14) The welfare state

Question 1

What defines the welfare state?

Answer 1

State-provided guarantee of fundamental need satisfaction.
All the policies the state implement to create security in the society.
An institution, which provide citizen incitements as a right.

Question 2

How does functionalism explain welfare state emergence and development?

Answer 2

Welfare state emergence response to industrialization.
Welfare state is a function for the workers.
Commodification and new types of social risks.
Different timing of emergence, but afterwards convergence.

Question 3

How does the class mobilization theory explain welfare state development?

Answer 3

Welfare states emerge out of class conflict.
Decommodification.
Generosity mirrors strength of working class.
Ideally both the working class and the bourgious are strong.
Remaining differences.

Question 4

How does the state institutions and bureaucracy theory explain welfare state development?

Answer 4

The bureaucratic elite politize the welfare state.

If the bureaucracy is autonomic, the politicians can better pursue the society’s best.

Question 5

What does commodification means?

Answer 5

People are seen as a commodify/ a good.

Question 6

What does decommodification means?

Answer 6

Providing workers alternatives to market income.

Question 7

What are the main critism of the power ressource theory?

Answer 7

Many benefits goes to the middle class. 
Cross-class alliances. 
Christian democracy. 
Macro trends remain important.

Question 8

What defines the flexicurity model?

Answer 8

A combination of flexibility and security.

• Liberal employment protection legislation.
• Generous employment protection such as high compensation levels or long duration.
• Active labour market policies aimed at bringing people back to work.

Question 9

What defines the flexibility part of the flexicurity model?

Answer 9

Focus on the employer.

Easy to fire and hire workers, which makes the market flexible for the employers.

Question 10

What defines the security part of the flexicurity model?

Answer 10

Focuses on the workers.

High compensation at unemployment, which creates security for the workers.

Question 11

What are (according to Esping-Andersen) the three welfare state types?

Answer 11

The social democratic regime.
The conservative regime.
The liberal regime.

Question 12

What defines the social democratic welfare state?

Answer 12

Scandinavian countries.
Tax financed.
Universalism.
Generous benefits, which are a function of the membership of a country.

Question 13

What defines the conservative welfare state?

Answer 13

Mid-European countries.
Insurance principal.
Benefits are employment related.
Target head of the family.

Question 14

What defines the liberal welfare state?

Answer 14

US and USA.
Benefits are tax financed.
Much less generous benefits.
Targeting the poorly. 
Residual welfare state (a matter of last resort).

Question 15

What is the paradox of redistribution?

Answer 15

Concerns universalism vs. targeting.
Intuition: targeting better to redistribute / reduce poverty.
In reality: least successful.
Universalism produces greater support in middle class.
Targeting produces resistance to taxation (the pie is small).

Question 16

What is the paradox of distribution?

Answer 16

“The more we target benefits at the poor only and the more concerned we are with creating equality via equal public transfers to all, the less likely we are to reduce poverty and inequality”.

Question 17

What are some of the sources to structural unemployment?

Answer 17

Unemployment benefits.
Minimum wages.
Collective bargaining.
Social security contributions.
Dismissal protection.

Question 18

What does structural unemployment means?

Answer 18

There will always be some people in society, which are unemployed.

Question 19

What defines ‘Varieties of Capitalism’?

Answer 19

A response to the dominant liberal reason in economy.
Specific skills comparative advantage in CMEs.
Assume that no worker will invest in specific skills, but in general skills.
Only in countries where workers can be insured they are not fired, they will invest in specific skills.
Employers support welfare state and regulation.

Question 20

What does the compensation hypothesis says on globalizations impact on welfare states?

Answer 20

Globalization contribute to the development of a more equal and less conflictual society.

Question 21

What does the efficiency hypothesis says on globalizations impact on welfare states?

Answer 21

International competition (through globalization) forces national governments to reduce costs by scaling down taxes and social policies.

Question 22

What is (according to Pierson) the politics on retrenchment and transformation?

Answer 22

“Frontal assaults on the welfare state carry tremendous electoral risks”.

Question 23

What is (according to Béland) policy/social learning?

Answer 23

“The process by which civil servants, policy experts and elected officials evaluate the performance of previously enacted policies”

Question 24

What is path dependence?

Answer 24

Policies at one point of time tend to impact on policies at a later point of time because of high switching costs.

Question 25

What is policy transfer?

Answer 25

Processes may indeed involve substantial change from one institutional context to another.

Question 26

What is policy diffusion?

Answer 26

Refers to all conceivable channels of influence between countries or policy fields.

Question 27

What is policy convergence?

Answer 27

Policies or policy outcomes become increasingly similar.

Question 28

What are the difference on output and outcome?

Answer 28

Output = achievement/production.

Outcome = result/the way thing turn out.

Question 29

What is the neoliberal view on welfare states?

Answer 29

Welfare states is detrimental to economic performance.