Global Capital, Political Institutions, and Policy Change in Developed Welfare States

by Duane Swank

Overview

This book argues that the dramatic post-1970 rise in international capital mobility has not systematically contributed to the retrenchment of developed welfare states as many claim. Nor has globalization directly reduced the revenue-raising capacities of governments and undercut the political institutions that support the welfare state. Rather, institutional features of the polity and the welfare state determine the extent to which the economic and political pressures associated with globalization produce Welfare state retrenchment.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521806688
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/25/2002
Series:	Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics
Pages:	352
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.33(h) x 0.91(d)
Lexile:	1680L (what's this?)

Table of Contents

1. Introduction; 2. Globalization, democracy, and the welfare state; 3. Global capital, political institutions, and contemporary welfare state development: quantitative analysis; 4. Big welfare states in global markets: internationalization and welfare state reform in the Nordic social democracies; 5. Globalization and policy change in corporatist conservative welfare states; 6. Internationalization and liberal welfare states: a synopsis; 7. Assessing long-term impacts: the impact of globalization on taxation, institutions, and control of the macroeonomy; 8. Conclusions: national welfare states in a global economy.

Editorial Reviews

"Swank has written a book that will serve as a paragon of how to conduct empirical research in comparative political economy.... This volume is receommended for collections serving upper-division undergraduates and above." Choice

"Swank's book is based on meticulous research and it offers important insights into the way government social programs have fared in recent years. His analysis is sophisticated and nuanced, and it transcends the tendency in much of the literature on welfare and globalization to reduce what are very complex phenomena to a few simplistic conclusions. The book's conclusions also transcend the tendency in academic circles to engage in pure research for its own sake. His finding that the pressures of globalization do not prevent governments from determining their own welfare policies should hearten those who have been led to believe that there is no alternative to welfare retrenchment. The book should reinvigorate efforts to lobby and campaign for social policies and programs that enhance welfare for all." Social Development Issues

"Duane Swank provides the most sophisticated investigation to date of the post-World War II evolution of the welfare state under the impulse of financial globalization...novel and creative...Undoubtedly, these contributions represent the most significant effort to more rigorously advance the political economy research on financial globalization and the welfare state." Perspectives on Politics

"...[an] impressive theoretical and empirical study.... This book offers the most directly and thoroughly political approach of its genre. It is also the most thoroughly explored empirically..." Political Science Quarterly

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