The Limits of Change: German Family Policy and the Dynamics of Policy Transfer 2009–2017

Abstract

German family policy has undergone path shifting reforms departing from the traditional male breadwinner model during the 2000s. These reforms were partially the result of policy transfers from European soft law and the Nordic family model. This contribution analyses which role ‘learning from abroad’ played for the path of German family policy in the years following these reforms and which factors help to explain these dynamics. We find that the relevance and role of policy transfer significantly changed compared to the 2000s: First, policy transfer from both the EU and the Nordic countries lost in importance as a political strategy for German family policy reforms. Second, in the one case of policy transfer from the Nordic states, it was instrumentalised by one of the governing parties to facilitate a shift reversing reform consolidating the old conservative family model. We argue that this change in the dynamics of policy transfer can be traced back to three interdependent explanatory factors: changing actor constellations and motivations of German government coalitions, declining problem pressures due to increasing female labour participation and a higher fertility rate, and a decrease in the transferability of policies from the EU and the Nordic countries. By highlighting the different dynamics and effects of policy transfer for German family policy the paper contributes to the wider theoretical debate about the hybridisation of family policy regimes.