The rise and fall of the welfare state / / Asbjørn Wahl.

• VerfasserIn: Wahl, Asbjørn,
• Place / Publishing House: London ;, New York : : Pluto,, [2011]; ©2011
• Year of Publication: 2011
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (256 p.)
• Notes: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

In an age of government imposed austerity, and after 30 years of neo-liberal restructuring, the future of the welfare state looks increasingly uncertain. Asbjorn Wahl offers an accessible analysis of the situation across Europe, identifies the most important challenges and presents practical proposals for combating the assault on welfare.Wahl argues that the welfare state should be seen as the result of a class compromise forged in the 20th century, which means that it cannot easily be exported internationally. He considers the enormous shifts in power relations and the profound internal changes to the welfare state which have occurred during the neo-liberal era, pointing to the paradigm shift that the welfare state is going through. This is illustrated by the shift from welfare to workfare and increased top-down control.As well as being a fascinating study in its own right that will appeal to students of economics and politics, The Rise and Fall of the Welfare State also points to an alternative way forward for the trade union movement based on concrete examples of struggles and alliance-building.

Table of Contents

Intro -- Title page -- Copyright page -- Dedication page -- Contents -- List of Figures and Tables -- Preface -- 1 Introduction -- Freedom and equality -- Who owns the welfare state? -- Power and polarization -- The non-historical approach -- About the book -- 2 The power base -- Historical background -- The class compromise -- System competition -- The content and ideology of the compromise -- Restraining market forces -- A broader concept of the welfare state -- 3 The turning point -- Globalization - or market fundamentalism? -- Deregulation -- The economy of madness -- Privatization -- Three phases - three stages -- Monopolization and corruption -- What went wrong? -- 4 The shift in the balance of power -- Attacks on the trade unions -- The end of the class compromise -- The employers failed in Norway -- The undermining of democracy -- Deregulation and privatization -- Forms of organization and management -- Supranational agreements and institutions -- The myth of the powerless state -- 5 The attacks -- Poverty and increasing inequality -- Pensions under attack -- But Norway is best … -- Crisis and shock therapy -- The transformation of welfare -- 6 The brutalization of work -- Labour as a commodity -- Brutalization and exclusion -- The demands of neoliberalism -- Social dumping -- Driving forces -- Abolish workfare policies! -- Loss of welfare? -- 7 The misery of symbol politics -- The workfare fiasco -- Blessed are the poor? -- From power struggle to legal formalism -- 8 Challenges and alternatives -- Changes to power relations -- The struggle is already on -- The European Union as a barrier -- Internal political-ideological barriers -- Politicization and revitalization -- A new course! -- Freedom -- Endnotes -- Bibliography -- Index.