Classifying welfare states: “whatever happened to the Mediterranean?”

The European welfare states show different characteristics due to their political, historical and economic past. Starting from some influential classifications of welfare states, the study looks at the effects of welfare policy reforms and the recent financial and economic crises on the composition of existing regimes for European countries. To this extent, we use the two-dimensional approach of Bonoli (1997) to investigate the changes in the comparative positions of countries, both between and within welfare regimes, in the period 1995-2011. The main evidence is the disappearance of the Mediterranean regime. In order to shed light on the changes in countries’ welfare models, we look at their macroeconomic conditions. Reform processes, financial crisis, demographic changes, lower employment rates and the increase in female participation in the labour market appear to be the most important factors behind this outcome. Family support, a phenomenon common to all Mediterranean countries, has been undermined, and this has required greater involvement of governments in terms of both social spending levels and financing solutions through general taxation.