ABSTRACT
The starting point for this book was that policy decisions of parties are influenced by the context of party competition. Certainly, the ideological ‘family’ a party belongs to and the social basis from where the party originates matter as well; but in order to understand the actions of parties we have to take account of the party system in which they act. Accordingly, the present study has demonstrated that the number of parties and the positioning of parties in political space shape social policy development, in particular the segmentation of unemployment benefits. This was shown by comparing in depth two welfare states with very different party systems but otherwise similar structures. Moreover, I have provided evidence that party systems also influence the segmentation of social protection in other advanced welfare states.
