European welfare futures. Towards a theory of retrenchment

Book abstract:

This book focuses on one of the most important themes in European contemporary social policy, namely the retreat of the welfare state. It seeks to explain the forces that drive retrenchment policies, examining the pressures on governments that have led to retrenchment as well as the different forms of cut-backs in different countries and the factors that influence the pace and process of retrenchment.

The opening two chapters of the book provide the reader with background material to the subject, reviewing the various theories that have been used to explain the growth of the welfare state and examining the course of welfare state retrenchment in recent years from the thematic perspective. Chapter three examines the influence of external factors, particularly economic globalisation and increasingly competitive world markets, on governments' ability to sustain generous welfare state provision. Electoral support for welfare states in decline is discussed in chapter four with reference to a number of opinion studies which indicate that support for a welfare state was as strong in the mid-1990s as in the mid 1980s. Chapter five focuses on the neo-liberal turn in economic policy which has encouraged the retreat of the welfare state, particularly in Anglo-Saxon countries but also elsewhere. The difficulty for governments of raising the necessary resources for welfare which is increasingly in demand because of changing demographic factors while being re-elected, a dilemma which has come to be known as 'Squaring the Welfare Circle' is examined in chapter six. The differing approaches of countries to welfare provision is analysed in chapter seven, highlighting the important role of political and institutional structures in determining the nature of cut-backs and constraints in welfare policy. The final chapter looks at some of the implications discussed in the book for understanding current and future developments in policy-making in the EU.