The Active Subjects of Welfare Reform: a Street-Level Comparison of Employment Services in Australia and Denmark

This paper explores the similarities and differences between Denmark and Australia in adopting welfare reform activation measures in the field of employment services. In Australia and Denmark the discourse of welfare reform centres the 'activation' of citizens through 'mutual obligation' type requirements. Through various forms of case management, unemployed individuals are encouraged to act upon themselves in creating the right set of ethical dispositions congruent with 'active citizenship'. At the same time any resistance to heightened conditionality on the part of the unemployed person is dealt with through a range of coercive and disciplinary techniques. A comparative case study between these two countries allows us to consider how similar ideas, discourse and principles are shaping policy implementation in countries that have very different welfare state trajectories and institutional arrangements for the delivery of social welfare generally and employment services specifically. And in research terms, a comparison between a Nordic welfare state and an Anglo-Saxon welfare state provides an opportunity to critically examine the utility of 'welfare regime' type analyses and the neo-liberal convergence thesis in comparative welfare research. On the basis of empirical analysis, the article concludes that a single focus on abstract typologies or political ideologies is not very helpful in getting the measure of welfare reform (or any other major policy development for that matter). At the 'street-level' of policy practice there is considerably more ambiguity, incoherence and contradiction than is suggested by linear accounts of welfare reform.

Agrarian learning processes in Switzerland 1918–1939

This paper examines the social impacts of weather extremes and the processes of social and communicative learning a society undertakes to find alternative ways to deal with the consequences of a crisis. In the beginning of the 20th Century hunger seemed to be expelled from Europe. Switzerland – like many other European countries – was involved in a global interdependent trade system, which provided necessary goods. But at the end of World War I very cold and wet summers in 1916/17 (causing crop failure) and the difficulties in war-trade led to malnutrition and enormous price risings of general living-standards in Switzerland, which shocked the people and caused revolutionary uprisings in 1918. The experience of malnutrition during the last two years of war made clear that the traditional ways of food supply in Switzerland lacked crisis stability. Therefore various agents in the field of food production, distribution and consumption searched for alternative ways of food supply. In that sense politicians, industrialists, consumer-groups, left-wing communitarians and farmers developed several strategies for new ways in food production. Traditionally there were political conflicts in Switzerland between farmers and consumers regarding price policies, which led mainly to the conflict in 1918. Consumers accused famers of holding back food to control extortionate prices while the farmers pointed to the bad harvest causing the price rising. The collaboration of these groups in search for new forms of food-stability made social integration possible again. In addition to other crisis-factors, weather extremes can have disastrous impacts and destroy a society’s self-confidence to its core. But even such crisis can lead to processes of substantial learning that allows a regeneration of confidence and show positive influence on political stabilization. The paper focuses on the process of learning and the alternative methods of food production that were suggested by various agents working in the field during the Interwar period. To achieve that goal documents of the various associations are analyzed and newspapers have been taken into consideration. Through the method of discourse-analysis of food-production during the Interwar period, possible solutions that crossed the minds of the agents should be brought to light.

Bologna-Reform veränderte Studierende kaum

Die Bologna-Reform an den Schweizer Universitäten ist zuweilen Gegenstand hitziger Diskussionen. Aber sind die Konsequenzen wirklich so dramatisch wie oft befürchtet? Zwei Berner Forschende haben, wovon andere träumen: empirische Daten aus einer Befragung von Studierenden vor und nach Bologna.

Change in suicide rates in Switzerland before and after firearm restriction resulting from the 2003 “Army XXI” reform

Objective: Firearms are the most common method of suicide among young men in Switzerland. From March 2003 through February 2004, the number of Swiss soldiers was halved as a result of an army reform (Army XXI), leading to a decrease in the availability of guns nationwide. The authors investigated the patterns of the overall suicide rate and the firearm suicide rate before and after the reform. Method: Using a naturalistic study design, the authors compared suicide rates before (1995–2003) and after the intervention (2004–2008) in the affected population (men ages 18–43) and in two comparison groups (women ages 18–44 and men ages 44–53). Data were received from the Swiss Federal Statistical Office. Interrupted time series analysis was used to control for preexisting temporal trends. Alternative methods (Poisson regression, autocorrelation analysis, and surrogate data tests) were used to check validity. Results: The authors found a reduction in both the overall suicide rate and the firearm suicide rate after the Army XXI reform. No significant increases were found for other suicide methods overall. An increase in railway suicides was observed. It was estimated that 22% of the reduction in firearm suicides was substituted by other suicide methods. The attenuation of the suicide rate was not compensated for during the follow-up years. Neither of the comparison groups showed statistically significant changes in firearm suicide rate and overall suicide rate. Conclusions: The restriction of firearm availability in Switzerland resulting from the Army XXI reform was followed by an enduring decrease in the general suicide rate.