A farewell to welfare? Conceptualising welfare populism, welfare chauvinism and welfare Euroscepticism

This conceptual paper argues for the importance of studying three policy paradigms on welfare opposition: First, welfare populism, the opposition to welfare state policies and their administration that do not benefit the ‘common people’. Second, welfare chauvinism, the opposition to the inclusion of non-natives who live in a nation-state from welfare provisions. Third and finally, welfare Euroscepticism, the opposition to the harmonization of welfare policies at the European Union level. We argue that these paradigms have distinct causes and consequences that should be studied across countries in more detail, including a focus on their multidimensional nature and different political actors. And while these paradigms may not lead to a complete farewell to welfare, they most certainly have been shaping and will continue to shape welfare state recalibration. Precisely, we argue that due to welfare opposition, welfare states continue to be influenced by radical right and neoliberal logics instead of focusing on diminishing inequality. This paper concludes with avenues for future research.