Full Description
This insightful book provides a systematic analysis of the development of affluent Western welfare states in this turbulent era. It explores the consequences for welfare states of modern crises such as climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine. Most importantly, it investigates how to prioritize scarce resources in the face of many competing demands and argues that there is an urgent need to improve crisis funding whilst at the same time maintaining provision for vulnerable groups.
Bringing together a diverse team of expert contributors, chapters explore the key challenges faced by welfare states in this turbulent era, including changing demographic compositions, the impact of technological advances on working practices, financial crises, and shifting voter attitudes and expectations. Emphasizing how instability poses opportunities for new directions and developments, the book ultimately explores the pressures and possible ways forward for welfare states in years to come.
Providing nuanced perspectives on welfare states, this timely book will be ideal for students and scholars of sociology, social and public policy, political science, and development studies.
Contents
Contents:
Preface xii
1 Welfare states in turbulent times 1
Bent Greve
2 Demography - once again and still challenging the welfare states 10
Cristiano Gori and Matteo Luppi
3 Self-employment and technology: different models of
labor relations 28
Ferry Koster
4 The perceived dilemma between debt reduction and a fair
society: saving for a rainy day without increasing poverty? 48
Jakub Sowula and Martin Seeleib-Kaiser
5 The evolution of welfare attitudes in Europe over the past
four decades 71
Gianna Maria Eick
6 Climate change and its effect on welfare states 84
Ian Greener
7 Keynesian economics steering is back - end of liberal
economic policy? 98
Mogens Ove Madsen
8 The welfare state and handling health challenges 112
Caroline Rudisill
9 Welfare states, growth regimes, and the emergence of the
knowledge economy: social policy in turbulent times 127
Julian L. Garritzmann and Bruno Palier
10 Allies or enemies of the welfare state? Welfare support
and critiques from (left-wing) protesters in Europe 142
Femke Roosma
11 Conflicting demands and financial abilities? 167
Bent Greve
12 Effective and fair labour markets: more and focused active
labour market policy? 180
Henri Haapanala
13 Mass migration due to climate change? A critique of the
security focus on climate mobilities 195
Meltem Yilmaz Sener
14 The welfare state in turbulent times: a perspective from
the United States 210
Alex Waddan
15 The way welfare states can develop in turbulent times 225
Bent Greve
Index
