Policy Press

Social Policy in an Era of Competition

From Global to Local Perspectives

Edited by Dan Horsfall and John Hudson

Published

Jun 30, 2017

Page count

272 pages

ISBN

978-1447326274

Dimensions

234 x 156 mm

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Jun 30, 2017

Page count

272 pages

ISBN

978-1447326304

Dimensions

Imprint

Policy Press

Published

Jun 30, 2017

Page count

272 pages

ISBN

978-1447326311

Dimensions

Imprint

Policy Press
Social Policy in an Era of Competition

Welfare states globally have been subjected to reform agendas that have stressed economic competitiveness but how has global competition reshaped welfare states in practice?

Providing a new cross-national and international narrative this book captures the complexity of social policy reform process that have taken place over the past 25 years. Drawing on data relating to multiple countries the authors examine global, cross-national and local cases in order to shed light on the impact of international forces on social policy.

The book addresses major theoretical debates about the direction of welfare state reform processes across the OECD and beyond, offering empirically rooted analyses of change and new perspectives on the impact of global competition on social policy.

Dan Horsfall is a Lecturer in Comparative Social Policy at the University of York and Associate Fellow of the Centre for Research in Comparative and Global Social Policy. Dan’s current research seeks to assess the impact of the financial downturn upon welfare state typologies.

John Hudson is Professor of Social Policy at the University of York and Co-Director of the Centre for Research in Comparative and Global Social Policy (CRCG). His research and teaching spans three themes: The policy process; Comparative social policy analysis; and Government in the “information age”.

Introduction: Social policy in an era of competition ~ Dan Horsfall and John Hudson;

Section I: Global competition as the context for welfare

The competition state thesis in a comparative perspective: The evolution of a thesis ~ Dan Horsfall;

Changing labour markets, changing welfare across the OECD: The move towards a social investment model of welfare as a response to competition ~ Naomi Finch, Dan Horsfall and John Hudson;

From social regulation of competition to competition as social regulation: Transformations in the sociο-economic governance of the European Union ~ Antonios Roumpakis and Theo Papadopoulos;

Housing and mortgage markets in the everyday: How globalisation came home ~ Stuart Lowe;

Section II: The impact of intensifed competition on local governance;

Exporting healthcare services: A comparative discussion of UK, Turkey and South Korea ~ Neil Lunt;

Global competitiveness and the rescaling of welfare: Rescaling downwards whilst competing outwards? ~ Chris Holden and John Hudson;

Section III: The reframing of welfare discourses in an era of competition;

Rewriting the contract? Conditionality, welfare reform and the rights and responsibilities of disabled people ~ Peter Dwyer;

Global ‘vulnerabilities’: New configurations of competition in the era of conditionality? ~ Kate Brown;

Convergence of government ideology in an era of global competition: An empirical analysis using comparative manifesto Data ~ Stefan Kühner;

Crisis, austerity, competitiveness and growth: New pathologies of the welfare state ~ Kevin Farnsworth and Zoë Irving;

Section IV: Conclusions

Conclusion: Social policy in an era of competition ~ Dan Horsfall & John Hudson.