Planning Approaches to the Welfare State Crisis

1985 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 386-395
Author(s):  
Bernard Cazes

MY INTENTION IN THIS ARTICLE IS TO PRESENT A BIRD'S-EYE view of various planning approaches to the welfare state crisis that are currently being initiated or at least discussed in a number of Western democracies. They fall into three broad categories which, I believe, bear some relation to the kind of diagnosis made about the 'crisis' to be dealt with. First of all, those who believe that the welfare state's main weakness comes from the disappearance of sustained, fast growth of the GNP, put their hopes in economic recovery in Beyond this strictly quantitative solution there are interpretations of the welfare state's predicament in terms of dee - order to return as soon as possible to ‘welfare state as usual’. seated, ‘structural’ imbalances which allegedly require fairly radical transformation in order to provide this ailing system with the more effective command and control mechanisms needed to make it viable again, Finally some people argue that the welfare state has exhausted its growth potential alto ether, so that its crisis can only be overcome through a quaftative change toward a different system (hence the phrase ‘metasystemic’ solution).

2021 ◽  
pp. 452-472
Author(s):  
Herbert Obinger

This chapter focuses on both the expenditures and the revenues of the welfare state. Using the latest data available, it depicts and analyses major developments in social spending and public revenues in twenty-one advanced Western democracies since 1980. The entry discusses measurement issues, depicts the determinants of cross-national differences in spending and revenue levels identified in the literature, and sheds light on the impact of social spending and taxation on social outcomes, such as income inequality. It is argued that spending and revenue figures, irrespective of several shortcomings, provide important indicators of both the logic and pattern of welfare state development.


Author(s):  
Devorah S. Manekin

What explains differences in soldier participation in violence during irregular war? How do ordinary men become professional wielders of force, and when does this transformation falter or fail? This book presents a theoretical framework for understanding the various forms of behavior in which soldiers engage during counterinsurgency campaigns—compliance and shirking, abuse and restraint, as well as the creation of new violent practices. Through an in-depth study of the Israeli Defense Forces' repression of the Second Palestinian Intifada of 2000—2005, including interviews with and a survey of former combatants, the book examines how soldiers come both to unleash and to curb violence against civilians in a counterinsurgency campaign. It argues that variation in soldiers' behavior is best explained by the effectiveness of the control mechanisms put in place to ensure combatant violence reflects the strategies and preferences of military elites, primarily at the small-unit level. Furthermore, the book develops and analyzes soldier participation in three categories of violence: strategic violence authorized by military elites; opportunistic or unauthorized violence; and “entrepreneurial violence”—violence initiated from below to advance organizational aims when leaders are ambiguous about what will best serve those aims. By going inside military field units and exploring their patterns of command and control, the book sheds new light on the dynamics of violence and restraint in counterinsurgency.


2020 ◽  
pp. 149-186
Author(s):  
Joseph Heath

Even among supporters of the welfare state there are several different theoretical reconstructions of the normative commitments that are taken to underlie it, all of which are in tension with one another. The three normative purposes most commonly cited are equality, community, and efficiency. These give rise to a corresponding set of models, which I refer to as the egalitarian, communitarian, and public-economic models of the welfare state. The objective of this chapter is to show that the public-economic model of the welfare state, though the least popular among political philosophers, is actually the most plausible. Not only does it provide a superior account of the existing configuration of welfare-state activities, but it alone is able to explain why, in all Western democracies, state spending rose almost continuously over the course of the 20th century.


2013 ◽  
Vol 34 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georg Wenzelburger

AbstractGovernments in the industrialised western democracies have repeatedly been advised to curb the welfare state when adjusting public finances in order to stabilise public debt in the long run and to create economic growth. This recommendation has been founded on a vast body of research on fiscal adjustments, which has come to the conclusion that cutting social expenditures leads to expansionary and more sustainable budget consolidations. This paper adds to the existing literature suggesting a more nuanced view, which challenges the simplicity of the “cutting-welfare” advice: first, we find that whereas less social spending is indeed associated with expansionary and successful adjustments, this is not the case for overall welfare state generosity. Second, disaggregating the welfare state in its components reveals that a reduction of pension generosity is indeed related to successful adjustments whereas reducing unemployment generosity does not seem to play a major role.


Author(s):  
Martine Bungener

ABSTRACTThere has been a long-running debate over the welfare state between its opponents and protagonists for decades, not only in the United States, but in all advanced western democracies. The authors of this publication simultaneously defend the positive effects of the welfare state and offer an analysis of the reasons for the suspicion of public opinion on the subject. But the debate over the welfare state crisis can best be analysed, in light ofF. Ewald's work, not as an avatar, but as representing an episode in the system's very means of reproduction.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-193
Author(s):  
Luiz Gustavo Campana Martins ◽  

The traditional protective and repressive conception of law can no longer explain the reality, which has undergone a radical transformation. This change came about through the transition from a pure liberal state to a welfare state called the welfare state. Bobbio clarifies that before the law was tied to the image of a state that set rules and an arbitrator, therefore also bound to a sanctioning and coercive action. The role of law in society has always been that of protecting certain interests by repressing deviant acts - from negative sanctions. However, with the new requirements of the welfare state, the law no longer only protects compliant acts, but also encourages innovative acts, based on promotional norms.


1999 ◽  
Vol 01 (01) ◽  
pp. 81-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
NICOLA ATKINSON

As Asian countries enter the twenty-first century, they face a litany of environmental problems which are particularly reflected in the poor quality of urban settlements and diminishing natural resources. Many commentators look to the failure of regulation to explain these problems. In response, efforts are currently being made to strengthen existing regulatory structures in a number of countries throughout Asia. In the meantime, there is a growing consensus in the West that traditional "command and control" mechanisms are not necessarily the most effective means of resolving environmental problems. Alternative instruments such as enviromental assessment, environmental audits and management systems may be used more strategically to prevent pollution at source and to ensure that the polluter pays. This article considers the brief history of the use of these instruments in Asia to date and then considers what lessons might be drawn from the experience of other countries in respect to both the "command and control" and the more "strategic" forms of regulation as a basis for more fundamental reform. In conclusion, the paper considers the implications of education and training in Asia.


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