Conclusion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred Powell
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Child Poverty ◽  
Policy Discourse ◽  
The Political ◽  
Policy Initiatives ◽  
Health And Social Care ◽  
Modernist Project ◽  
Political Divide ◽  
Universal Health

This chapter summarizes key themes and presents some final thoughts. The book has evaluated the political meaning and social reality of the Irish welfare state at the centenary point of the Irish revolution (1913–23). It argued that unlike many other modern democratic societies, the term ‘welfare state’ has had a weak political resonance in the lexicon of Irish social policy discourse. This reflects the weakness of the modernist project in Ireland and the absence of a classical European left-right political divide that gave shape to modern democratic politics. A more socially just republic will involve a universal welfare state charged with tackling the challenges of insecure job markets, scarce housing, and overstretched public services as a democratic imperative. A universal welfare state will also involve ten core social policy initiatives, including a universal health and social care system funded from taxation, ending child poverty, and addressing social inequality.

Ideology, Conflict and Social Policy

1975 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek Birrell ◽  
Alan Murie
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Northern Ireland ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Social Services ◽  
The Political ◽  
Allocation Of Resources ◽  
Number Of Factors ◽  
The Government ◽  
Significant Factors ◽  
The Welfare State

ABSTRACTSocial policy in Northern Ireland offers examples of social policies strongly influenced by ideological considerations. There are a number of factors which determine how susceptible services and policies are to ideological influences. Some services are particularly sensitive to ideological values and demands, for example, education. In certain areas the distribution of services and the allocation of resources has been significant in maintaining the political structure. The distribution of administrative responsibility, the absence of pressure from Britain for maintaining parity in social services, and the absence of non-secretarian pressures on the government are other significant factors. The process of analysing problems and formulating social policy reflects deep ideological divisions. This can be contrasted with the rational, empirical and pragmatic models of policy making, implicit in the development of social policy in Britain. With some minor modifications the British model of the Welfare State operates in Northern Ireland. In some areas it operates to serve ends other than those of redistribution or meeting social need. This provides insights into some of the assumptions made about social policy and the Welfare State in Britain.

Welfare lobby groups responding to globalization

2006 ◽  
Vol 49 (6) ◽  
pp. 693-704 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Mendes
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Advocacy Groups ◽  
Policy Agendas ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Los Grupos ◽  
Lobby Group ◽  
Ideological Context

English Theories of globalization suggest that national lobby groups continue to exert influence on social policy agendas and outcomes. Yet little has been written about the impact of globalization on the political and ideological context within which pro-welfare state advocacy groups operate. This article explores the response of an Australian welfare lobby group to the challenges posed by globalization. French Les théories de la mondialisation soutiennent que les groupes de pression nationaux continuent d'exercer leur influence sur les projets et les définitions des politiques sociales. Pourtant, on recense peu d'écrits sur la façon dont la mondialisation influence le contexte politique et idéologique dans lequel travaillent les groupes de pression en faveur de l'aide sociale. Cette étude explore la position d'un groupe de pression australien en égard aux défis de la mondialisation. Spanish Las teorías de la globalización sugieren que los grupos nacionales de presión continúan ejerciendo influencia en las agendas y resultados de la política social. Se ha escrito poco sobre el impacto de la globalización en el contexto política social. Se ha escrito poco sobre el impacto de la globalización en el contexto político e ideológico, en el cual operan los grupos que abogan en pro del bienestar. Este artículo explora las respuestas de un grupo australiano de presión por el bienestar, frente a los desafióos que ofrece la globalización.

Comparative Social Policy and Political Conflict in Advanced Welfare States: Denmark and Sweden

1979 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gøsta Esping-Andersen
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Working Class ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Policies ◽  
Social Democratic ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Welfare State

There has developed an abundant literature on the social and political determinants of social policies, but few have addressed the question of how state policies, once implemented, affect the system of stratification in civil society. This article examines the political consequences of social policy in Denmark and Sweden, countries in which a social democratic labor movement has predominated for decades. Superficially, these two highly developed welfare states appear very similar. Yet, the political and social contexts in which their social policies have evolved differ substantially. I shall demonstrate the argument that the traditional welfare state approach may be conducive to a new and powerful political conflict, which directly questions the legitimacy of the welfare state itself, unless government is successful in subordinating private capitalist growth to effective public regulation. In Denmark, where social democratic governments have failed to match welfare state growth with more control of private capital, social policy has tended to undermine the political unity of the working class. Consequently, the Social Democratic Party has been weakened. Social welfare programs, in effect, have helped create new forms of stratification within the working class. In Sweden, social democratic governments have been quite successful in shifting a decisive degree of power over the private market to the state. This has helped avert a crisis of the welfare state, and has also been an important condition for continued social democratic hegemony and working-class unity. I conclude that social reform politics tend to be problematic from the point of view of the future power of social democratic movements.

scholarly journals Vorwärts – und nichts vergessen

1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (116) ◽  
pp. 411-430 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Lessenich
Keyword(s):  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
The Political ◽  
Scientific Debate ◽  
The Core ◽  
Crisis Scenarios ◽  
Post War ◽  
Time Specific ◽  
State Interventions ◽  
The Welfare State

The recent scientific debate on the functions of social policy and the transformation of the welfare state evidences an ever waning sense of the dialectics that lies at the core of modern state interventionism. The consequences of this decline of dialectical thinking on social policy matters are now beginning to affect as well the political discourse on the reform of the welfare state in Germany. This discourse is utterly dominated by onedimensional crisis scenarios and equally one-sided reform proposals, the latter opting for straightforward re-commodification strategies as opposed to the classical, post-war decommodification consensus. In this context, the paper constitutes a plea for regaining consciousness, conceptualizing social policy as what it is and always has been: the at a time specific and historically changing combination of commodifying and de-commodifying state interventions.

Expanding Welfare State Borders: Trade Unions and the Introduction of Pro-Outsiders Social Policies in Italy and Argentina

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
MARCELLO NATILI ◽  
ANGELICA PURICELLI
Keyword(s):  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Social Policy ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Political Process ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Social ◽  
Policy Arena ◽  
State Configuration

Abstract This article investigates the drivers of trade union choices in the social policy arena in the age of austerity. Against the background of a political economy literature mostly emphasising trade union support for their stronger constituency – i.e. the ‘insiders’ – the article shows the existence of mechanisms potentially inducing trade unions to broaden their demands. Empirically, the study rests on an in-depth comparative analysis of the political process inducing the two largest trade unions in Argentina and Italy, the CGT and the CGIL, to support ‘pro-outsider’ social policy actively. Besides the comparison of two different geographical areas – though not so different in terms of original welfare state configuration – the main contribution of this article is outlining how the combination of dwindling organizational resources and growing competition from social movements and/or new radical unions leads traditionally insider-oriented unions to reach out to new constituencies and advocate expanded redistributive demands.

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