Trade unions played a substantial role in the ‘old politics’ of expanding pension systems in Europe; they are still active in the ‘new politics’ of pension reforms. Given the electoral impact and political veto points, governments may seek to overcome reform blockage in political decision-making and implementation by seeking social consensus with trade unions and employers. Various modes of social governance in addition to political interest politics allow trade union influence: institutionalized forms of self-administration of pension insurance, self-regulation via negotiated occupational pensions, institutional consultation of interest groups and tripartite concertation (or social pacts) between government and the social partners.
AndersonK (2007) The Netherlands: Political competition in a proportional system. In: ImmergutEAndersonKSchulzeI (eds) Handbook of West European Pension Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 713–757.
2.
AndersonK (2011) The Netherlands: Adopting a multipillar pension system to demographic and economic change. In: EbbinghausB (ed.) The Varieties of Pension Governance: Pension Privatization in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 292–317.
3.
AvdagicSRhodesMVisserJ (eds) (2011) Social Pacts in Europe: Reemergence, Evolution, and Institutionalization. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
4.
BonoliG (2000) The Politics of Pension Reform: Institutions and Policy Change in Western Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
5.
BonoliG (2001) Political institutions, veto points, and the process of welfare state adaptation. In: PiersonP (ed.) The New Politics of the Welfare State. New York: Oxford University Press, 238–264.
6.
BonoliGPalierB (2008) When past reforms open new opportunities: Comparing old-age insurance reforms in Bismarckian welfare systems. In: PalierBMartinC (eds) Reforming the Bismarckian Welfare Systems. Oxford: Blackwell, 21–39.
7.
BridgenPMeyerT (2009) The politics of occupational pension reform in Britain and the Netherlands: The power of market discipline in liberal and corporatist regimes. West European Politics32(3): 586–610.
8.
BridgenPMeyerT (2011) Britain: Exhausted voluntarism: The evolution of a hybrid pension regime. In: EbbinghausB (ed.) The Varieties of Pension Governance: Pension Privatization in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 265–291.
9.
Conceição-HeldtE (2007) France: The importance of the electoral cycle. In: ImmergutIAndersonKSchulzeI (eds) Handbook of West European Pension Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 150–199.
10.
CrouchC (1993) Industrial Relations and European State Traditions. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
11.
EbbinghausB (2006) Reforming Early Retirement in Europe, Japan and the USA. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
12.
EbbinghausB (ed.) (2011) The Varieties of Pension Governance: Pension Privatization in Europe. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
13.
EbbinghausBHasselA (2000) Striking deals: Concertation in the reform of continental European welfare states. Journal of European Public Policy7(1): 44–62.
14.
Esping-AndersenG (1990) Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
15.
Esping-AndersenGKorpiW (1984) Social policy as class politics in post-war capitalism: Scandinavia, Austria and Germany. In: GoldthorpeJH (ed.) Order and Conflict in Contemporary Capitalism. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 179–208.
16.
FerreraM (1996) The ‘southern model’ of welfare in social Europe. Journal of European Social Policy6(1): 17–37.
17.
FerreraMJessoulaM (2007) Italy: A narrow gate for path-shift. In: ImmergutEAndersonKSchulzeI (eds) Handbook of West European Pension Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 396–453.
18.
FloraPAlberJ (1981) Modernization, democratization, and the development of welfare states in Western Europe. In: FloraPHeidenheimerAJ (eds) The Development of Welfare States in Europe and America. New Brunswick: Transaction Books, 37-80.
19.
HallPASoskiceD (eds) (2001) Varieties of Capitalism: The Institutional Foundations of Comparative Advantage. New York: Oxford University Press.
20.
HinrichsK (2000) Elephants on the move: Patterns of public pension reform in OECD countries. European Review8(3): 353–378.
21.
ImmergutE (1991) Institutions, veto points, and policy results: A comparative analysis of health care. Journal of Public Policy10(4): 391–416.
22.
ImmergutEAndersonK (2007) Editors’ introduction: The dynamics of pension politics. In: ImmergutEAndersonKSchulzeI (eds) Handbook of West European Pension Politics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1–45.
23.
KorpiW (1983) The Democratic Class Struggle. London: Routledge.
24.
MaresI (2003) The Politics of Social Risk. Business and Welfare State Development. New York: Cambridge University Press.
25.
MarshallTH (1950) Citizenship and Social Class. The Marshall Lectures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
26.
MolinaORhodesM (2002) Corporatism: The past, present, and future of a concept. Annual Review of Political Science5: 305–331.
27.
MylesJ (1989) Old Age in the Welfare State: The Political Economy of Public Pensions. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.
28.
MylesJPiersonP (2001) The comparative political economy of pension reform. In: PiersonP (ed.) The New Politics of the Welfare State. New York: Oxford University Press, 305–333.
29.
PalierB (ed.) (2010) A Goodbye to Bismarck? The Politics of Welfare Reforms in Continental Europe. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
30.
PalmeJ (1990) Pension Rights in Welfare Capitalism: The Development of Old-Age Pensions in 18 OECD Countries 1930 to 1985. Stockholm: Swedish Institute for Social Research.
31.
PiersonP (1994) Dismantling the Welfare State? Reagan, Thatcher, and the Politics of Retrenchment. New York: Cambridge University Press.
32.
PiersonP (1996) The New Politics of the Welfare State. World Politics48(2): 143-79.
33.
PiersonP (ed.) (2001) The New Politics of the Welfare State. New York: Oxford University Press.
34.
ReginiMRegaliaI (1997) Employers, unions and the state: The resurgence of concertation in Italy?West European Politics20(1): 210–230.
35.
ReynaudE (ed.) (2000) Social Dialogue and Pension Reform: United Kingdom, United States, Germany, Japan, Sweden, Italy, Spain. Geneva: International Labour Office.
36.
SchludiM (2005) The Reform of Bismarckian Pension Systems. A Comparison of Pension Politics in Austria, France, Germany, Italy and Sweden. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
37.
SiegelN (2005) Social pacts revisited: ‘Competitive concertation’ and complex causality in negotiated welfare state reforms. European Journal of Industrial Relations11(1): 107–26.
38.
TsebelisG (2002) Veto Players: How Political Institutions Work. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
39.
van KersbergenK (1995) Social Capitalism: A Study of Christian Democracy and the Welfare State. London: Routledge.
40.
VisserJHemerijckA (1997) ‘A Dutch Miracle’: Job Growth, Welfare Reform, and Corporatism in the Netherlands. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.
41.
VisserJRhodesM (2011) The evolution of social pacts. Trajectories and mechanisms of institutionalization. In: AvdagicSRhodesMVisserJ (eds) Social Pacts in Europe: Reemergence, Evolution, and Institutionalization. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 61–87.
42.
WadensjöE (2000) Sweden: Reform of the public pension system. In: ReynaudE (ed.) Social Dialogue and Pension Reform. Geneva: International Labour Office, 67–80.
43.
WeaverKR (1986) The politics of blame avoidance. Journal of Public Policy6(4): 371–398.
44.
WißT (2011) Der Wandel der Alterssicherung in Deutschland: Die Rolle der Sozialpartner. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag.;
