Welfare Reform on the Web (October 2002): Welfare State - Overseas
THE AMERICAN WELFARE STATE AT TWILIGHT
D. Stoesz
Journal of Social Policy, vol 31, 2002, p.487-503
The triumph of George W Bush is further evidence of the waning of the American Welfare State. Social policy has increasingly been replaced by an "economic model". Author suggests the Left can adopt mobility, empowerment and restructuring to reclaim domestic policy based on a 'social model'
AUSTRALIAN WELFARE REFORM: FROM CITIZENSHIP TO SUPERVISION
S. Shaver
Social Policy & Administration, vol. 36, 2002, p. 331-345
This paper examines the implications of welfare reform for the meaning of social citizenship in Australia. It argues that welfare is moving from a limited social right to support provided on conditions. Welfare reform is redefining the meaning of equality in Australian social citizenship.
BRITISH AND EUROPEAN INFLUENCES ON THE "AUSTRALIAN WAY" FROM THE 1980s
P. Smyth
Social Policy and Administration, vol. 36, 2002, p. 426-442
Article discusses how Australia's government has looked to European social democrats for alternative social policy models away from the neo-liberal reform path adopted by the United Kingdom.
CITIZENSHIP, SOCIAL WELFARE SYSTEM AND SOCIAL POLICIES IN FRANCE
D. Bouget and G. Brovelli
European Societies, vol. 4, 2002, p. 161-184
The French notion of citizenship is based on nationality and Republican values. In this context state social welfare was limited to the provision of schools and public assistance to the vulnerable. The creation and expansion of social security schemes were based on the Bismarckian model of negotiation between the social partners. Rising unemployment and loss of social cohesion in the mid-1970s led to the destruction of the unity of the Bishmarckian social security system through the introduction of a patchwork of reforms: universal health care coverage, a vertical redistribution in favour of families and poor people, promotion of private pensions, etc.
HOW SOCIAL IS EUROPEAN SOCIAL POLICY?
H. Feldmann
International Journal of Social Economics, vol. 29, 2002, p. 547-574
Paper analyses whether the EU's social policy measures improve the living conditions of marginalised groups. All three areas of European social policy are analysed: the coordination of member states' social security systems, the harmonisation of working conditions and the promotion of equal opportunities, social integration and vocational training. Paper shows that these measures are often detrimental to the people they are meant to help.
PATTERNS OF GOVERNANCE: THE CURIOUS CASE OF NON-PROFIT COMMUNITY SERVICES IN AUSTRALIA
C. McDonald and G. Marston
Social Policy and Administration, vol. 36, 2002, p.376-391
This paper looks at some of the key historical developments in Australia's welfare state and explores the relationship between Australia's shifting political landscape and the emerging welfare regime.
STATE SOCIALISM AND THE WELFARE STATE: A CRITIQUE OF TWO CONVENTIONAL PARADIGMS
S. Chen
International Journal of Social Welfare, vol. 11, 2002, p. 228-242
This article provides a critical assessment of the rise and fall of state socialism. It reviews the historical and international contexts of the welfare state and the notion of 'state socialism'. It considers the limitations of welfare state doctrine and it looks at the experience of the Peoples Republic of China as a non-welfare state nation.
TRANSFORMATION OF WELFARE? RACE, CLASS AND GENDER IN THE MANAGEMENT OF WELFARE AGENCIES IN SOUTH AFRICA
N. Gathiram and D. Hemson
Community Development Journal, vol 37, 2002, p. 209-219
The transformation of welfare in South Africa is examined through a survey of welfare agencies in KwaZulu-Natal. Post-apartheid welfare policy seeks to increase community participation and eliminate the historic racial character of agencies. In this paper the age, gender, and racial characteristics of the boards and management of agencies are assessed. Measured by those and other criteria it is concluded that transformation has yet to be realised.
WELFARE REWRITTEN ; CHANGE AND INTERLAY IN SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC ACCOUNTS
P. Harris
Journal of Social Policy, vol. 31, 2002, p. 377-398
This paper traces how understandings of social cohesion, social provision, responsibility and obligations have shifted over time. It then indicates the relationship between these constructions and parallel developments in economic theory, particularly to a tension between communitarian and neo-classical accounts. It is argued that governments attempt to resolve these tension by projecting nations' disintegration onto welfare claimants. In the final section alternatives to the new welfare are canvassed.
WELFARE STATE AND WELFARE CHANGE
M. Powell and M Hewitt
Buckingham: Open University Press, 2002
This book provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the issues of change in the welfare state.
WELFARE STATES AND DIMENSIONS OF SOCIAL CAPITAL: CROSS NATIONAL COMPARISONS OF SOCIAL CONTACTS IN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES
P. Scheepers, M. Te Grontenhuis and J Gelissen
European Societies, vol. 4, 2002, p. 185-207
Research explores whether the extent of informal contact with family and friends is determined by individual characteristics or by national characteristics related the type of welfare state in 13 European countries. Individual characteristics account for some differences: religious people and people living in medium-sized or rural towns have more social contacts. Participation in higher education reduces contact with family but has no impact on contact with friends. A high income increases it, while reducing contact with friends. Higher levels of social security spending reduce dependence on, and social contact with, family and friends. Finally, people living in social-democratic welfare regimes have the smallest amount of social contact, while people living in the Latin Rim have the largest amount.