ABSTRACT
During the eighties, political and welfare state regimes in Europe covered the entire range: from the radical conservatism in the United Kingdom, through the Christian Democratic corporatism in Western Europe, to the social democratic regimes in some Scandinavian and South European countries. One of the most striking characteristics of claimants’ organizations and initiatives, and at the same time one of the barriers preventing them from exceeding marginality, is their divided nature. The divisions between claimants’ organizations are partly the result of the structure of social security systems and the categories of claimants these systems distinguish, and partly originate in ideological differences. The national histories of claimants’ organizations are very similar as far as their relationship with the trade-union movement is concerned. In all countries, this relationship is problematic, because of incompatible ideological views and competition for membership support among claimants.
