Three Roads to the Welfare State
Liberalism, Social Democracy and Christian Democracy
By Bryan Fanning
Published
Sep 3, 2021Page count
266 pagesISBN
978-1447360322Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Policy PressPublished
Sep 3, 2021Page count
266 pagesISBN
978-1447360339Imprint
Policy PressPublished
Sep 3, 2021Page count
266 pagesISBN
978-1447360339Imprint
Policy Press
Three Roads to the Welfare State
In the media
'People like us' By Bryan Fanning in Dublin Review of Books
On Transforming Society: 'The inevitability of social policy'
The development of social policy in Europe is explored in this accessible intellectual history and analysis of the welfare state.
From the Industrial Revolution onwards, the book identifies three important concepts behind efforts to address social concerns in Europe: social democracy, Christian democracy and liberalism. With guides to the political and ideological protagonists and the beliefs and values that lie behind reforms, it traces the progress and legacies of each of the three traditions.
For academics and students across social policy and the political economy, this is an illuminating new perspective on the welfare state through the last two centuries.
“An impressive intellectual history of the welfare state, well written and highly readable. It offers a fresh perspective while remaining an accessible and stylish survey of ideas.” Fred Powell, University College Cork
"Bryan Fanning offers a fresh and erudite history of the welfare state. This is a book well worth reading, especially for those interested in the underlying concepts and philosophies." Mary Daly, University of Oxford
Bryan Fanning is Professor of Migration and Social Policy at University College Dublin.
1. Three roads
2. The invention of laissez faire
3. Utopian socialism
4. Reform liberalism and technocracy
5. Catholic social thought versus modernity
6. The case for social democracy
7. Social engineering versus democracy
8. The rise of neoliberalism
9. European Christian democracy
10. Legacies
