Comparative Welfare State Politics: Development, Opportunities, and Reform
Cambridge University Press, 1/9/2014
EAN 9780521183710, ISBN10: 0521183715
Paperback, 260 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English
Welfare state reform occurs in all advanced capitalist democracies, but it does not occur in identical ways, to the same degree or with similar consequences. In Comparative Welfare State Politics, Kees van Kersbergen and Barbara Vis explain the political opportunities and constraints of welfare state reform by asking 'big' questions. Why did we need a welfare state in the first place? How did we get it? Why did we get different worlds of welfare and do we still have them? What does the welfare state actually do? Why do we need to reform the welfare state? Why is reform so difficult, but why does it nevertheless happen? Can and will the welfare state survive the Great Recession? This book informs the reader comprehensively about the welfare state, while contributing to the ongoing debate on the politics of welfare state reform.
Introduction. The political opportunities and constraints of welfare state reform
1. The welfare state
dynamic development, crisis, resilience, and change
2. The logics of the welfare state
why did we need a welfare state in the first place and how did we get it?
3. Welfare state regimes
why did we get different worlds of welfare and do we still have them?
4. What do welfare states actually do? How welfare states protect against social risks and fight poverty and inequality
5. Toward an open functional approach to welfare state reform
6. Why do we need to reform the welfare state?
Part I. Globalization as a functional pressure coming from the outside
7. Why do we need to reform the welfare state
Part II. Post-industrial society and the functional pressures to reform coming from within
8. Why do politicians and governments pursue risky reforms?
9. Can and will the welfare state survive the great recession?
"Comparative Welfare State Politics is a major contribution to the debate on welfare state reforms. It is a concise and competent textbook that gives unambiguous answers to big questions, based on empirical research and a masterful overview of the scientific debate. Van Kersbergen and Vis propose an immensely useful re-adjustment of the debate, emphasizing the functional pressures for social policy reform as a starting point for the interaction of ideas, interests, and institutions.”– Dr. Klaus Armingeon, Professor of Comparative Politics and Director of the Institute of Political Science, University of Berne
“Why do we have welfare states? What do they actually do? Why do they differ across nations and continents? How do they adapt to the pace of historical change, globalization, and population ageing? Van Kersbergen and Vis attack all these big questions with truly impressive scholarship and perspective. This book is a tour de force, unparalleled in the large literature on the welfare state; a must-read for any student of modern capitalism.” – Dr. Gøsta Esping-Andersen, Professor of Sociology, Universitat Pompeu Fabra