Political Debates on the Generations and the Welfare State

Short Title	WELFARE STATE
Full Title	Political Debates on the Generations and the Welfare State
Brief Description	The research investigates the debates on the welfare state redistribution unambiguously exposed to potential generational conflicts, especially the working mechanisms of the pension system. Beyond the public policy decisions, the focus of the research is on the political debates about the welfare (especially the pension) redistribution mechanisms. Related activity involves both theoretical work and empirical data analysis.
Research Period	Since the beginning of 2012
Research Type	Individual project
Research Monitoring Body	The Programme Committee of the Ageing Research Programme
Project Supervisor	Attila Bartha and András Tóth
Project Manager	Balázs Kiss
Researchers	Attila Bartha and András Tóth
Contact	Attila Bartha (bartha.attila@tk.mta.hu) and András Tóth (toth.andras@tk.mta.hu)
Research Summary	The sub-project is carried out in the framework of the project The Political Science of Population Ageing. Political conflicts in generational perspective at the Department of Political Behaviour of the Institute for Political Science, Centre for Social Sciences, Hungarian Academy of Sciences. It investigates the relationship between two fields from a generational perspective: the public policy mechanisms of the welfare state redistribution, especially the pension system and the related political behaviour of the relevant political actors. A theoretical goal involves the conceptual definition and description of the generational features in the relationship of the two fields mentioned. Conceptually, it is crucial that welfare policy decisions (including pension policy decisions) are formed partly by comprehensive societal visions of the major political actors; thus the particular welfare and pension policy decisions are framed in political discourses. Empirically, the focus of the research is the exploration of the competing generation-related interpretations: beyond the well-known ‘long-term macro-financial sustainability’ and ‘generational accounting’ frames, what are the other typical frames of the political actors interpreting the welfare including pension policy decisions? In addition, what are the more comprehensive political ideologies constructing these frames and how are they related to the political behaviour of the relevant actors? The research investigates theoretically developed questions and tests hypotheses on that ground empirically utilising the data from our own data collection about major welfare (pension) policy decisions and political public opinion surveys. In 2012 we prepared a preliminary content analysis of the pension system debate. It is planned to apply for research funds in order to carry out qualitative data collection methods related to the project.