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Working partially on the working poor: Explaining the indirect approach of the European Social Fund+ towards in-work poverty

Perez Mugica, Iñigo LU (2022) WPMM43 20221
Department of Political Science
Abstract (Swedish)
In-work poverty is a societal problem that should be prevented according to the European Pillars of Social Rights. However, the European Social Fund Plus, being the main European social policy, only addresses the issue indirectly. The aim of this thesis is to build an explanation for this partial actuation of the European Union. By adopting an abductive approach, a process-tracing is conducted to find the factors that explain the outcome, guided by an eclectic theorisation of multiple streams framework and ideational historical institutionalism. I develop a causal explanation through the three streams identifying both ideational and institutional intervening factors. The main findings stand that when the ESF+ was designed, the... (More)
In-work poverty is a societal problem that should be prevented according to the European Pillars of Social Rights. However, the European Social Fund Plus, being the main European social policy, only addresses the issue indirectly. The aim of this thesis is to build an explanation for this partial actuation of the European Union. By adopting an abductive approach, a process-tracing is conducted to find the factors that explain the outcome, guided by an eclectic theorisation of multiple streams framework and ideational historical institutionalism. I develop a causal explanation through the three streams identifying both ideational and institutional intervening factors. The main findings stand that when the ESF+ was designed, the problematisation of the issue was in a low profile; the European Commission, as the main policy entrepreneur, only patronised indirect policy ideas, and the jurisdiction −Lisbon Treaty− was anchored in a previous ideational paradigm. Thus, I conclude by clarifying that during the opening of the Fund’s policy window, all the three streams −problem, policy and political− were unready for directly addressing in-work poverty. (Less)
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author
Perez Mugica, Iñigo LU
supervisor
organization
course
WPMM43 20221
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
in-work poverty, European Social Fund, process-tracing, Multiple stream, Qualitative Content Analysis
language
English
id
9097386
date added to LUP
2022-10-04 13:27:43
date last changed
2022-10-04 13:27:43
@misc{9097386,
  abstract     = {{In-work poverty is a societal problem that should be prevented according to the European Pillars of Social Rights. However, the European Social Fund Plus, being the main European social policy, only addresses the issue indirectly. The aim of this thesis is to build an explanation for this partial actuation of the European Union. By adopting an abductive approach, a process-tracing is conducted to find the factors that explain the outcome, guided by an eclectic theorisation of multiple streams framework and ideational historical institutionalism. I develop a causal explanation through the three streams identifying both ideational and institutional intervening factors. The main findings stand that when the ESF+ was designed, the problematisation of the issue was in a low profile; the European Commission, as the main policy entrepreneur, only patronised indirect policy ideas, and the jurisdiction −Lisbon Treaty− was anchored in a previous ideational paradigm. Thus, I conclude by clarifying that during the opening of the Fund’s policy window, all the three streams −problem, policy and political− were unready for directly addressing in-work poverty.}},
  author       = {{Perez Mugica, Iñigo}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Working partially on the working poor: Explaining the indirect approach of the European Social Fund+ towards in-work poverty}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}