The Politics of Contemporary Welfare States

Transcription

1 Political Science 4313 Winter 2001 Dr. Wolinetz Office hours: Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:00-3:30, S The Politics of Contemporary Welfare States Many liberal democracies have used a mix of social and economic policies to ensure that citizens could enjoy minimum levels of subsistence and guarantees against the uncertainties of unemployment, accident, illness, and old age. The course examines the circumstances which led to the adoption of such policies, the mixes of policies employed, social policy in federal and multi-level settings, and attempts to curtail or dismantle welfare states. The central focus is on the ways in which governing authorities, political parties, organized interests, and the public in selected countries have responded to problems of the welfare state and the pressures of the international economy. Countries to be considered include Britain, Sweden, The Netherlands, Canada and the United States. The workload for this course will be heavy. Successful completion requires grasping concepts, dealing with theories of the welfare state, and understanding policies and political processes in several different countries. Readings and classes should facilitate this, but you should not take this course unless you are prepared to work. This course will combine lectures and discussions. Lectures will introduce and synthesize complex material to be explored in class discussions. However, if the course is to operate as a seminar, it is essential for students to read and think about assigned readings in advance. In order to help you do so, I have included points for discussion under each week s assigned readings. In addition, I will use a class listserv to circulate questions for upcoming discussions. Brief written responses to these questions will form a portion of your grade. Evaluation will be as follows: short submissions 20% research paper 40% final exam 40% Short submissions will be graded on a pass-fail basis (2% for each of 10 submissions). Research papers will be on topics selected early in the semester. In order to encourage you to do your best work, you will be required to submit a statement of your topic and preliminary bibliography early in the semester, as well as outline later on. I will comment on any typewritten, near final drafts of your papers received by March 28 th. The final examination will be based on a list of five be questions distributed in late in the semester. You will asked to write on one of these questions during the regular examination slot.

2 There will be no grade for participation as such. However, participation (or lack thereof) will affect how course averages will rounded in the assignment of final marks. Up to 5% can be added to the course average for exceptional participation and up to 5% may be deducted for failure attend classes or participate in discussions. Required Texts: Christopher Pierson, Beyond the Welfare State, 2 nd edition Jelle Visser and Anton Hemerijck, A Dutch Miracle: Corporatism in the Netherlands Job Growth, Welfare Reform, and These and other readings will be on reserve. Keeping up with countries we are studying: You should follow developments in the countries we are studying and other contemporary welfare states in daily and weekly newspaper and news magazines. The most useful sources are The Financial Times (London), The Economist (a weekly newsmagazine) and The European (a weekly newspaper). Other sources which may be of use are The Times (London), The Irish Times, Le Monde, Le Monde Diplomatique, The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, The Manchester Guardian Weekly, The Sunday Times, and The Observer (a Sunday newspaper). All are available in the Periodical Room of the QEII Library. Several of these may be consulted via the internet. How to do well in this course:! Complete the assigned readings and short submission on schedule.! Attend class. Classes explain key concepts, focus and amplify the material, and get you to think about it.! Pay attention to the concepts introduced in the class and used in the literature. If you don't you may find yourself lost. Some of the political economy literature uses jargon and categories different from those to which you are accustomed.! Think about the material. Try to fit it together and understand why it might have been assigned.! Ask questions. Challenge the material. Don't worry if your questions seem obvious. What you don't understand may also puzzle someone else.

3 ! Compare the countries and systems which we are studying.! Start your research papers early and try to adhere to the timetable laid out for you.! Document any written material correctly. Remember that articles in edited volumes have authors whose ideas they express. Learn them and cite them in your written work and comments in class.! Remember that this course has several objectives: " to understand what welfare states are, how and why they have come about, and the ways in which they vary. " to examine the politics of contemporary welfare states, including the role of trade unions, business associations, and other organized interests in the formulation and implementation of public policies " to examine the circumstances which have led to: - scepticism about the desirability of an active government involvement in managing the economy and the pre-eminence of market-based ideologies - and changes, retrenchment, and in some instances, the dismantling of contemporary welfare states. " to consider the future directions which welfare states and welfare state regimes may take. A thirteen week course cannot accomplish all of these, but your grade will depend on how close you come. Reading Assignments

4 Week 1 (Jan 15-17) The welfare state -- what is it? Pierson, Christopher, Beyond the Welfare State, Introduction, ch.1, Briggs, A. "The Welfare State in Historical Perspective" (xerox/reserve) Heidenheimer and Flora, "The Historical Core and Changing Boundaries of the Welfare State" (xerox/reserve) Almond, Gabriel, "Capitalism and Democracy" (xerox/reserve, also reprinted in recent editions of Annual Editions, Comparative Politics ( 93/ /01)... What is a welfare state and how does it differ from other kinds of state, such as a night-watch state or a mercantile state? What do we mean when we talk about the state? How does this term differ from other terms which we sometimes use, such as the government or the political system? When and on what basis should states be involved in the economy? What determines the balance between public and private functions? Is this cast in stone or does it vary over time and across countries? What links exist between capitalism and democracy? Week 2 (Jan ) Scope and origins: what do welfare states do, where do they come from? Pierson, Christopher, Beyond, ch. 4 Lowe, Rodney, The Rise and Fall of the Classic Welfare State in Britain, (xerox/reserve), Rice and Prince, The Changing Politics of Canadian Social Policy, ch 3 (or xerox/reserve) Arter, David, Scandinavian Politics Today, ch. 8, The Nordic Welfare Model Einhorn and Logue, Modern Welfare States, ch. 9 The aim of this week s reading is to enable you to understand some of the policies which make up welfare states and the ways in which welfare states in Canada, Britain, and Scandinavia differ from each other. Pay attention to 1) the mix of policies and instruments which states use, 2) the ways in which welfare states developed, and 3) the ways in which these confirm or disconfirm theories of the welfare state which Pierson lays out in chapter 1. For example, why should we believe or reject claims that welfare states reflect either a logic of industrialized the political power of the organized working class, or the desire of established elites to maintain social order.

5 Week 3 (Jan ) Explaining welfare states: theories, explanations and critiques: Pierson, Beyond, chs. 1-2 g-andersen, G., The Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, introduction and ch. 1, (pp. 1-34) Einhorn and Logue, Modern Welfare States, chs Rhodes, Martin and Yves Meny, Europe s Social Contract Under Stress, in Rhodes and Meny, eds., The Future of the Welfare State, ch. 1 or xerox/reserve What are the principal theories of and explanations for welfare states laid out by Christopher Pierson and Gösta Esping-Andersen? Why are neo-marxists, the new right, neo-liberals, and others critical of welfare states. How do their critiques differ from each other? What would Marx have thought of a welfare state: why is a welfare state still a capitalist state for Marx and many of his successors? What do Rhodes and Meny mean when they talk about a social contract? Is this a real or assumed contract? Week 4 (Feb. 5-7) Critiques of the welfare state/ current crisis Pierson, Christopher, Beyond, ch. 3 (review chapter 2), 5 Rice and Prince, The Changing Politics of Canadian Social Policy, ch 4 (or xerox/reserve) Banting, Welfare State as Statecraft: Territorial Politics in Canadian Social Policy in Leibfried and Pierson, ch. 8 or xerox/reserve How do the new left, feminist, and racist critiques of the welfare state differ from each other and earlier critiques we have considered? What are the parameters of the current crisis if there is one?

6 Week 5 (Feb ) The politics of retrenchment Pierson, Beyond the Welfare State, ch.5 (review) Huber, John, Evelyn Stephens, and Leonard Ray, Welfare States in Hard Times in Kitschelt, Continuity and Change, ch 6 (xerox/reserve) Pierson, Paul, Dismantling the Welfare State, Introduction, chs. 1-2 plus one of chs.3-5 Graham, Andrew, : The UK : Myths and Realities of Conservative Capitalism (xerox/reserve) Recommended: Einhorn and Logue, ch. 13 Is there a crisis of the welfare state? If so, then what is its nature? To what extent have welfare states in Europe and North American been dismantled? What factors have enhanced or limited right-wing attempts to cutback or dismantle the welfare state? Did Margaret Thatcher and her party eliminate the British welfare state? Week 6 (Feb ) Retrenchment further considered Pierson, Paul, Dismantling the Welfare State, chs. 6-7 Hall, Peter, Policy Paradigms, Social Learning and the State (xerox/reserve) King, Desmond, and Stewart Wood, The Political Economy of Neo-Liberalism in Kitschelt, Continuity and Change, ch.13 (xerox/reserve) Pontussen, Jonas, Between Neo-Liberalism and the German Model: Swedish Capitalism in Transition (xerox/reserve) What role has political or social learning played a) the earlier expansion of the welfare state and current efforts to contract it? How do governments and policy-makers learn? Where does political learning come from? What is a paradigm, and what difference does it make? What remains of the Swedish model?

7 Week 7 (Mar. 1-7) The Netherlands: politics and adjustment in a coordinated market economy Andeweg, R. and Irwin, G., Dutch Government and Politics, pp , plus chs. 2, 7, 8? Visser, Jelle and Anton Hemerijk, A Dutch Miracle, chs. 1-4 (or spread more) Wolinetz, "Socio-Economic Bargaining in the Netherlands" (xerox/reserve) Andeweg, From Dutch Miracle to Dutch Model: Consensus Government in Practice (xerox/reserve) What is the nature of the Dutch `miracle? Should sustained but modest economic growth be considered a miracle? Is the Dutch `miracle a product of social learning In what ways is the Dutch welfare state different from the Swedish? Is it characterized by the same egalitarian principles? What do we mean by corporatism or an organized market economy? What decision-making practices underpin the ways in which the Dutch manage their economy? How do these differ from Sweden, Germany, or Britain? Week 8 (Mar 12-14) The Netherlands: miracle or mirage? Visser and Hemerijck, chs. 5-7 plus conclusion Wolinetz Modell Nederland: Social Partnership and Competitive Corporatism in the Netherlands (xerox/reserve) Jones, Erik, Is Competitive Corporatism an Adequate Response to Globalisation (xerox/reserve) How successful have the Dutch been? Does cooperation and the presence of an organized (or coordinated) market economy facilitate economic growth or equality. How or successful is corporatism new-style in the Netherlands? To what extent do Wolinetz and Jones agree or disagree? Why has cooperation been possible in certain areas but not in others? What are the principal differences between Wolinetz and Visser and Hemerijck s explanation for the persistence of social partnership in the Netherlands?

8 Week 9 (Mar ) Globalization, welfare states and organized market economies Visser and Hemerijck, conclusion Ferrara, The Four Social Europes in Rhodes and Meny, eds., The Future of the Welfare State, ch. 5 or xerox/reserve Rhodes, Martin, Globalization, Labour Markets, and Welfare States in Rhodes and Meny, eds., The Future of the Welfare State, ch. 9 or xerox/reserve Streeck, Wolfgang, German Capitalism: Does it Exist? Can it survive? in Rhodes and Meny, eds., The Future of the Welfare State, ch. 2 or xerox/reserve Reading on Irish model to be added. In what ways have globalization and the pressures of the international economy encouraged or discouraged the maintenance of the either egalitarian welfare states or organized market economies. How does the Dutch `model differ from either the Swedish or Irish`models? Week 10 (Mar ) The Response of the Left: Esping-Andersen, G., Politics Without Class: Post-industrial Cleavages in Europe and America in Kitschelt et al., ch. 10 Kitschelt, European Social Democracy Between Political Economy and Electoral Competition in Kitschelt et al., ch. 11 Giddens, Anthony, The Third Way, chs. 1-3, chs. 4-5, (read rapidly) Drover, Stephen, and Luke Martell, Left, Right, and the Third Way (xerox/reserve) How have Social Democratic and other parties of the left responded to efforts to dismantle the welfare state? Why should class structure or changes in cleavage patterns affect the response of the left? What do Anthony Giddens, Tony Blair, and others mean when they refer to a third way? Is this a new philosophical strain or political expediency? How does the third way differ from classical social democracy? Is it neo-liberalism or left liberalism in disguise?

9 Week 11 (Apr. 2-4) New forms for welfare states? Pierson, Christopher, Beyond the Welfare State, ch. 6, conclusion Esping-Andersen, Gosta, A Welfare State for the 21 st Century: Aging Societies, Knowledge Based Economies, and the Sustainability of European Welfare States (xerox/reserve Compare Christopher Pierson and Gosta Esping-Andersen s views about the likely future of welfare states? What changes, if any, need to be made, if welfare states are to be economically sustainable and politically viable? Week 12 (Apr. 9-11) Rewriting and re-submission of papers.