Book Review: Transformations of the Welfare State – Small States, Big Lessons
| Author | Yves Stevens |
| DOI | 10.1177/138826271201400304 |
| Published date | 01 September 2012 |
| Date | 01 September 2012 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
212 Intersentia
BOOK REVIEWS
Herbert Obinger, Peter Starke, Julia Moser, Claudia Bogedan, Edith Gindulis
and Stephan Leibfried, Transformations of the Welfare State − Small States, Big
Lessons, 2010, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 336 pp., ISBN 978–0-199296324
(paperback), ISBN 978–0-19–929632–3 (hardcover)
is book addresses a clear and simple but very well elaborated research question:
‘How did four small welfare states react to recent fundamental g lobal changes in the
economy?’. Austria, Denmark, New Zealand and Switzerland are exposed to similar
economic pressures and this ex plains the transformation of the four welfa re states in a
convergent way. Politics and political partie s clearly still play an importa nt role in the
de ning and shaping of the welfare state. However the recent funda mental economic
global changes make it clear that politics have less of an impact on the shape of the
welfare state than t hey used to.
e book examines Austria, Denmark, New Zea land and Switzerland in turn, in
four chapters, each relating to one of these four countries. ese chapters are largely
descriptive and the h chapter, on comparative perspectives, is by far the most
interesting and intriguing part of the book. Social expenditure, bene t levels, pension
reforms, labour market policies, family policies and health policies are analysed and
compared and these disc ussions are all worth reading and t hinking about.
e authors argue that small states can be seen as ‘early warning systems’ for
general trends, because of their dependence on world markets and vulnerability to
competitive pressures. ey are convinced that big lessons can be drawn from the
experience of small nations and follow the classical line that small countries, due to
the small number of decision-maker s and the resultant lower decision-making costs,
nd themselves in a comparatively favourable position to react to such pressures in
swi and exible ways.
In the last chapter the authors try to educate the reader by presenting ve
conclusions. e rst is that a generous welfare state and an economic openness
are still compatible in a world that is characterised by an unprecedented degree of
economic and nancial integration. e second is that globalisation is not strictly
negative for the welfare state. e third conclusion is that small welfare states react
swi ly to major economic changes. e fourth is that the economic performance of
small countries ha s been independent of the structura l make-up of their welfare states.
e h conclusion is that social inequality (as indicated by the Gini coe cient) has
increased over recent decades in al l welfare states.
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