La pratique de la contrepartie pour les personnes exclues du marché du travail : ici et ailleurs

Les modalités et les pratiques de la contrepartie dans l’assistance sociale, dans six pays de l’OCDE sont comparés. La littérature anglo-saxonne parle plus volontiers de workfare alors que la littérature d’Europe continentale utilise la notion de conditionnalité. Les auteurs utilisent le terme de contrepartie comme concept générique incluant l’ensemble des programmes introduisant des formes de conditionnalité de l’aide par opposition à des aides ou des prestations attribuées de manière inconditionnelle. Une interprétation de ces variations est proposée en situant les résultats obtenus par rapport aux connaissances acquises en politique comparée sur l’évolution des différents types d’État-providence.

The methods and practices of reciprocity in social assistance are compared in six OECD countries. The literature from English-speaking countries tends to talk about workfare while Continental European literature uses the concept of conditionality. The authors employ the term “reciprocity” as a generic concept encompassing all of the programs that include forms of conditionality for assistance, as opposed to the unconditional provision of assistance or benefits. The authors put forth an interpretation of these variations by comparing their results with the existing body of work in comparative politics on the development of the various types of welfare states. The development of reciprocity mechanisms, therefore, follows neither a single logic, nor a series of pre-mapped paths determined by existing institutions. To understand and evaluate current experiences and innovations, each case must be carefully examined, taking into account all the constraints, but also the opportunities, created by a new era in the development of the Welfare State.