Liberalism, Social Investment, Protectionism, and Chauvinism
Liberalism, Social Investment, Protectionism, and Chauvinism
New Directions for the European Welfare State
This concluding chapter summarizes the country chapters, examining pressures on state welfare and the new directions which policy has taken. We then analyse differences and similarities in national policies and discuss the implications for theories of the welfare state. The dominant direction in policy is neo-liberal, leading to austerity and a transfer of responsibility from state to individual, although social investment is also important. Left attempts at fightback against austerity have had little success, but protectionism and chauvinist responses to immigration are emerging as influential. At the national level, we do not anticipate a simple convergence on neo-liberalism or a divergence based on regime type, but expect policy directions to be driven much more by national politics. A crucial issue is how far different countries successfully pursue social investment and neo-Keynesian strategies successfully to integrate the more vulnerable and more dissatisfied groups or instead retreat to protectionism.
Keywords: Europe, welfare state futures, liberalism, social investment, fightback, protectionism, chauvinism, individual responsibility, austerity, immigration
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