Social risks and the corporatist state: A successful means of responding to social risks?

This article addresses questions of how and why the Dutch corporatist welfare state has succeeded in responding to social risks where others have struggled. Summarizing the major findings from a primarily qualitative, historical, in-depth case study carried out in the Netherlands (including 52 in-depth interviews and extensive document analysis of +/- 120 policy documents from 1995 to 2009), this article provides suggestions for developing our theoretical understanding of the role of the state in social risk protection. How does the Dutch welfare state respond to changing and emerging social risks? Why does the Dutch welfare state succeed in its response? The answers to these questions demonstrate a transformation of the welfare state, and challenge existing theoretical understandings of social risk protection. The consequences of this response, however, include a possible increase in social inequality.

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