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Comparative Public Policy provides the first truly systematic and
comprehensive account of the transformation of the post-war state
in the advanced countries of the Western world. The author
generates new research findings which show how the economic, social
and political changes of the post-war era have reshaped modern
public policy across the OECD region. Francis G. Castles examines
the growth of big government and the emergence of the modern
welfare state and identifies ways in which the role of the state
has impacted on labour markets and such personal issues as home
ownership, fertility and divorce. He explains why the trajectory of
policy transformation has varied from country to country, with
immediate post-war policy laggards sometimes becoming leaders, and
erstwhile policy pioneers on occasions stagnating. This innovative
book presents a wealth of background data and a huge range of new
findings, covering 12 policy areas in 21 advanced industrialized
countries over a period of more than three decades. Comparative
Public Policy is essential reading for students and scholars who
wish to understand the dynamics of contemporary social and
political development.
Whilst the prevailing orthodoxy of the expenditure retrenchment
literature is that globalisation and neo-liberal ideas are leading
to a downsizing of the state, empirical research - basing its
conclusions on patterns of welfare state spending - does not
support such a view. This book brings a new perspective to bear by
looking at what has been happening to other areas of the state's
activity. Edited by Francis G. Castles, a leading authority in the
field, and bringing together an outstanding group of British,
German and American scholars, it examines trends in non-social or
'core' spending on public administration, defence, public order,
education, economic affairs and debt financing and in the
regulatory ordering of the economic sphere. The book not only opens
up new areas of comparative public policy research, but also
demonstrates clearly that there have been real reductions in the
reach of state in some areas, although patterns of causation are
more complex and varied than generally presumed by the retrenchment
literature. The research findings reported in The Disappearing
State? provide pivotal, relevant and challenging core material for
advanced undergraduate and postgraduate courses in public and
social policy, political economy and the sociology of the modern
state.
In this unique and provocative contribution to the literatures of
political science and social policy, ten leading experts question
prevailing views that federalism always inhibits the growth of
social solidarity. Their comparative study of the evolution of
political institutions and welfare states in the six oldest federal
states - Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, the US -
reveals that federalism can facilitate and impede social policy
development. Development is contingent on several time-dependent
factors, including degree of democratization, type of federalism,
and the stage of welfare state development and early distribution
of social policy responsibility. The reciprocal nature of the
federalism-social policy relationship also becomes apparent: the
authors identify a set of important bypass structures within
federal systems that have resulted from welfare state growth. In an
era of retrenchment and unravelling unitary states, this study
suggests that federalism may actually protect the welfare state,
and welfare states may enhance national integration.
Whilst the prevailing orthodoxy of the expenditure retrenchment
literature is that globalisation and neo-liberal ideas are leading
to a downsizing of the state, empirical research - basing its
conclusions on patterns of welfare state spending - does not
support such a view. This book brings a new perspective to bear by
looking at what has been happening to other areas of the state's
activity. Edited by Francis G. Castles, a leading authority in the
field, and bringing together an outstanding group of British,
German and American scholars, it examines trends in non-social or
'core' spending on public administration, defence, public order,
education, economic affairs and debt financing and in the
regulatory ordering of the economic sphere. The book not only opens
up new areas of comparative public policy research, but also
demonstrates clearly that there have been real reductions in the
reach of state in some areas, although patterns of causation are
more complex and varied than generally presumed by the retrenchment
literature. The research findings reported in The Disappearing
State? provide pivotal, relevant and challenging core material for
advanced undergraduate and postgraduate courses in public and
social policy, political economy and the sociology of the modern
state.
Written by one of the world's leading policy researchers, this book
seeks to assess the threat posed to modern welfare states by
globalization and demographic change. Using empirical methods, and
bringing together insights from across the social sciences, Castles
interrogates a range of theories suggesting that the welfare state
is in crisis. Systematically using data for 21 advanced OECD
nations, he distinguishes crisis myths from crisis realities,
locating, in the process, likely trajectories of welfare state
development in coming decades.
The findings of this book confront many of the basic assumptions
of contemporary scholarship. Economic globalization has not led to
a 'race to the bottom'. Analogous processes within the European
Community have not led to a 'downward harmonization' of social
spending. There is no 'new politics of the welfare state', with the
Left still outspending the Right. Over the past two decades,
spending has been increasing and converging across the OECD. Rather
than being in a state of crisis, western welfare states have
achieved a steady state.
The supposed impact of population aging on social welfare budgets
also turns out to be myth, with differences in spending actually
being a function of the structure of welfare systems, not of any
demographic imperative. The only potentially real threat is of
rapidly declining fertility, but Castles argues that welfare state
spending in the form of family-friendly public policy is, in fact,
our best defense against this problem.
This is a book with significant policy implications. It identifies
the factors likely to mould welfare state growth and decline in
future years, and the diverse problems and challenges confronting
welfare state policymakers in different families of nations. It is
a book for those who like assessing evidence before jumping to
unwarranted conclusions, and a book for those who wish to see 'the
shape of things to come'.
In this unique and provocative contribution to the literatures of
political science and social policy, ten leading experts question
prevailing views that federalism always inhibits the growth of
social solidarity. Their comparative study of the evolution of
political institutions and welfare states in the six oldest federal
states - Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, the US -
reveals that federalism can facilitate and impede social policy
development. Development is contingent on several time-dependent
factors, including degree of democratization, type of federalism,
and the stage of welfare state development and early distribution
of social policy responsibility. The reciprocal nature of the
federalism-social policy relationship also becomes apparent: the
authors identify a set of important bypass structures within
federal systems that have resulted from welfare state growth. In an
era of retrenchment and unravelling unitary states, this study
suggests that federalism may actually protect the welfare state,
and welfare states may enhance national integration.
As the concluding volume in the series, this book is structurally and qualitatively different from those preceding. Eight leading social scientists have written major essays on key elements of Australian institutional life. Each chapter contributes significantly by providing an overview of regional and international scholarly interest.
Written by one of the world's leading policy researchers, this book
seeks to assess the threat posed to modern welfare states by
globalization and demographic change. Bringing together empirical
methods, current information from 21 advanced countries, and
insights from across the social sciences, Castles distinguishes
welfare crisis myths from welfare crisis realities, and presents
likely trajectories of welfare state development in coming decades.
The book will be essential reading for scholars from a broad range
of disciplines, as well as policy-makers in many areas of
government.
Comparative Public Policy provides the first truly systematic and
comprehensive account of the transformation of the post-war state
in the advanced countries of the Western world. The author
generates new research findings which show how the economic, social
and political changes of the post-war era have reshaped modern
public policy across the OECD region. Francis G. Castles examines
the growth of big government and the emergence of the modern
welfare state and identifies ways in which the role of the state
has impacted on labour markets and such personal issues as home
ownership, fertility and divorce. He explains why the trajectory of
policy transformation has varied from country to country, with
immediate post-war policy laggards sometimes becoming leaders, and
erstwhile policy pioneers on occasions stagnating. This innovative
book presents a wealth of background data and a huge range of new
findings, covering 12 policy areas in 21 advanced industrialized
countries over a period of more than three decades. Comparative
Public Policy is essential reading for students and scholars who
wish to understand the dynamics of contemporary social and
political development.
The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State is the authoritative and
definitive guide to the contemporary welfare state. In a volume
consisting of nearly fifty newly-written chapters, a broad range of
the world's leading scholars offer a comprehensive account of
everything one needs to know about the modern welfare state. The
Handbook is divided into eight sections. It opens with three
chapters that evaluate the philosophical case for (and against) the
welfare state. Surveys of the welfare state's history and of the
approaches taken to its study are followed by four extended
sections, running to some thirty-five chapters in all, which offer
a comprehensive and in-depth survey of our current state of
knowledge across the whole range of issues that the welfare state
embraces. The first of these sections looks at inputs and actors
(including the roles of parties, unions, and employers), the impact
of gender and religion, patterns of migration and a changing public
opinion, the role of international organisations and the impact of
globalization. The next two sections cover policy inputs (in areas
such as pensions, health care, disability, care of the elderly,
unemployment, and labour market activation) and their outcomes (in
terms of inequality and poverty, macroeconomic performance, and
retrenchment). The seventh section consists of seven chapters which
survey welfare state experience around the globe (and not just
within the OECD). Two final chapters consider questions about the
global future of the welfare state.
The individual chapters of the Handbook are written in an informed
but accessible way by leading researchers in their respective
fields giving the reader an excellent and truly up-to-date
knowledge of the area under discussion. Taken together, they
constitute a comprehensive compendium of all that is best in
contemporary welfare state research and a unique guide to what is
happening now in this most crucial and contested area of social and
political development.
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