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Abstract:
Within the literature on retrenchment policies, the ‘solidarity-decline thesis’ is discussed.
It is argued that current welfare state restructuring leads to a decrease in the actual social
cohesion of society because redistributive public benefits are cut. The article addresses this
thesis by presenting empirical evidence on social security based on collective bargaining. In
Denmark, France,Germany and theNetherlands, collective agreements are increasingly used to
regulate and finance social benefits. These collectively negotiated benefits may compensate to a
certain degree for solidarity losses caused by retrenchment policies. The article reviews concepts
of solidarity used in the literature and develops a two-dimensional scheme of four different
concepts. The conclusion for comparative welfare state research is twofold. First, when viewing
policies of welfare state retrenchment, the research should systematically include industrial
relations in its frame of reference. Second, further studies should analyse the politics as well as
the outcomes of collectively negotiated benefits more systematically. Under certain conditions,
which are worth specifying, collective bargaining may lead to complex public–private mixes
that shift welfare states in other directions than outright market liberalisation, not only in
factual but also in normative terms.
