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Crisis, Convulsion and the Welfare State

Sun, August 17, 12:30 to 1:30pm, TBA

Abstract

Dramatic changes are occurring in poverty policy worldwide. In a number of rich countries that were early pioneers in creating the welfare state, social spending is under attack and the buzzword is austerity. This is happening not only in the beleaguered countries of the Mediterranean but in other rich advanced nations, and especially in the U.K. and the U.S. On the other hand, a rash of new and expansive programs have been inaugurated in the so-called emerging economies that we usually consider policy laggards. Arguments that privilege the insurgent politics of the poor fare better in explaining the new initiatives in these countries. However, they fall short of explaining developments in the rich West where changes in political institutions associated with neo-liberal globalization may be overwhelming what Piven and Cloward called the ‘weight of the poor.’ This paper will inventory the big shifts in poverty policy in the advanced and emerging economy nations of the West and global South, and assess the ‘weight of the poor’ in explaining these developments.

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