Moral Societal Renewal or Getting the Country Back to Work: Welfare State Culture as a Resource and a Constraint for Policy Discourse

This article deals with welfare culture as an ideational constraint for governments’ use of normative ideas and justifications in their policy communication. The analysis is based on a focused comparison of reforms related to the labor market that were passed by the governments under David Cameron (the United Kingdom), Mariano Rajoy (Spain), and Enda Kenny (Ireland). The cases were chosen because of their similar broader context while the welfare regimes and cultures differ between the countries. Based on key speeches by the heads of governments and the responsible ministers, a qualitative content analysis extracts justifications in their communication. As the analysis shows, the three cases differ in both the extent and the content of normative justifications in a way that is in line with the differences in the welfare cultures. Furthermore, the findings from the Irish government suggest that party ideology adds to the welfare culture in shaping a government's policy communication.