The European Welfare State: Golden Achievements, Silver Prospects

For the welfare state the last 30 years have witnessed a turbulent transition from the 'Golden Age' of expansion to a 'Silver Age' of permanent austerity. This shift has been the result of external pressures and of internal transformations of domestic economies and social structu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:West European politics 2008-01, Vol.31 (1-2), p.82-107
Main Author: Ferrera, Maurizio
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Comparative analysis
Europe
European integration
Globalization
Historical Development
Institutional change
Political Development
Political economy
Politics
Social change
Social policy
Social structure
Sociology
Welfare
Welfare reform
Welfare State
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Summary:For the welfare state the last 30 years have witnessed a turbulent transition from the 'Golden Age' of expansion to a 'Silver Age' of permanent austerity. This shift has been the result of external pressures and of internal transformations of domestic economies and social structures. Permanent austerity has entailed incisive institutional adaptations and has been accompanied by a 'new politics', centred on a plurality of 'blame avoidance' strategies on the side of parties and governments. The article summarises and discusses the main factual developments since the mid-1970s but it also surveys the main strands of academic debates on both the expansion and the crisis phases. The author argues that comparative welfare state research has been one of the liveliest fields of political economy - a field marked by important analytical and theoretical advances and by the accumulation of relevant and systematic empirical knowledge about a key institution of the European political landscape.
ISSN:0140-2382
1743-9655
DOI:10.1080/01402380701833731