The Waning of the Welfare State: The End of Comprehensive State Succor - Tapa dura

Críticas

-Zijderveld, a sociologist at Erasmus University, argues that the European welfare state is -waning,- not in the sense of disappearing but becoming less statist and more reliant on nongovernmental organizations and business firms... The book deserves close attention from political observers and welfare scholars across the continent and will interest American students of welfare as a basis for comparative reflection.- --C. T. Goodsell, Choice -In his thoughtful analysis of the topic, Anton C. Zijderveld argues that the days of the intensive and extensive welfare state are over. . . . The book provides a clear and helpful framework for making sense of complex and still unfolding developments in Western Europe, and it represents a valuable resource for those interested in the role, authority, and legitimacy of the modern democratic state.- --James L. Nolan, Jr., Contemporary Sociology -The Waning of the Welfare State gives American readers an opportunity to get a taste of the Christian-conservative view on the development of Continental European welfare states.- --John Kvist and Mads Meier Jaeger, Governance "Zijderveld, a sociologist at Erasmus University, argues that the European welfare state is "waning," not in the sense of disappearing but becoming less statist and more reliant on nongovernmental organizations and business firms... The book deserves close attention from political observers and welfare scholars across the continent and will interest American students of welfare as a basis for comparative reflection." --C. T. Goodsell, Choice "In his thoughtful analysis of the topic, Anton C. Zijderveld argues that the days of the intensive and extensive welfare state are over. . . . The book provides a clear and helpful framework for making sense of complex and still unfolding developments in Western Europe, and it represents a valuable resource for those interested in the role, authority, and legitimacy of the modern democratic state." --James L. Nolan, Jr., Contemporary Sociology "The Waning of the Welfare State gives American readers an opportunity to get a taste of the Christian-conservative view on the development of Continental European welfare states." --John Kvist and Mads Meier Jaeger, Governance "Zijderveld, a sociologist at Erasmus University, argues that the European welfare state is "waning," not in the sense of disappearing but becoming less statist and more reliant on nongovernmental organizations and business firms... The book deserves close attention from political observers and welfare scholars across the continent and will interest American students of welfare as a basis for comparative reflection." --C. T. Goodsell, Choice "In his thoughtful analysis of the topic, Anton C. Zijderveld argues that the days of the intensive and extensive welfare state are over. . . . The book provides a clear and helpful framework for making sense of complex and still unfolding developments in Western Europe, and it represents a valuable resource for those interested in the role, authority, and legitimacy of the modern democratic state." --James L. Nolan, Jr., Contemporary Sociology "The Waning of the Welfare State gives American readers an opportunity to get a taste of the Christian-conservative view on the development of Continental European welfare states." --John Kvist and Mads Meier Jaeger, Governance "Zijderveld, a sociologist at Erasmus University, argues that the European welfare state is "waning," not in the sense of disappearing but becoming less statist and more reliant on nongovernmental organizations and business firms... The book deserves close attention from political observers and welfare scholars across the continent and will interest American students of welfare as a basis for comparative reflection." --C. T. Goodsell, Choice

Reseña del editor

The welfare state in postwar Western Europe has been extended and intensified in a spectacular manner. Today, "welfare" represents a complex mix of services covering health, education, welfare, the arts, leisure, and social security. Anton C. Zijderveld is of the opinion that Europe's vast, comprehensive welfare state is becoming leaner and meaner, heading down a more sober path toward decentralization and deregulation, which only, but not merely, secures order for its citizens and shields society's vulnerable. As the millennium approaches, Zijderveld believes Europe is experiencing a cultural renaissance and a socioeconomic and political reformation in which the market will flourish and civil society will prosper.

The Waning of the Welfare State focuses on the transformation of the welfare state in Europe over a four-decade period. Zijderveld employs the democratic triangle theoretical model, in which democracy is viewed as a system in which state, market, and civil society are held in precious balance. If one component supersedes the other two, democracy is endangered. In its 1960s and 1970s heyday, the state took center stage at the expense of the market and civil society; social democracy was the prevailing ideology. In the 1980s the market triumphed, often at the expense of both the state and civil society; this was the decade of liberalism. Today, civil society prevails, albeit at risk of being injurious to state and market. Ideologically, this is the decade of conservatism.

Zijderveld sees a future "Americanization" of European social policy producing a fortuitously balanced coalition of social democracy, liberalism, and conservatism; a place where safety and order, prosperity and economic participation, and social participation and meaningful interactions flourish equally. This transformation carries many risks. But it will, in the end, strengthen Europe's political, economic, and sociocultural stamina. If it also draws the Atlantic partners closer together, as Zijderveld believes it does, the chances of another European communist, libertarian, or fascist Gtterdommerung will remain remote. Zijderveld presents useful concepts in a highly organized fashion. He has produced a very important book for American readers who will, hopefully, discover, beyond the often vast differences, some basic similarities of structures and developments within the European welfare state.