Healthcare

2019 ◽  
pp. 242-265
Author(s):  
Antonia Maioni ◽  
Theodore R. Marmor
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
National Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
State Expansion ◽  
Policy Evolution ◽  
Welfare State Development ◽  
Nuanced Understanding ◽  
The U.S

The differences and similarities in health policy between the United States (U.S.) and Canada provide useful examples of how political institutions can shape democratic governance. These institutions have shaped both the obstacles to rapid welfare state expansion and the nature of the political reform coalitions that have been able to break through those obstacles. This chapter explores contending explanations of welfare state development, and then develops an institutional approach with which to parse though crucial differences between the U.S. and Canadian welfare states, and policy evolution in their healthcare systems. The chapter focuses on the role that political institutions have played in influencing national policy choices and in explaining policy differences between the U.S. and Canada. This comparison also bridges institutionalist theories with a more nuanced understanding of the way in which institutional arrangements interact with parties, policies, and welfare state outcomes.

scholarly journals The Bias of American Federalism: The Limits of Welfare-State Development in the Progressive Era

1989 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Brian Robertson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Progressive Era ◽  
The United States ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Welfare State Development ◽  
Socialist Movement ◽  
State Programs ◽  
American Federalism ◽  
European Welfare States

Welfare state programs developed later in the United States than in other nations. Today, American programs are less widely accessible, less uniform, and often less generous than programs abroad. Explanations for this relative conservatism usually focus on the lack of a socialist movement or a socialist ideological tradition in the United States. Yet during the Progressive Era, when the gap between the American and European welfare states widened significantly enough for contemporaries to acknowledge it, the forces for social reform had never been stronger in the United States. In many ways these forces resembled those in England, which at the time was laying the foundations for a model welfare state.

scholarly journals Business and Welfare State Development: Why Did Employers Accept Social Reforms?

2013 ◽  
Vol 65 (3) ◽  
pp. 416-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Paster
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Protection ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Development ◽  
Social Reforms ◽  
State Expansion ◽  
Business Interests ◽  
Business Support ◽  
Welfare State Development ◽  
Changes Over Time

In recent years, employer-centered explanations of welfare state development have begun to challenge conventional labor-centered and state-centered explanations. These new explanations suggest that sector-specific business interests and cross-class alliances propelled the adoption and expansion of social programs (the business interests thesis). This article presents a novel explanation of differences in business support for welfare state expansion based on a diachronic analysis of the German case and shadow case studies of Sweden and the United States. The article suggests that when looking at changes in employers’ positions across time rather than across sectors, political constraints turn out to be the central factor explaining variation in employers’ support for social reforms (the political accommodation thesis). The article identifies two goals of business intervention in welfare state development: pacification and containment. In the case of pacification, business interests propel social policy expansion; in the case of containment, they constrain it. Business chooses pacification when revolutionary forces challenge capitalism and political stabilization thus becomes a priority. Business chooses containment when reformist forces appear likely to succeed in expanding social protection and no revolutionary challenge exists. The article shows that changes over time in the type of political challenges that business interests confront best explain the variation in business support for labor-friendly social reforms.

Political Institutions

2021 ◽  
pp. 312-328
Author(s):  
Ellen M. Immergut
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Veto Players ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
The Political ◽  
Consensus Democracy ◽  
Welfare State Development ◽  
Veto Points ◽  
The Impact

This chapter surveys theories and empirical evidence about the impact of state structures and political institutions on welfare state structures and outcomes. It shows that the political-institutional analysis of welfare states has shifted over time from an interest in static structures to a much more dynamic analysis of the interplay amongst preferences, structures, ideas, and institutions. It reviews different approaches to the study of political institutions, including majoritarian versus consensus democracy, veto points, and veto players. The impact of veto points on welfare state development and change, as well as the links between electoral systems and electoral dynamics on social policy outcomes, are explained and discussed. The chapter concludes with a review of the impact of past policies on welfare state politics and outcomes.

scholarly journals Global social policy: an application of welfare state theory

2018 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Holden
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
State Theory ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Political Movement ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
Transnational Actors ◽  
National Welfare ◽  
Welfare State Development

AbstractGlobal social policy (GSP) takes different forms from those of national welfare states, since it depends on the activities of an array of international organisations and transnational actors. Three broad theoretical approaches have dominated the literature on national welfare state development: those focused on processes of economic development, industrialisation and urbanisation; those focused on class struggle and political mobilisation; and those focused on the effects of political institutions. This article applies each of these broad theoretical approaches to the development of GSP in order to illuminate the nature of GSP, its likely future development, and the constraints upon such development. It is concluded that the dominant forms taken by GSP will continue to be piecemeal, minimalist and essentially neoliberal for as long as an effective global political movement in favour of a more extensive GSP is absent.

An American Language

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosina Lozano
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
National Policy ◽  
The United States ◽  
Spanish Language ◽  
Spanish Speakers ◽  
Language Recognition ◽  
Political Language ◽  
Political Issue ◽  
History Of ◽  
The U.S

An American Language is a political history of the Spanish language in the United States. The nation has always been multilingual and the Spanish language in particular has remained as an important political issue into the present. After the U.S.-Mexican War, the Spanish language became a language of politics as Spanish speakers in the U.S. Southwest used it to build territorial and state governments. In the twentieth century, Spanish became a political language where speakers and those opposed to its use clashed over what Spanish's presence in the United States meant. This book recovers this story by using evidence that includes Spanish language newspapers, letters, state and territorial session laws, and federal archives to profile the struggle and resilience of Spanish speakers who advocated for their language rights as U.S. citizens. Comparing Spanish as a language of politics and as a political language across the Southwest and noncontiguous territories provides an opportunity to measure shifts in allegiance to the nation and exposes differing forms of nationalism. Language concessions and continued use of Spanish is a measure of power. Official language recognition by federal or state officials validates Spanish speakers' claims to US citizenship. The long history of policies relating to language in the United States provides a way to measure how U.S. visions of itself have shifted due to continuous migration from Latin America. Spanish-speaking U.S. citizens are crucial arbiters of Spanish language politics and their successes have broader implications on national policy and our understanding of Americans.

scholarly journals Economic Globalization and the Welfare State in Affluent Democracies, 1975–2001

2005 ◽  
Vol 70 (6) ◽  
pp. 921-948 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Brady ◽  
Jason Beckfield ◽  
Martin Seeleib-Kaiser
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
Economic Globalization ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Welfare Regimes ◽  
State Expansion ◽  
State Variation ◽  
State Models ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Previous Scholarship ◽  
The Welfare State

Previous scholarship is sharply divided over how or if globalization influences welfare states. The effects of globalization may be positive causing expansion, negative triggering crisis and reduction, curvilinear contributing to convergence, or insignificant. We bring new evidence to bear on this debate with an analysis of three welfare state measures and a comprehensive array of economic globalization indicators for 17 affluent democracies from 1975 to 2001. The analysis suggests several conclusions. First, state-of-the-art welfare state models warrant revision in the globalization era. Second, most indicators of economic globalization do not have significant effects, but a few affect the welfare state and improve models of welfare state variation. Third, the few significant globalization effects are in differing directions and often inconsistent with extant theories. Fourth, the globalization effects are far smaller than the effects of domestic political and economic factors. Fifth, the effects of globalization are not systematically different between European and non-European countries, or liberal and non-liberal welfare regimes. Increased globalization and a modest convergence of the welfare state have occurred, but globalization does not clearly cause welfare state expansion, crisis, and reduction or convergence. Ultimately, this study suggests skepticism toward bold claims about globalization's effect on the welfare state.

Brain Drain from Israel and Skill-Biased Global Immigration Policy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Assaf Razin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
The United States ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
University Graduates ◽  
Skill Bias ◽  
Skilled Immigrants ◽  
The World ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Generous Welfare

A more generous welfare state (particularly with an aging population) has financing needs that immigrants could fill. With high-skilled immigrants more likely to pay in rather than draw on the welfare state, more generous welfare states are more inclined to try to attract high skilled. Israel ranks third in the world in the number of university graduates per capita, after the United States and the Netherlands. It possesses the highest per capita number of scientists in the world, with 135 for every 10,000 citizens (compared to 85 per 10,000 in the United States). Israelis took full advantage of the immigration skill bias. When examining the index for educated émigrés, i.e., those with a college degree, the average index is 12.41 and Israel's index is more than three times higher, 41.45. Using this index, Israel is higher than Portugal and the gap between Israel and Ireland (49.09) narrows considerably.

European Integration and an Institutional Theory of Inequality

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Jason Beckfield
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Institutional Theory ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Class Struggle ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
European Level ◽  
Citizenship Rights ◽  
Welfare State Development ◽  
The Welfare State

This chapter provides an overview of the book’s main themes. The book argues that European integration has reorganized class struggle to the European level, entrenching a technocratic capitalism that weakens welfare states and raises income inequality. It asks: How have the fruits of European labor been distributed? Who wins and who loses from European integration? How are citizenship rights and economic fortunes being distributed? The remainder of the chapter discusses trends in welfare-state development and income inequality; current approaches to the welfare state and income inequality; and the turn toward to technocratic capitalism that now characterizes the EU’s policy priorities.

Democratization and Welfare State Development in Taiwan. By Christian Aspalter. [Aldershot, Hampshire: Ashgate, 2002. xii+171 pp. ISBN 0-7546-1603-7.]

2003 ◽  
Vol 174 ◽  
pp. 537-538
Author(s):  
Dafydd Fell
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
East Asia ◽  
English Language ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
State Development ◽  
Welfare State Development

Taiwan studies suffer from an overemphasis on cross-straits relations and national identity, making Christian Aspalter's Democratization and Welfare State Development in Taiwan a refreshing change. After his previous comparative publication, Conservative Welfare States in East Asia, Aspalter offers readers the first English language book-length publication explaining the development of Taiwan's welfare state.

scholarly journals OLD AND FORGOTTEN? CARE FOR ELDERS IN MEXICO AND THE U.S.

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S64-S65
Author(s):  
Emma Aguila ◽  
Jaqueline L Angel ◽  
Kyriakos Markides
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Old Age ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Health Care Financing ◽  
Safety Net ◽  
The United States ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
The Government ◽  
The U.S

Abstract The United States and Mexico differ greatly in the organization and financing of their old-age welfare states. They also differ politically and organizationally in government response at all levels to the needs of low-income and frail citizens. While both countries are aging rapidly, Mexico faces more serious challenges in old-age support that arise from a less developed old-age welfare state and economy. For Mexico, financial support and medical care for older low-income citizens are universal rights, however, limited fiscal resources for a large low-income population create inevitable competition among the old and the young alike. Although the United States has a more developed economy and well-developed Social Security and health care financing systems for the elderly, older Mexican-origin individuals in the U.S. do not necessarily benefit fully from these programs. These institutional and financial problems to aging are compounded in both countries by longer life spans, smaller families, as well as changing gender roles and cultural norms. In this interdisciplinary panel, the authors of five papers deal with the following topics: (1) an analysis of old age health and dependency conditions, the supply of aging and disability services, and related norms and policies, including the role of the government and the private sector; (2) a binational comparison of federal safety net programs for low-income elderly in U.S. and Mexico; (3) when strangers become family: the role of civil society in addressing the needs of aging populations; and (4) unmet needs for dementia care for Latinos in the Hispanic-EPESE.

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