Exploring the links between punitiveness and political economy: are criminal justice regimes a key dimension of varieties of capitalism in OECD countries?

Kit Colliver; John Robert Hudson

doi:10.1017/ics.2025.15

Exploring the links between punitiveness and political economy: are criminal justice regimes a key dimension of varieties of capitalism in OECD countries?

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Abstract

The varieties of capitalism thesis suggest high-income democracies cluster into distinct types, with complementarities between political, economic, and social institutions shaping long-run cross-national differences. Although featuring strongly in the comparative political economy and social policy literatures, criminal justice has received relatively little attention in this debate, but some have suggested penal policy variations map against varieties of capitalism ideal types. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis – and data for 22 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries over a 25-year period – we explore connections between cross-national differences in penal punitiveness and key institutional features identified in these debates. We find that the degree of punitiveness strongly overlaps with varieties of capitalism ideal types, arguing criminal justice regimes constitute a dimension of institutional complementarity in varieties of capitalism.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	1-18
Number of pages	18
Journal	Journal of International and Comparative Social Policy
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1017/ics.2025.15
Publication status	Published - 14 May 2025

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© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Social Policy Association
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title = "Exploring the links between punitiveness and political economy: are criminal justice regimes a key dimension of varieties of capitalism in OECD countries?",

abstract = "The varieties of capitalism thesis suggest high-income democracies cluster into distinct types, with complementarities between political, economic, and social institutions shaping long-run cross-national differences. Although featuring strongly in the comparative political economy and social policy literatures, criminal justice has received relatively little attention in this debate, but some have suggested penal policy variations map against varieties of capitalism ideal types. Using fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis – and data for 22 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries over a 25-year period – we explore connections between cross-national differences in penal punitiveness and key institutional features identified in these debates. We find that the degree of punitiveness strongly overlaps with varieties of capitalism ideal types, arguing criminal justice regimes constitute a dimension of institutional complementarity in varieties of capitalism.",

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