From universalism to selectivism: the ideational turn of the anti-poverty policies in Finland

Abstract

In the universalistic Nordic welfare states, targeted anti-poverty policies have not been considered as specific aims of social policy. The situation has, however, altered in Finland and there is now a new element in Finnish social policy that can be called ‘anti-poverty policy’. This article explores when, how and why the policy paradigm relating to poverty changed in Finland. It includes an empirical analysis of the documents produced by key actors. Analyses show that the basic idea behind the policy prescriptions for alleviating poverty in Finland has changed from the idea of universalism to the idea of selectivism. The results emphasise that the Church, non-governmental organisations, the European Union’s Lisbon agenda as well as an active opposition politics had an important agenda-setting role behind the ideational turn from universalism to the idea of selectivism.

Who supports privately provided public services? - An analysis of finnish citizens'attitudes toward public service marketization

“…Jutila 2011;Kuivalainen and Niemelä 2010;Calzada et al 2014]. In this sense the ideological justification for marketization seems beyond political party affiliation.…”

“…Based on previous studies it was assumed that marketization could be justified by practical factors such as reducing costs of services [Alasuutari and Rasimus 2009;Blomberg and Kroll 1999a, pp. 327-329] and ideological factors such as political rightwing ideology [Kuivalainen and Niemelä 2010]. Furthermore demographic factors have been found to influence marketization.…”

“…Thus the right-wing ideology challenges the existing universal social policy to favour selective, social policy systems [cf. Kuivalainen and Niemelä 2010]. Just focusing on marketization the ideological justification highlights citizens' right to make choices for the services they need [Le Grand 1991.…”

Equal Treatment, Labor Promotion, or Social Investment? Reconciliation Policy in Finnish and Dutch Coalition Programs 1995–2016

“…The Centre-left coalition formed in 2003, reacted to the increasing number of poor family households by launching a series of "poverty packages" consisting of piecemeal improvements of family transfers in 2004 and 2005. Alongside these improvements there was a prolongation of the father's leave to 30 weekdays under the condition that the father used 12 days of the mutual parental leave (Kuivalainen & Niemel€ a, 2010).…”

On the trail of local welfare innovations in rural Finland

“…As with the welfare state more broadly, the Finnish system, generally considered as representative of the Nordic welfare state regime (see Esping-Andersen, 1990), has faced serious threats over the past two decades. The challenges are related to the parallel developments including demographic changes, the decline in public finances and an ideological shift from a shared responsibility to an individual rights discourse and workfare regime of welfare (e.g., Kuivalainen & Niemelä, 2010;Milbourne, 2010). Together these have undermined the foundation of traditional universal model created to offer a high degree of social protection including public social and health care services to all the citizens.…”