Download or read book The Cooperative Provision of Public Services in an Evolving Welfare State written by Wim Van Opstal and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Co-operatives are jointly owned and democratically controlled organizations, designed to meet the socio-economic needs of their members. Originated in the mid 19th century, co-operatives were set up to improve the living conditions of their members, contributing to the development of the welfare state in the countries they operated in. This paper focuses on co-operatives as providers of public services in the context of an evolving welfare state. Co-operatives can be seen as hybrid forms, positioned in a co-operative trilemma between the exigencies of market, state and civil society. We make an economic analysis of the conditions and mechanisms that make co-operatives an interesting provider of public services. Next, we discuss the comparative institutional advantage of co-operatives, as compared to for-profit and non-profit provision, in the light of an evolving welfare state. Finally, we conclude with a discussion on remaining research questions, market niches and policy recommendations.
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 Social Work in a Globalizing World written by Lena Dominelli and published by Polity. This book was released on 2010-12-28 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by a leading social work academic whose work is internationally renowned, this book confronts contemporary challenges facing social workers in relation to globalization and the rise of international global problems.
Download or read book Changing Directions of the British Welfare State written by Gideon Calder and published by University of Wales Press. This book was released on 2012-11-15 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a unique and timely survey of the evolving priorities of the British welfare state since its inception in the late 1940s, with an emphasis on how current and future aims and features of welfare provision compare with the ambitions of its original architects. In this book, 15 commentators, including prominent academic experts in the field, and also members of think tanks, charities and campaigning organisations – with a foreword by the BBC’s Huw Edwards, explore themes such as health, education, housing, gender, disability and ethnic diversity. The result of this study is a rich, critical and thought-provoking exploration of the legacy and prospects of the welfare state – worth reading by anyone with an interest in debates on how a modern society should meet the needs of its citizens.
Download or read book The Changing Welfare State in Europe written by David G. Mayes and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 2013-12-27 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the standard of living has increased, aspirations and financial constraints have required major rethinking. There is considerable disparity between European countries in how they approach the welfare system, with differing concern over aspects such
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 Israeli Third Sector written by Benjamin Gidron and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2003-12-31 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents the economic, historical, legal and policy dimensions of the Nonprofit Sector in Israel with a focus on its contribution to the Welfare State and civil society. It then analyzes those findings in the context of major theoretical frameworks of the sector.
Download or read book New Public Governance the Third Sector and Co Production written by Victor Pestoff and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-06-19 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In recent years public management research in a variety of disciplines has paid increasing attention to the role of citizens and the third sector in the provision of public services. Several of these efforts have employed the concept of co-production to better understand and explain this trend. This book aims to go further by systematizing the growing body of academic papers and reports that focus on various aspects of co-production and its potential contribution to new public governance. It has an interdisciplinary focus that makes a unique contribution to the body of knowledge in this field, at the cross-roads of a number of disciplines - including business administration, policy studies, political science, public management, sociology, third sector studies, etc. The unique presentation of them together in this volume both allows for comparing and contrasting these different perspectives and for potential theoretical collaboration and development. More particularly, this volume addresses the following concerns: What is the nature of co-production and what challenges does it face? How can we conceptualize the concept of co-production? How does co-production works in practice? How does co-production unfold in reality? What can be the effects of co-production? And more specific, firstly, how can co-production contribute to service quality and service management in public services, and secondly, what is the input of co-production on growing citizen involvement and development of participative democracy?
Download or read book Cooperative Enterprises in Australia and Italy written by Anthony Jensen and published by Firenze University Press. This book was released on 2015-12-18 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book arises from a three-year comparative research program concerning co-operative enterprises in Australia and Italy. The book explores the historical development, legal framework and the peak organisations of co-operatives in the two countries. Specific comparative chapters focus on consumer, credit, and worker-producer co-operatives. The book deepens the analysis of co-operatives by containing chapters that examine specific theoretical and empirical issues such as the theory of co-operative firms as collective entrepreneurial action. Monographic chapters include more in depth analysis of specific typologies of co-operatives, such as social and community oriented co-operatives, some of which were created to contrast organized crime in Southern Italy. The book concludes with an assessment of the implications of the project for public policy.
Download or read book American Government 3e written by Glen Krutz and published by . This book was released on 2023-05-12 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Black & white print. American Government 3e aligns with the topics and objectives of many government courses. Faculty involved in the project have endeavored to make government workings, issues, debates, and impacts meaningful and memorable to students while maintaining the conceptual coverage and rigor inherent in the subject. With this objective in mind, the content of this textbook has been developed and arranged to provide a logical progression from the fundamental principles of institutional design at the founding, to avenues of political participation, to thorough coverage of the political structures that constitute American government. The book builds upon what students have already learned and emphasizes connections between topics as well as between theory and applications. The goal of each section is to enable students not just to recognize concepts, but to work with them in ways that will be useful in later courses, future careers, and as engaged citizens. In order to help students understand the ways that government, society, and individuals interconnect, the revision includes more examples and details regarding the lived experiences of diverse groups and communities within the United States. The authors and reviewers sought to strike a balance between confronting the negative and harmful elements of American government, history, and current events, while demonstrating progress in overcoming them. In doing so, the approach seeks to provide instructors with ample opportunities to open discussions, extend and update concepts, and drive deeper engagement.
Download or read book Changing Welfare States written by Anton Hemerijck and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 508 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Changing Welfare States is a major new examination of the wave of social reform that has swept across Europe over the past two decades. In a comparative fashion, it analyses reform trajectories and political destinations in an era of rapid socioeconomic restructuring, including the critical impact of the global financial crisis on welfare state futures. The book argues that the overall scope of social reform across the member states of the European Union varies widely. In some cases welfare state change has been accompanied by deep social conflicts, while in other instances unpopular social reforms received broad consent from opposition parties, trade unions and employer organizations. The analysis reveals trajectories of welfare reform in many countries that are more proactive and reconstructive than is often argued in academic research and the media. Alongside retrenchments, there have been deliberate attempts - often given impetus by intensified European (economic) integration - to rebuild social programs and institutions and thereby accommodate welfare policy repertoires to the new economic and social realities of the 21st century. Welfare state change is work in progress, leading to patchwork mixes of old and new policies and institutions, on the lookout, perhaps, for greater coherence. Unsurprisingly, that search process remains incomplete, resulting from the institutionally bounded and contingent adaptation to the challenges of economic globalization, fiscal austerity, family and gender change, adverse demography, and changing political cleavages.
Download or read book Anarchism and Social Revolution written by Brian Williams and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2023-09-30 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This monograph provides an update to anarchist philosophy, advocating for a paradigm shift beyond neoliberalism and liberal democracy. The book’s central thesis has two components. First, it is argued that the maximization of equal liberty requires historical progress beyond the sovereign state system. In contrast to Fukuyama’s (1992) argument that liberal democracy is the end of history, it is argued that liberalism contains two contradictions (socioeconomic inequality and the shortcoming in equal liberty inherent to state power) with the potential to propel history further. This book’s argument – libertarian social democracy – provides a framework to guide that final stage of history. Second, while anarchist philosophy offers a vision beyond the sovereign state, it can be rendered more suitable as an alternative paradigm. Specifically, it is argued that anarchism is hampered by its traditional adherence to prefigurative strategy, according to which the state cannot be used as a means to achieve a free and equal society. By contrast, libertarian social democracy incorporates a role for a democratic transitionary state (described here as gradualist anarchism) thus addressing mainstream “Hobbesian” concerns about bad anarchy (where decentralization yields a net loss in equal liberty). In so doing, the book reveals the full spectrum of anarchist strategy from prefigurative to gradualist.
Download or read book Humanizing the Economy written by John Restakis and published by New Society Publishers. This book was released on 2010-11-02 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How the largest social movement in history is making the world a better place.
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 Mutual and Co operative Approaches to Delivering Local Services written by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Communities and Local Government Committee and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report finds that efforts by the Cabinet Office to promote the development of employee owned cooperatives must be married more effectively to the work of DCLG to deliver localism reforms before mutual models of local service delivery can flourish. In its report, the CLG Committee concludes that a number of significant barriers must be removed. Advice - Government and local government itself should provide "off-the-shelf" models and guidance to reduce confusion and risks that deter local authorities currently from considering using mutual or co-operative models for service delivery. Leadership - co-ordination between the Government's Mutuals Support Programme, the DCLG and the Local Government Association must be improved to gather and disseminate evidence on the operation of mutuals and co-operatives in delivering local services. Financing - Government must do more to inform and educate financial institutions about lending to mutuals and co-operatives and it must examine tax support for mutuals and co-operatives. Accountability - all new organisations must remain accountable to the local Council (usually through a contract) and be transparent in their operations. Through commissioning and oversight processes authorities must prevent services from fragmenting and protect the operation and ownership of local public assets. Procurement - rules must be drafted to confer maximum flexibility in tendering for services so that mutuals and co-operatives can compete fairly with large companies and in-house providers.
Download or read book Aging Public Policy written by Theodore H. Hoff and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-12-05 with total page 471 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Aging Public Policy: Bonding the Generations" is presented in three parts. Part One describes the policy process as a response to human needs through the laws of our country. Part Two explores the national policy development on behalf of older persons. Part Three describes the major public policies on behalf of the elderly that include Social Security, Medicare, The Older Americans Act, institutional care, employment and retirement policies. The final chapter discusses the advocacy process in the field of aging.
Download or read book A Democratic Architecture for the Welfare State written by Victor A. Pestoff and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2008-10-27 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The welfare state faces various challenges in Scandinavia and many European countries today, including a poor work environment in the public sector, a growing democracy deficit, and demographic obstacles. In this new book, Victor A. Pestoff argues that the state cannot resolve these challenges alone or together with the market, rather it requires the active participation of citizens and the third sector in order to overcome them and become more sustainable and flexible in the future. This book addresses the need for a more democratic architecture for the European welfare state, opening new perspectives for developing alternative channels for direct citizen participation at the sub-municipal level of governance. Pestoff finds that neither democratic theory nor welfare state theory devotes adequate attention to the contemporary role of the third sector as a service provider or to greater direct citizen participation in the provision of welfare services. He shifts the focus of analysis from the input to the output side of the political system and explores new ways to promote a greater role for the third sector and more citizen participation in the provision of universal, tax financed welfare services. Part 1 discusses social economy actors in Sweden and Scandinavia, both from a historical and future perspective. Part 2 explores major issues for the third sector and welfare state, including the allocation of an organization’s surplus or profit, work environment and service quality in public services and the third sector, consumer perspectives on the social economy, democratizing medical and health care in Japan, and co-production of childcare services in eight European countries. Part 3 revisits the third sector and state in democratic theory and welfare theory, as well as recognizing major hurdles to the third sector and democratization of the welfare state. Part 4 concludes by summarizing the politics of participation in the welfare state.