Die Vermittlung von Reformen in Zeiten der Krise

What determines how governments communicate unpopular reforms to their citizens? During the financial and economic crisis that broke out in 2007, numerous governments were facing the same challenge of justifying tough cutbacks. Despite this commonality, their framework conditions were different, and they enacted welfare state reforms in not just one but in various areas. This book examines whether and how these differences translate into governments’ reform communication. For this purpose, four West European governments from Italy, Spain, Ireland and the United Kingdom were chosen with a view to making a systematic comparison. The empirical analysis is based on data generated via a content analysis. The results point to the importance of the role of political competition and welfare state culture. Even more distinctive is the influence of the kind of communicated reform on the properties of the communication.