politikverflechtung im vereinigten Deutschland (Wiesbaden: Westdeutscher Verlag, 2003). 54. Jeffery, 'Devolution and Social Citizenship', pp.82–9; Jeffery, 'The Politics of Territorial Finance', pp.189–91. Additional informationNotes on contributorsCharlie Jeffery Charlie Jeffery is Professor of Politics in the School of Social Political Studies at the University of Edinburgh. He is co-Director of the University's Institute of Governance and directed the Economic and Social Research Council's Devolution and Constitutional Change research programme from 2000 to 2006. He researches and writes on UK devolution, comparative regional politics, and German politics. He was Deputy Director of the Institute for German Studies at the University of Birmingham from 1998 to 2004, from 1999 as Professor of German Politics.