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Membership or Influence Logic? The Response of Organized Interests to Retirement Age Reforms in Britain and Germany

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Welfare State Reforms Seen from Below

Abstract

Across pension systems, the raising of the statutory retirement age has been one of the most salient pension policy issues in recent years. This chapter investigates how interest organizations (trade unions, social advocacy groups, employer organizations, and financial services) have positioned themselves regarding retirement age reforms in Britain and Germany. The analysis is based on interviews that were carried out with representatives of these stakeholders in 2011 and 2012. Policy positions are mapped in a two-dimensional policy space distinguishing reform support and the salience of the issue. The results confirm expectations and show an overall alignment of policy positions along a labour/capital divide. Nevertheless, policy positions of individual organizations are revealed as more complex since similar organizations differ in their positioning depending on the country.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The interviews for the research in this chapter were conducted by the author as part of the SFB project A6. The chapter is a revised excerpt from the doctoral thesis ‘Beveridge and Bismarck Remodelled: The Positions of British and German Organised Interests on Pension Reform’ at University of Mannheim, defended in 2016.

  2. 2.

    Life expectancy for men at birth was 40 years, though this is impacted by high infant and child mortality. At 20 years of age, a man could, on average, expect to live another 41.2 years (Statistisches Bundesamt 2015).

  3. 3.

    The commission (2002–2005) included Adair Turner, former CBI Director General, Jeannie Drake of the TUC, and John Hills, LSE professor.

  4. 4.

    Unfortunately, not all organizations that are relevant in the pensions discourse were available for interviews at the time. With its dominant role within the German union federation DGB, the metal worker union IG Metall would be particularly relevant (Anderson and Lynch 2007, 201) but could not be interviewed due to adverse circumstances. Similarly, the Federation of Small Businesses would have been a worthwhile British interview partner regarding small employers, while the Engineering Employers Federation was involved in early lobbying for pension reform. However, interviews with either organization proved impossible.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bobenheim-Roxheim, Germany

    Julia Klitzke

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  1. Julia Klitzke
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

    Bernhard Ebbinghaus

  2. SFB 884 “Political Economy of Reforms”, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany

    Elias Naumann

Appendix

Appendix

Table 2.1 Selected organizations in Germany and Great Britain sorted by type and size
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Klitzke, J. (2018). Membership or Influence Logic? The Response of Organized Interests to Retirement Age Reforms in Britain and Germany. In: Ebbinghaus, B., Naumann, E. (eds) Welfare State Reforms Seen from Below. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63652-8_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63652-8_2

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-63652-8

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