Searching for New Welfare Models: Citizens' Opinions on the Past, Present and Future of the Welfare State

This book explores the ways in which different generations think about how the welfare state is organised at present, and how it will be organised in future. Using the results of a study from Canada, Australia and Sweden, the book’s findings complement more traditional studies of the welfare sector, capturing the anxieties of citizens about the present and future of their countries’ welfare models, and presenting their thoughts on how the system can be re-organised in future. Positioning their three-country study within the history of the welfare state around the world, the authors seek to re-assess the role of the welfare state in governments around the world. Their findings will be of interest to those studying welfare policy as well as innovations such as basic income, e-health and policy responses to automisation. 

Rolf Solli is Professor of Management at the University of Borås, Sweden, and also Professor of Public Administration at School of Public Administration at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. His research focuses on governing, organizing and management, mostly in the context of the public sector, especially regarding municipalities.

Barbara Czarniawska is Senior Professor of Management Studies at GRI, School of Business, Economics and Law at University of Gothenburg, Sweden. She takes a feminist and constructionist perspective on organizing, recently exploring the connections between popular culture and practice of management, and the organization of integration. She is interested in methodology, especially in techniques of fieldwork and in the application of narratology to organization studies.

Peter Demediuk is Course Chair of postgraduate accounting studies at the Victoria University Business School, Melbourne, Australia. He coordinates and teaches doctoral and postgraduate units on research, ethics and sustainability, and performance measurement and management. His research interests include public administration and community engagement; interdisciplinary approaches to performance measurement and management; and sustainability management, measurement and reporting.

Dennis Anderson served for ten years (1990–2000) as President of Brandon University, Manitoba, Canada, and was previously Professor of Marketing at the University of Manitoba, Canada. He has taught in both management and executive programs throughout his career, and in recognition of his work, he was inducted into McMaster University’s Alumni Gallery and Brandon University’s Alumni Wall of Fame.