How Obama's welfare legacy helps explain the roots of Trump supporters' rage

In the lead up to the 2016 election, for many, that Hillary Clinton would ride President Obama's popularity into the Oval Office was a foregone conclusion. Why then, did America end up with President Trump? Anne Daguerre argues that despite Obama's somewhat successful efforts to save the US economy during the financial crisis nearly a decade ago, Donald Trump was ..

In Trump's America, universities' solidarity with Muslim students has become even more important

In a time of increasing anxiety about Islam in much of American society, how are universities responding to expressions of faith by their Muslim students? In new research focusing on George Mason University, Anne Daguerre explored issues of faith and national policy within university life. Here, she discusses her findings and reflects on their wider cultural context. Ethnic diversity has ..

The rise of ‘fend for yourself Federalism’ is fraying America’s welfare state

Federalism in the United States means that the national government has some responsibilities assigned to it under the Constitution with the majority of governance left up to the states. In new research, Anne Daguerre and Tim Conlan look at how the ‘cooperative federalism’ of previous years, where states and the federal government share power, has now fallen away due to increasing political polarization, and how this pattern is causing the country’s welfare state to become more fragmented and disjointed

The Workfare State: Public Assistance Politics from the New Deal to the New Democrats, Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, £65.00, pp. 336, hbk [Book review]

Book revie

Obama's welfare legacy: an assessment of US anti-poverty policies

The election of Barack Obama in the midst of the 2008 economic downturn brought hope to millions and presented an opportunity for expanding socio-economic rights. But the Obama administration was consistently constrained by the challenges of divided government, and the now threatened Affordable Care Act (‘Obamacare’) remains the stand-out welfare reform of his Presidency. Using new research, Anne Daguerre examines Obama’s legacy on welfare and antipoverty policies, focusing in particular on the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The book provides an up-to-date account of the contemporary politics of poverty and public entitlements in the US, comparing this with the Western European experience and its traditionally strong commitment to social welfare, to assess what lessons can be learned