Social Democracy Constrained: Indirect Taxation in Industrialized Democracies

2007 ◽  
Vol 37 (4) ◽  
pp. 619-641 ◽  
Author(s):  
PABLO BERAMENDI ◽  
DAVID RUEDA
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
Policy Instrument ◽  
Indirect Taxation ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Paradoxical Situation ◽  
Industrialized Democracies ◽  
Alternative Routes ◽  
Consumption Taxes ◽  
The Welfare State

The determinants of the welfare state have received a great deal of attention in the comparative political economy literature. An analysis of the role that indirect taxation plays in the politics of advanced industrial societies is, however, missing. This article demonstrates that a full understanding of the links between redistribution, social democracy and corporatism is impossible without a closer look at indirect taxation. Conventional wisdom is questioned and it is shown that social democratic governments in corporatist environments find themselves in a paradoxical situation. They need to support the welfare state by relying upon a fundamentally regressive policy instrument: indirect taxation. It is also shown that social democratic governments can minimize the use of consumption taxes as part of their redistributive strategy only in non-corporatist settings. In exploring these issues, this article illuminates alternative routes for the pursuit of equality in a context of declining corporatist arrangements.

The Retreat of Social Democracy. By John Callaghan. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2000. 255p. $69.95 cloth, $24.95 paper. Against the Third Way. By Alex Callinicos. Oxford: Polity Press, 2001. 160p. $56.95 cloth, $21.95 paper. Social Democracy in Neoliberal Times: The Left and Economic Policy since 1980. Edited by Andrew Glyn. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. 374p. $70.00 cloth, $22.95 paper.

2002 ◽  
Vol 96 (3) ◽  
pp. 652-654
Author(s):  
Fred Block
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Financial Integration ◽  
Social Democracy ◽  
Third Way ◽  
Social Democrats ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
National Boundaries ◽  
Democratic Parties ◽  
Social Democratic Parties ◽  
The Welfare State

Since the 1980s, global financial integration and the rise of neoliberalism have significantly changed the terrain on which European social democratic parties operate. However, fierce debate persists over the evaluation of these changes. Some observers—from widely differing political standpoints—insist that social democracy and the free movement of capital across national boundaries are fundamentally incompatible. It follows that the only options for social democratic parties are either to embrace neoliberalism and dismantle much of the welfare state or organize concerted action to reshape the global financial architecture. An opposing group of analysts are equally adamant that while the terrain has certainly become more difficult, it is still possible for Social Democrats to preserve much of the welfare state and even launch new policy initiatives.

Managing Decentralization: The Strategy of Institutional Differentiation in German Industrial Relations

1999 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 52-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wolfgang Schroeder ◽  
Rainer Weinert
Keyword(s):  
Collective Bargaining ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Organization ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Collective Bargaining Agreement ◽  
The Political ◽  
Process Of Change ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Institutional Differentiation ◽  
The Welfare State

The approach of the new millennium appears to signal the demiseof traditional models of social organization. The political core ofthis process of change—the restructuring of the welfare state—andthe related crisis of the industrywide collective bargaining agreementhave been subjects of much debate. For some years now inspecialist literature, this debate has been conducted between theproponents of a neo-liberal (minimally regulated) welfare state andthe supporters of a social democratic model (highly regulated). Thealternatives are variously expressed as “exit vs. voice,” “comparativeausterity vs. progressive competitiveness,” or “deregulation vs.cooperative re-regulation.”

Resilient privatization: the puzzling case of for-profit welfare providers in Sweden

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 745-765 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Svallfors ◽  
Anna Tyllström
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Service Provision ◽  
Business Organizations ◽  
Private Companies ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
For Profit ◽  
The Face ◽  
Organized Action ◽  
Influence Perceptions ◽  
The Welfare State

Abstract In this article, we analyse the striking resilience of for-profit care and service provision in what has often been seen as the archetypical social democratic welfare state: Sweden. We focus on the strategic discursive activities of private companies and their business organizations as they try to influence perceptions, organize actors and facilitate communication to defend profit-making in the welfare sector in the face of increasing conflict and opposition. We argue that taking such organized action into account changes dominant perceptions about the characteristics of the Swedish political economy, and carries important lessons for analyses of changes in the organization of the welfare state in general.

Denmark: The Rise of Fascism and the Decline of the Nordic Model

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 133-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jasna Balorda
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Free Market ◽  
Public Support ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
People's Party ◽  
Social Sphere ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Agendas ◽  
The Welfare State

Contrary to its conventional image as a social-democratic paragon, the Danish welfare state has, in recent decades, been undergoing significant changes as a response to the intrusion into the social sphere by self-regulating markets and a final departure from Keynesian politics of universalism and solidarity. This article examines the evident decline of the Nordic model as a result of neoliberal globalisation and establishes an association between the erosion of the welfare state and the emergence of fascist political sentiment in Denmark. An analysis of the Danish People's party and its growing public support among the disenfranchised working class communities in Denmark demonstrates how those overlooked by the free market and unrepresented by the liberal left become increasingly more receptive to the proposed social agendas of the far right campaigns.

The Crisis of the Welfare State and the Politics of the Past in Black Metal and Folk Metal Subcultures

Young ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-84
Author(s):  
Aila Mustamo
Keyword(s):  
Heavy Metal ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
Black Metal ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
Common Enemy ◽  
Critical Discourses ◽  
The Welfare State

Anti-modernism has always been a part of the ideology of black metal and folk metal subcultures. In addition to Christianity, a common enemy in the field of modernity is the ‘social democratic’ welfare state. Although at least black metal can be considered as a counterculture, both black metal and folk metal subgenres reflect widely shared ideas from the mainstream. Based on interview material, this article examines how members of black metal and folk metal subcultures participate in the discussion about the welfare state. It gives voice to individuals rarely heard in music media or in the gatherings of the black metal and folk metal scenes. This article brings forward critical discourses about the apolitical tradition of heavy metal subcultures. It discusses ideologies and representations, and reception of ideas shared in metal communities.

Exploring Attitudes Towards the Welfare State: Students' Views in Eight Democracies

2006 ◽  
Vol 35 (4) ◽  
pp. 607-628 ◽  
Author(s):  
CLARA SABBAGH ◽  
PIETER VANHUYSSE
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Hierarchical Model ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Regime Type ◽  
Internal Attribution ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
External Attribution ◽  
Regime Types ◽  
Welfare Attitudes ◽  
The Welfare State

We explore the dimensionality of attitudes towards the welfare state among university students in eight countries representing four worlds of welfare: liberal, radical, conservative and social democratic. We use new data from cross-nationally comparable 25-item questionnaires to derive a two-level bi-factorial hierarchical model that specifies six different attitude facets. These facets are clustered into two distinct sets of attitudes: the ‘market-based frame’, which entails (a) individualism, (b) work ethic and (c) internal attribution of inequality and the ‘welfare-statist frame’, which entails (d) egalitarian redistribution, (e) broad scope of welfare and (f) external attribution of social inequality. In line with our expectations, respondents across different regime types structured their welfare state attitudes according to the six a priori defined types of attitudes and two sets of opposing attitudes. The study also found that the six facets are differently affected by regime type, which further corroborates our argument that the construct of welfare attitudes is complex and inherently multidimensional.

5. Varieties

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Garland
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Welfare Regime ◽  
Welfare Regimes ◽  
Developed Country ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Government Involvement ◽  
Welfare State Regimes ◽  
The Welfare State

Every developed country has a distinctive welfare state of its own. Welfare states generally rely on the same basic institutions, but these institutions can operate in different ways. Welfare state programmes are government programmes, but while public authority is necessary to establish, fund, and regulate these programmes, the nature of government involvement varies. Three worlds of welfare have been identified: social democratic; conservative; and liberal. ‘Varieties’ describes the welfare state regimes that developed in Sweden, Germany, and the USA, each of which exemplifies one of these ‘worlds’ of welfare. It goes on to consider briefly the welfare regimes beyond the ‘three worlds’ and how Britain’s welfare regime has changed over time.

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