The Puzzle of Dutch Welfare Solidarity and the Politics of Old Age Pension Reform (1945-1975)

During the first three decades of the post-war period, the Netherlands developed a system of welfare provision that by most standards belonged to the most equitable and solidaristic in the world. It did so under the patronage of Christian democratic governments, which are generally viewed as being predisposed to rejecting solidaristic welfare reform. The purpose of this article is to explain why the Dutch Christian democrats came to adopt such a solidaristic welfare stance during the formative post-war period of welfare state expansion. Rather than attributing this stance to electoral or strat... Mehr ...