Federalism and the Welfare State: New World and European Experiences - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521847389 ISBN 13: 9780521847384

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2005

Synopsis

Ten experts question prevailing views that federalism always inhibits the growth of social solidarity. Their comparative study of the evolution of political institutions and welfare states in the six oldest federal states--Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, the U.S.--reveals that federalism can facilitate and impede social policy development. Development is contingent on several time-dependent factors and this study suggests that federalism may actually protect the welfare state, and welfare states may enhance national integration.

About this title

Book Description:

In this unique and provocative contribution to the literatures of political science and social policy, ten leading experts question the prevailing view that federalism always inhibits the growth of social solidarity. Their comparative study of the evolution of political institutions and welfare states in the six oldest federal states--Australia, Austria, Canada, Germany, Switzerland and the US--reveals that federalism impedes and facilitates social policy development and also suggests that federalism may actually protect the welfare state, and welfare states may enhance national integration.

About the Author:

Herbert Obinger is Assistant Professor at the Centre for Social Policy Research, University of Bremen and principal investigator at its TranState Research Centre. He has written on Swiss federalism, the role of political parties and institutions in shaping recent welfare state development and public policy typologies in advanced democratic states.

Stephan Leibfried is Professor of Social Policy and Social Administration in the Department of Political Science at the University of Bremen and co-initiator of Bremen's TranState Research Centre. He has written extensively on welfare state development, and on the effects of European integration as well as globalisation on national welfare states.

Francis G. Castles is Professor of Social and Public Policy at the University of Edinburgh. His previous books are The Future of the Welfare State: Crisis Myths and Crisis Realities (2004) and Australia Reshaped: 200 Years of Institutional Tranformation (co-edited with Geoffrey Brennan, Cambridge University Press, 2002).

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• ISBN 10: 0521847389
• ISBN 13: 9780521847384
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 380
• Editor: Obinger Herbert, Leibfried Stephan, Castles Francis G.