Persistent poverty: Portugal and the Southern European welfare regime

Abstract:

This article aims to assess the extent to which social policies address current and persistent poverty in southern European Union countries in general and Portugal in particular. The southern European welfare regime, which includes Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain, has been seen as less developed and less generous in covering social risks. Additionally, the southern European welfare regime presents several inefficiencies that make social policies much less successful in tackling current and persistent poverty. In spite of having recently followed a common path of welfare reforms, southern European countries are far from achieving substantial results in poverty reduction in recent years. Possible explanations of enduring poverty may rest on cultural and institutional factors such as less state accountability in the context where a prominent role in welfare provision rests on families, high levels of tolerance of inequality and poverty, and, in broader terms, in attitudes toward inequality and poverty embedded in social and political practices. In this framework, the case of Portugal is further developed and contrasted with others countries in southern Europe.