WELFARE STATE

Welfare State

Welfare State

What is Welfare State

The term welfare state (or state of being), is used since the second world war to describe a socio-political-economic environment in which the promotion of safety and social and economic welfare of citizens is assumed by the State, in its joints institutional and territorial, as their prerogative and responsibility. The Welfare State, also known as the "welfare state", is characterized by a significant presence in important areas such as public security and 'social welfare's health care, construction and the 'housing, and this presence is accompanied by a dirigiste and interventionist attitude in economic life, both at the legislative level, both through the planning and economic planning, both through public enterprises. The state provides social services and then provides a series of rights, such as:

Health care.

Public school system.

Unemployment benefits, family benefits, in case of poverty or need.

Access to cultural resources (libraries, museums, leisure).

Support disability and old age.

Protecting the environment.

The Welfare State, with the collapse of the state-entrepreneur, is the mode of administration of the state in capitalist countries in the contemporary democratic regime. Since the mid 1960's people started to talk about "welfare state", as the degeneration of "welfare state", to indicate the profound crisis of this model in the generality of the countries in which it was adopted.

The welfare state has been subjected too much criticism over the last two decades of the twentieth century, especially by members of neo-liberalism, opposed to state intervention in the economy and favour of a reduction in the tax burden. Others point out that, although the modes of state intervention are sometimes inadequate, the reasons that led to the development of the welfare state are still present, are certainly increasing. In many countries have been set up programs to reform the welfare state, for example, in Great Britain that based on the concept of "workfare", i.e. a system to create incentives for individuals to find employment. In other European countries prefer the mixed solution of welfare systems, geared to the principle of "subsidiary", i.e. that help the state, private companies, insurance companies (for the provision of welfare services and medical insurance) and associations non-profit (Paul 1999, Pp: 111).

Essential Characteristics of the ff Models

The three models consist of the following:

1) The liberal welfare state:

It is only a modest contribution Universalist system that covers everyone. Rights depend on an individual assessment of need. Only those who can demonstrate a need will receive a little assistance. The recipients are mainly low-income people from working class. They have also over-reliance on the market with respect to the sale of labour. The welfare state in Britain, USA, Canada and Australia resemble this model. These welfare states are cheap.

2) The conservative welfare state:

This model is characterized by corporatist political systems. The welfare state splits in the defence of stop-and status differences, which means that such pensions are very different depending on previous occupation. It builds on the family as a unit by excluding non-working women from benefits, pensions, ...