Contentious Institutions: An Augmented Rational-Actor Analysis of the Origins and Path Dependency of Welfare State Institutions in the Western Countries

Welfare states in the Western countries have had very similar goals, yet the choice of institutions to approach these shared goals has generated protracted power struggles among major interest groups and great cross-country variation in institutional structures. Relating recent debates on new institutionalism to earlier debates on power, this paper outlines an augmented rational-actor approach to the explanation of the origins of welfare state institutions and of variations in their degree of path dependence. With a differentiated concept of power costs and the degree of power asymmetry among actors as a central variable, this augmented model partly combines some salient characteristics of the rational-choice, historical, and sociological versions of new institutionalism. The augmented rational-actor approach proves fruitful in understanding conflicts characterizing the emergence and change of major social insurance institutions in 18 rich Western countries since the late nineteenth century and up to the present. It complements rational-choice institutionalism focused on voluntary cooperation, contracts and conventions.rationality; new institutionalism; welfare states; power; institutional change

Welfare State Regress in Western Europe: Politics, Institutions, Globalization and Europeanization

In interdisciplinary research on welfare state regress in Western Europe, interest has focused on the causes and extent of retrenchment. Causal debates have concerned the role of globalization, post-industrialism, European integration, and partisan politics. The "new politics" perspective views pressures towards retrenchment as basically generated by post-industrial changes causing government budget deficits and permanent austerity, developments pressing all governments to attempt to cut welfare state programs. These attempts are resisted by powerful interest groups consisting of welfare state benefit recipients, and therefore retrenchment is likely to be a limited phenomenon. Such recipient-based interest groups generated by welfare states are seen as largely replacing left parties and unions once driving welfare state expansion, thus marginalizing the role of class-related politics in the retrenchment process. Conclusions pointing to only limited retrenchment and a minor role for partisan politics have been criticized because of the non-theoretical definition of the welfare state and because of the concentration on social expenditures. The power resources approach, focusing on the role of distributive conflicts between major interest groups for welfare states development, widens the theoretical definition of the welfare state to include full employment as well as social transfers and expenditures. In Western Europe full employment was one of the cornerstones of the postwar "Keynesian welfare state," entailing a social contract which markedly differed from the one in the United States. The return of mass unemployment in Europe since the mid-1970s constitutes a major welfare state regress, and at the same time generates government budget deficits and austerity. Analyses based on citizenship rights in social insurance programs indicate major retrenchment in some West European countries, with political parties and welfare state institutions in significant roles. In this perspective the return of mass unemployment and cuts in social rights appear as a reworking of the European post-war social contract. The widening of the scope of welfare state indicates that trans-nationalization may have differing effect on its different aspects.welfare state retrenchment; globalization; European Union; partisan politics; unemployment.

Women's Opportunities under Different Constellations of Family Policies in Western Countries: Inequality Tradeoffs Re-examined

Women’s rising labor force participation since the 1960’s was long seen as heralding decreasing gender inequalities. According to influential social science writings this view has now to be revised; “women friendly” policies bringing women into the workforce are held to create major inequality tradeoffs between quantity and quality in women’s jobs. Unintendedly, such policies increase employer statistical discrimination and create glass ceilings impeding women’s access to influential positions and high wages. This paper re-examines theoretical and empirical bases in analysis of family policy effects on gender inequalities. Including capabilities as well as earnings in definitions of gender inequality, we improve possibilities for causal analyses by mapping institutional constellations of separate dimensions of family policies in Western countries. Reflecting conflicting political forces as well as religion, contrary to accepted assumptions of uni-dimensionality, family policies are multi-dimensional, with main distinctions favoring traditional families, mother’s employment, or market reliance. Using multilevel analyses and broad sets of outcome variables, we show that methodological mistakes largely invalidate earlier causal interpretations of major tradeoffs between quantity and quality in women’s labor force participation. Positive policy effects facilitate work-family reconciliation and combine women’s increased labor force participation with relatively high fertility. While major negative policy effects for women with tertiary education are difficult to find, family policies clearly differ in the extent to which they improve opportunities for women without university degrees.-

WELFARE STATE DEVELOPMENT IN EUROPE SINCE 1930: IRELAND IN A COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE. TWENTY THIRD GEARY LECTURE, 1992

The development of the modern welfare state is one of the major social and political changes in the Western countries during the past century. Together with a group of colleagues at the Swedish [nstitt|te for Social Research, Stockbolm University, l have for some time been involved in a comparative study of tbis change in 18 OECD countries. The purpose of this comparative researcb programme is to describe welfare state development in the Western countries, to attempt to explain tbis development, and also to look at some of the consequences of welfare state development.I To use the vocabulary of T. H. Marshall (1950) one coutd say that we are studying the development of social rights and the emergence of social citizensbip in the Western countries

Optical BVI Imaging and HI Synthesis Observations of the Dwarf Irregular Galaxy ESO 364-G 029

As part of an effort to enlarge the number of well-studied Magellanic-type galaxies, we obtained broadband optical imaging and neutral hydrogen radio synthesis observations of the dwarf irregular galaxy ESO 364-G 029. The optical morphology characteristically shows a bar-like main body with a one-sided spiral arm, an approximately exponential light distribution, and offset photometric and kinematic centers. The HI distribution is mildly asymmetric and, although slightly offset from the photometric center, roughly follows the optical brightness distribution, extending to over 1.2 Holmberg radii (where mu_B = 26.5 mag/arcsec^2). In particular, the highest HI column densities closely follow the bar, one-arm spiral, and a third optical extension. The rotation is solid-body in the inner parts but flattens outside of the optical extent. The total HI flux F_HI = 23.1 pm 1.2 Jy km/s, yielding a total HI mass M_HI= (6.4 pm 1.7) x 10^8 Msun (for a distance D = 10.8 pm 1.4 Mpc) and a total HI mass-to-blue-luminosity ratio M_HI/L_B = (0.96 pm 0.14) Msun / Lsun,B (distance independent). The HI data suggest a very complex small-scale HI structure, with evidence of large shells and/or holes, but deeper observations are required for a detailed study. Follow-up observations are also desirable for a proper comparison with the Large Magellanic Cloud, where despite an optical morphology very similar to ESO 364-G 029 the HI bears little resemblance to the optical.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, accepted by A&

Control of star formation by supersonic turbulence

Understanding the formation of stars in galaxies is central to much of modern astrophysics. For several decades it has been thought that stellar birth is primarily controlled by the interplay between gravity and magnetostatic support, modulated by ambipolar diffusion. Recently, however, both observational and numerical work has begun to suggest that support by supersonic turbulence rather than magnetic fields controls star formation. In this review we outline a new theory of star formation relying on the control by turbulence. We demonstrate that although supersonic turbulence can provide global support, it nevertheless produces density enhancements that allow local collapse. Inefficient, isolated star formation is a hallmark of turbulent support, while efficient, clustered star formation occurs in its absence. The consequences of this theory are then explored for both local star formation and galactic scale star formation. (ABSTRACT ABBREVIATED)Comment: Invited review for "Reviews of Modern Physics", 87 pages including 28 figures, in pres