Murphy, Mary P.
(2016)
Low road or high road? The
post-crisis trajectory of Irish
activation.
Critical Social Policy, 36 (3).
pp. 432-452.
ISSN 0261-0183
Abstract
Comparatively slow in adopting any clear activation strategy, postcrisis
Ireland crossed the Rubicon and rapidly took steps to implement a
work-first labour activation strategy. The article maps and examines the
interaction of three variables – ideational influences, political interests
and institutional processes – to assess the nature of post-crisis Irish activation
policy. Troika imposition of aid conditionality, the ideational role
of the OECD and domestic elites worked to shift the focus of Irish activation
policy and its implementation. Post-crisis Irish activation is less
influenced by social democratic versions of high-road activation than
neo-liberal managerial stock management and conservative behavioural
controls. These converge into a low-road model of activation. There is
some demand for, but little articulation of, an alternative policy that
could be centred around less conditionality and more focus on demandside
issues including low pay, quality work, distribution of employment
and removal of barriers to employment.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
activation; Europeanisation; Ireland; politics; post-crisis; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Sociology |
| Item ID: |
11966 |
| Identification Number: |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0261018315626841 |
| Depositing User: |
Maria Murphy
|
| Date Deposited: |
03 Dec 2019 11:30 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
Critical Social Policy |
| Publisher: |
Sage Publications |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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