Welfare Provision: Combining Historical and Modern Theories of the State

• In Event: Does the State Work for the People?

Abstract

Many explain welfare provision as resulting from conflict or cooperation between business and labor economic interests as mediated by political structures, such parliamentary legislatures, multiple parties, and PR versus presidential political systems that lack these attributes. This research adds to these explanations. It uses historical and contemporary data to demonstrate empirically that welfare provision also varies by the degree to which Western European countries put into practice two theories of the state: an familial model derived from ancient monarchies and the individualistic model derived from modern democratic liberalism. By so doing, this research establishes that the variation in welfare provision rests not only upon economic market forces, but also upon crucial political and historical legacies.

Author

• Eileen McDonagh, Northeastern University