Download or read book The Changing Meanings of the Welfare State written by Nils Edling and published by Berghahn Books. This book was released on 2019-01-02 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In discussions of economics, governance, and society in the Nordic countries, “the welfare state” is a well-worn analytical concept. However, there has been much less scholarly energy devoted to historicizing this idea beyond its postwar emergence. In this volume, specialists from Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Iceland chronicle the historical trajectory of “the welfare state,” tracing the variable ways in which it has been interpreted, valued, and challenged over time. Each case study generates valuable historical insights into not only the history of Northern Europe, but also the welfare state itself as both a phenomenon and a concept.

Download or read book The Welfare State written by David Garland and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This 'Very Short Introduction' discusses the necessity of welfare states in modern capitalist societies. Situating social policy in an historical, sociological, and comparative perspective, David Garland brings a new understanding to familiar debates, policies, and institutions.

Download or read book The Transformation of Welfare States written by Nick Ellison and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2006-04-07 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Globalization', institutions and welfare regimes -- The challenge of globalization -- Globalization and welfare regime change -- Towards workfare? : changing labour market policies -- Labour market policies in social democratic and continental regimes -- Population ageing, GEPs and changing pensions systems -- Pensions policies in continental and social regimes -- Conclusion : welfare regimes in a liberalizing world.

Download or read book The End of Welfare as We Know It written by Philipp Sandermann and published by Verlag Barbara Budrich. This book was released on 2014-01-22 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the last 30 years, the governments of many Western countries have repeatedly called for an end to welfare. While the virtue of this goal and the means of achieving it continue to be debated in politics, much of contemporary social science research assumes that, in fact, the end of the welfare state has already occurred. The authors of this volume hope to contribute to a clearer understanding of how, where and to what extent welfare state settings really have changed since the 1980s. Their work examines questions of change and continuity while exploring various welfare practices in the Western world.

Download or read book The Welfare State We re In written by James Bartholomew and published by Biteback Publishing. This book was released on 2013-12-16 with total page 429 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The welfare state is one of Britain's crowning achievements. Or is it? In this seminal book, now studied in universities in Britain and elsewhere, James Bartholomew advances the sacrilegious argument that, however well meaning its founders, the welfare state has done more harm than good. He argues that far from being the socialist utopia the post-war generation dreamed of, the welfare state has led to avoidable deaths in the NHS, falling standards in schools, permanent mass unemployment and many other unintended consequences. At a deeper level, he contends that the welfare state has caused millions to live deprived and even depraved lives, undermining the very decency and kindness which first inspired it. This landmark book changed the way many people think about the welfare state. It played a major role in the political debate that led to recent reforms. Now with a new introduction by the author assessing the value of these reforms, this classic text still shocks with the power of its arguments and the weight of its supporting evidence.

Download or read book Postcommunist Welfare States written by Linda J. Cook and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2013-07-02 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the early 1990s, the countries of the former Soviet Bloc faced an urgent need to reform the systems by which they delivered broad, basic social welfare to their citizens. Inherited systems were inefficient and financially unsustainable. Linda J. Cook here explores the politics and policy of social welfare from 1990 to 2004 in the Russian Federation, Poland, Hungary, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. Most of these countries, she shows, tried to institute reforms based on a liberal paradigm of reduced entitlements and subsidies, means-testing, and privatization. But these proposals provoked opposition from pro-welfare interests, and the politics of negotiating change varied substantially from one political arena to another. In Russia, for example, liberalizing reform was blocked for a decade. Only as Vladimir Putin rose to power did the country change its inherited welfare system. Cook finds that the impact of economic pressures on welfare was strongly mediated by domestic political factors, including the level of democratization and balance of pro- and anti-reform political forces. Postcommunist welfare politics throughout Russia and Eastern Europe, she shows, are marked by the large role played by bureaucratic welfare stakeholders who were left over from the communist period and, in weak states, by the development of informal processes in social sectors.

Download or read book Revisiting the Welfare State written by Robert Page and published by McGraw-Hill Education (UK). This book was released on 2007-09-16 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What was the impact of the Second World War on the development of the welfare state? Did Attlee’s pioneering post-war Labour governments create the welfare state and a socialist society? Was there a welfare consensus between Labour and the Conservatives in the period from 1951 to 1979? Was there a welfare revolution during the Thatcher and Major years? What lies at the heart of New Labour’s welfare policy? In Revisiting the Welfare State, Robert Page provides a persuasive, fresh and challenging account of the British welfare state since 1940. His text re-examines some of the most commonly held assumptions about the post-war welfare state and reignites the debate about its role and purpose. Robert Page starts from the premise that the student of social policy can gain a deeper understanding of the welfare state by studying political and historical accounts of the welfare state, party manifestos, policy documents and political memoirs. Drawing from these sources, he provides a clear guide to the changing role of the state in the provision of welfare since 1940. Each of the five chapters is devoted to a particular theme associated with the post-war welfare state, the last of which focuses on the strategy of the New Labour governments of Tony Blair. Written by one of the leading authorities on contemporary social policy, Revisiting the Welfare State is a stimulating guide to the political history of the post-war welfare state in Britain. It is essential reading for students of social policy, social work, politics and contemporary history. It will also appeal to the general reader who is seeking an accessible guide to the political history of the post-war welfare state.

Download or read book Work and the Welfare State written by Evelyn Z. Brodkin and published by Georgetown University Press. This book was released on 2013-10-01 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Work and the Welfare State places street-level organizations at the analytic center of welfare-state politics, policy, and management. This volume offers a critical examination of efforts to change the welfare state to a workfare state by looking at on-the-ground issues in six countries: the US, UK, Australia, Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands. An international group of scholars contribute organizational studies that shed new light on old debates about policies of workfare and activation. Peeling back the political rhetoric and technical policy jargon, these studies investigate what really goes on in the name of workfare and activation policies and what that means for the poor, unemployed, and marginalized populations subject to these policies. By adopting a street-level approach to welfare state research, Work and the Welfare State reveals the critical, yet largely hidden, role of governance and management reforms in the evolution of the global workfare project. It shows how these reforms have altered organizational arrangements and practices to emphasize workfare’s harsher regulatory features and undermine its potentially enabling ones. As a major contribution to expanding the conceptualization of how organizations matter to policy and political transformation, this book will be of special interest to all public management and public policy scholars and students.

Download or read book Democracy and the Welfare State written by Alice Kessler-Harris and published by . This book was released on 2018 with total page 403 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Though the "two Wests," Europe and the United States, differ in crucial respects, they share a common history of social rights. In Democracy and the Welfare State, leading historians and social scientists rethink this history in light of global transformations of the economic order and the onslaught of neoliberalism and right-wing populism.

Download or read book Changing Welfare Changing States written by John Clarke and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2004-05-24 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: `John Clarke brings a fresh, critical, "idiosyncratic" eye to the task of thinking about the ways in which states do welfare. He paints a rich and broad canvas, using a palette that blends social, cultural, political and economic perspectives. Changing Welfare, Changing States is an important addition to the welfare state literature′ - Ruth Lister, Professor of Social Policy, Loughborough University. What has happened to welfare states? Are we witnessing the end of welfare, the survival of the welfare state, or welfare states in transition? Changing Welfare, Changing States disentangles the various answers to these questions, inviting us to think differently about the remaking of the relationships between welfare, state and nation. Informed by the `cultural turn′ in the social sciences, the book reflects a commitment to the importance of rethinking social policy at a time when social, political and intellectual certainties have been profoundly unsettled. Key features of the book include: } a thought-provoking approach - encourages students to ′rethink′ welfare states. } broad coverage - engages with a range of approaches to the study of welfare states, drawing on social policy, politics, sociology, anthropology and cultural studies. } contributes to key debates on: globalization, neo-liberalism, changing forms of governance and conflicts over citizenship in the contemporary remaking of welfare states. Written by a leading academic in the field, the book has a flowing narrative and clear structure that makes it accessible to and popular with students and academics alike. It is an invaluable resource for undergraduates and postgraduates in the field of social policy and will also be of interest to students and researchers in related disciplines such as sociology, politics, anthropology and cultural studies.

Download or read book Dismantling the Welfare State written by Paul Pierson and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1995-09-29 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a careful examination of the politics of social policy in an era of austerity and conservative governance. Focusing on the administrations of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, Pierson provides a compelling explanation for the welfare state's durability and for the few occasions where each government was able to achieve significant cutbacks. The programmes of the modern welfare state - the 'policy legacies' of previous governments - generally proved resistant to reform. Hemmed in by the political supports that have developed around mature social programmes, conservative opponents of the welfare state were successful only when they were able to divide the supporters of social programmes, compensate those negatively affected, or hide what they were doing from potential critics. The book will appeal to those interested in the politics of neo-conservatism as well as those concerned about the development of the modern welfare state. It will attract readers in the fields of comparative politics, public policy, and political economy.

Download or read book The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism written by Gosta Esping-Andersen and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-05-29 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Few discussions in modern social science have occupied as much attention as the changing nature of welfare states in western societies. Gosta Esping-Andersen, one of the most distinguished contributors to current debates on this issue, here provides a new analysis of the character and role of welfare states in the functioning of contemporary advanced western societies. Esping-Andersen distinguishes several major types of welfare state, connecting these with variations in the historical development of different western countries. Current economic processes, the author argues, such as those moving towards a post-industrial order, are not shaped by autonomous market forces but by the nature of states and state differences. Fully informed by comparative materials, this book will have great appeal to everyone working on issues of economic development and post-industrialism. Its audience will include students and academics in sociology, economics and politics.

Download or read book Globalization and the Future of the Welfare State written by Miguel Glatzer and published by University of Pittsburgh Press. This book was released on 2004-12-20 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the last quarter of the twentieth century, the global political economy has undergone a profound transformation. Democracy has swept the globe, and both rich and developing nations must compete in an increasingly integrated world economy. How are social welfare policies being affected by this wave of economic globalization? Leading researchers explore the complex question in this new comparative study. Shifting their focus from the more commonly studied, established welfare states of northwestern Europe, the authors of Globalization and the Future of the Welfare State examine policy development in the middle-income countries of southern and eastern Europe, Latin America, Russia, and East Asia. Previous investigations into the effects of globalization on welfare states have generally come to one of two conclusions. The first is that a global economy undermines existing welfare states and obstructs new developments in social policy, as generous provisions place a burden on a nation's resources and its ability to compete in the international marketplace. In contrast, the second builds on the finding that economic openness is positively correlated with greater social spending, which suggests that globalization and welfare states can be mutually reinforcing. Here the authors find that globalization and the success of the welfare state are by no means as incompatible as the first view implies. The developing countries analyzed demonstrate that although there is great variability across countries and regions, domestic political processes and institutions play key roles in managing the disruptions wrought by globalization.

Download or read book The Welfare State Reader written by Christopher Pierson and published by Polity. This book was released on 2006 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes 20 selections, reflecting the thinking and research in welfare state studies, these readings are organized around a series of debates - on welfare regimes, globalization, Europeanization, demographic change and political challenges.

Download or read book The Welfare State in Transition written by Richard B. Freeman and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-04-15 with total page 490 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Once heralded in the 1950s and 1960s as a model welfare state, Sweden is now in transition and in trouble since its economic plunge in the early 1990s. This volume presents ten essays that examine Sweden's economic problems from a U.S. perspective. Exploring such diverse topics as income equalization and efficiency, welfare and tax policy, wage determination and unemployment, and international competitiveness and growth, they consider how Sweden's welfare state succeeded in eliminating poverty and became a role model for other countries. They then reflect on Sweden's past economic problems, such as the increase in government spending and the fall in industrial productivity, warning of problems to come. Finally they review the consequences of the collapse of Sweden's economy in the early 1990s, exploring the implications of its efforts to reform its welfare state and reestablish a healthy economy. This volume will be of interest to policymakers and analysts, social scientists, and economists interested in welfare states.

Download or read book Beyond the Welfare State written by Christopher Pierson and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For politicians and policy-makers almost everywhere, the future of the welfare state has forced itself to the top of the political agenda. Beyond the Welfare State? represents a sophisticated and comprehensive introduction to the problems with which these policy-makers must struggle. This new edition of Beyond the Welfare State? has been thoroughly revised and updated drawing on the latest theoretical developments and empirical evidence. It remains the most comprehensive and sophisticated guide to the condition of the welfare state in a time of rapid and sometimes bewildering change. The opening chapters develop a scholarly but accessible review of competing views of the historical and contemporary roles of the welfare state. This evaluation draws upon the most recent empirical research and gives full weight to feminist, ecological and 'anti-racist' critiques. It also develops a clear account of globalization and its contested impact upon existing welfare regimes. The book constructs a distinctive history of the international growth of welfare states and offers a comprehensive account of recent developments from 'crisis' to 'structural adjustment'. The final chapters bring the story right up to date with an assessment of the important changes effected in the 1990s and the prospects for welfare states in the new millennium. This is essential reading for second- and third-year undergraduates and postgraduates in politics, social administration and public policy, sociology and economics, as well as the more general reader interested in the future of the welfare state.

Download or read book Welfare State Universalism and Diversity written by Anneli Anttonen and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'This book is a most timely academic intervention. The concept of universalism is central to social policy and welfare state development yet it is rarely explored with such attention to its time and place specificities as in this book. Nordic and British authors investigate the different dimensions and meanings of universalism and the challenges it has faced. Buffeted by markets and choice on the one side and diversity on the other, can universalism survive? To find out, read on...' - Fiona Williams, University of Leeds, UK 'Universalism in social policy is politically challenged and normatively contested. This book examines how the principle of universalism can be understood and how it has been put into practice in various national contexts. Universalism is contrasted with the idea of diversity which has gained strength as a result of growing affluent middle classes and of multiculturalism in highly developed welfare states. The book deals with varieties of universalism and inspires a re-thinking of the normative basis of the welfare state.' - Stein Kuhnle, University of Bergen, Norway and Hertie School of Governance, Berlin, Germany Welfare State, Universalism and Diversity is a thought-provoking book dealing with key ideas, values and principles of social policies and asking what exactly is meant by universal benefits and policies? Is the time of post-war universalism over? Are universalism and diversity contradictory policy and theory framings? Well-known scholars from different countries and fields of expertise provide a historically informative and comprehensive view on the making of universal social policies. Universalism is defined and implemented differently in the British and Scandinavian social policies. Service universalism is different from universalism in pensions. The book underlines the multiple and transformative nature of universalism and the challenge of diversity. There certainly is need for a greater diversity in meeting citizen's needs. Yet, universalism remains a principle essential for planning and implementing sustainable and legitimate policies in times characterized by complex interdependences and contradictory political aims. This impressive book is an attempt to untangle the multiple meanings of universalism and clarify the concept's relevance to contemporary policy debates. It will prove invaluable for students, researchers and practitioners in social policy, public policy, social administration, social welfare, social history, social work, sociology and political sciences. Policymakers and administrators involved with social and public policies, social services, social welfare, and social work will also find this book groundbreaking.