Civil Society in Transition: New Insights into Continental Welfare States

Astrid Pennerstorfer, Karin Heitzmann and August Österle published the book chapter “Civil society in continental welfare states”, in the Handbook on Social Policy and Civil Society. The chapter discusses social policy in continental welfare states and explores the historical development of civil society in this welfare state cluster, depicting the roles of major civil society actors, their relationship with state and market and how actors and roles changed over time as a response to, for example, changing social problems or ideological reorientations. Civil society plays a central role in welfare provision, influenced by principles such as compulsory social insurance, social partnership, subsidiarity, federalism, family orientation, and the Catholic social tradition. Despite moderate reform pressures since the 1980s, civil society’s future transformative capacity remains uncertain.