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How Do Social Democrats Legitimize Cutbacks? Welfare Retrenchment to Save the Welfare State

Altermark, Niklas LU and Plesner, Åsa LU (2025) In Government and Opposition 60(3). p.664-681
Abstract

Social democratic parties have contributed to the development of welfare state retrenchment in many European countries. While numerous studies have attempted to explain this, few have focused on how parties legitimize cuts, given that they are often unpopular with social democratic voters. Examining Sweden, we argue that the Swedish Social Democratic Party has developed a legitimation model that presents welfare cuts as a way of safeguarding the welfare state. This model has been persistently used since the early 1990s and is now central to the party's rhetoric. This has implications for how we should understand the ideological development of Swedish social democracy and suggests that it may be fruitful to study how welfare cuts are... (More)

Social democratic parties have contributed to the development of welfare state retrenchment in many European countries. While numerous studies have attempted to explain this, few have focused on how parties legitimize cuts, given that they are often unpopular with social democratic voters. Examining Sweden, we argue that the Swedish Social Democratic Party has developed a legitimation model that presents welfare cuts as a way of safeguarding the welfare state. This model has been persistently used since the early 1990s and is now central to the party's rhetoric. This has implications for how we should understand the ideological development of Swedish social democracy and suggests that it may be fruitful to study how welfare cuts are justified in other empirical contexts.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
legitimations, social democracy, Sweden, welfare retrenchment
in
Government and Opposition
volume
60
issue
3
pages
18 pages
publisher
Cambridge University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:105000289856
ISSN
0017-257X
DOI
10.1017/gov.2025.1
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f8a2ea31-743e-411d-8687-c9ad4ae33f28
date added to LUP
2026-01-12 11:33:11
date last changed
2026-01-12 11:34:15
@article{f8a2ea31-743e-411d-8687-c9ad4ae33f28,
  abstract     = {{<p>Social democratic parties have contributed to the development of welfare state retrenchment in many European countries. While numerous studies have attempted to explain this, few have focused on how parties legitimize cuts, given that they are often unpopular with social democratic voters. Examining Sweden, we argue that the Swedish Social Democratic Party has developed a legitimation model that presents welfare cuts as a way of safeguarding the welfare state. This model has been persistently used since the early 1990s and is now central to the party's rhetoric. This has implications for how we should understand the ideological development of Swedish social democracy and suggests that it may be fruitful to study how welfare cuts are justified in other empirical contexts.</p>}},
  author       = {{Altermark, Niklas and Plesner, Åsa}},
  issn         = {{0017-257X}},
  keywords     = {{legitimations; social democracy; Sweden; welfare retrenchment}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{3}},
  pages        = {{664--681}},
  publisher    = {{Cambridge University Press}},
  series       = {{Government and Opposition}},
  title        = {{How Do Social Democrats Legitimize Cutbacks? Welfare Retrenchment to Save the Welfare State}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/gov.2025.1}},
  doi          = {{10.1017/gov.2025.1}},
  volume       = {{60}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}