The New Corporatism Centralization And The Welfare State

Compared to other rich Western democracies, the U.S. does less to help its citizens adapt to the uncertainties of life in a market economy. In Welfare As We Knew It, Charles Noble offers a groundbreaking explanation of why America is so different. Drawing on research in comparative politics, history, and sociology, he demonstrates that deeply-rooted political factors, not public opinion, have limited what reformers have been able to accomplish. Rich historical analysis covering the Wilson administration to the present is followed by a provocative look at future U. S. social policy. Reformers who want government to do more, Noble argues, must refocus their activities on political and institutional change, such as campaign finance and labor-law reform, if they hope to succeed. Taut, comprehensive, and accessible, with a much-needed international perspective, this book will change the way we look at U. S. social policy.

Following the death of Franco, Spain underwent a transition to democracy in the mid-1970s. Although a rapid process of modernization occurred, the Spanish welfare state was seen, until fairly recently, as relatively underdeveloped. However, given the progressive Europeanization and expansion of Spanish social policy, questions arise as to whether the Spanish welfare system should still be considered as peripheral to West European welfare states. This volume is divided into three sections. The first section deals with broad trends in the evolution of the Spanish welfare state. To begin with, the consolidation path of social protection policies is explored. Attention is also paid to the process of Europeanization. Furthermore, the analysis explores advances in gender equality policies. In the second section, attention is turned to governance issues, such as collective bargaining, the interplay among levels of government, the welfare mix and public support for social policies. The third and final part of the book addresses five main challenges facing the Spanish welfare state in the 21st century, namely, the need to enhance flexicurity; to achieve a better work-family balance; to coordinate immigration policies with existing social protection; to tackle the persistence of high rates of relative poverty; and to face intense population ageing, both in terms of increasing needs for care and the reform of the pension system.

Evaluating the Welfare State: Social and Political Perspectives together with its companion Social Policy Evaluation: An Economic Perspective is the outgrowth of an international and interdisciplinary conference on policy evaluation held at Tel Aviv University in December 1980. The conference brought together scholars from the fields of economics, sociology, political science, social work, and administration. The papers presented at this conference approached the welfare state and social policy evaluation from a number of different theoretical and methodological perspectives. A selection of these papers has been included in this volume. The book is divided into five parts. Part I is devoted to the political antecedents and consequences of the welfare state and to the social and psychological processes that affect the development of social policies and reactions to them. Part II analyzes the discontinuity between policies that are the subject of public debate, and the programs that affect the well-being of populations and the distribution of resources. The chapters in Parts III and IV present current developments in the practice of evaluation and explore the frontiers of this field. Part V focuses on the relationship of evaluation to policymaking. This involves examinations of the culture of political debates, the nature of choices facing policymakers, and the impact of research on policy.