The Welfare State East and West

by Richard Rose, Rei Shiratori

Overview

A unique, comparative examination of the different ways in which modern democratic societies provide welfare today, these essays focus on the welfare strategies and experiences of the U.S., Japan, Great Britain, Scandinavia, Germany, and Israel. While the objectives of welfare are common to each society, each has its own ideas about the best way for the state, the market, and the household to contribute to the welfare mix. With the economies of many countries under pressure, the question of the proper balance between domestic welfare spending and defense spending is often at the center of the debate. The essays on Japan provide new and useful insights into how a state—not normally considered a "welfare state"—manages to provide a wide array of successful welfare services.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780195039566
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	12/18/1986
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 6.38(h) x 0.77(d)

About the Author

University of Strathclyde

Dokkyo University

Table of Contents

	Introduction: Welfare in Society: Three Worlds or One?	3
1.	Common Goals but Different Roles: The State's Contribution to the Welfare Mix	13
2.	Welfare and "Welfare" in America	40
3.	The Development of the Welfare Mix in Japan	64
4.	The Dynamics of the Welfare Mix in Britain	80
5.	The Civic Conception of the Welfare State in Scandinavia	107
6.	Development, Structure, and Prospects of the German Social State	126
7.	The Israeli Welfare System--A Nation with a Difference	156
8.	Overcommitment in Pensions: The Japanese Experience	173
9.	The Future of the Welfare State	193
Appendix	Data about Major Industrial Nations	207
	Index	211

Editorial Reviews

"Provides an important and distinctive contribution to our understanding of the modern welfare state....For those searching for concepts of the welfare state and for broad comparative sketches of alternative routes in welfare state development, this volume will be very illuminating."—American Political Science Review

"Recommended reading...The attempt to evaluate welfare from a broad perspective, comparing conditions in the six welfare states and regions in terms of welfare mixes is totally new."—Japan Quarterly

"The book is excellent....Each chapter is authored by experts on the welfare systems of their respective countries."—Stuart S. Nagel, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

"A sensitive and sincerely constructive volume that contributes to the dialogue on the future of the welfare state."—Social Science Quarterly

"A provocative and unique set of comparisons."—T.J. Pempel, Cornell University

From the Publisher