Everything about Welfare State totally explained
There are three main interpretations of the idea of a
welfare state:
- the provision of welfare services by the state.
- an ideal model in which the state assumes primary responsibility for the welfare of its citizens. This responsibility in theory ought to be comprehensive, because all aspects of welfare are considered and universally applied to citizens as a right. 'Welfare state' can also mean the creation of a "safety net" of minimum standards of varying forms of welfare. Here is found some confusion between a "welfare state" and a "welfare society" (see below) in common debate about the definition of the term.
- the provision of welfare in society. In many "welfare states", especially in continental Europe, welfare isn't actually provided by the state, but by a combination of independent, voluntary, mutualist and government services. The functional provider of benefits and services may be a central or state government, a state-sponsored company or agency, a private corporation, a charity or another form of non-profit organisation. However, this phenomenon has been more appropriately termed a "welfare society," and the term "welfare system" has been used to describe the range of welfare state and welfare society mixes that are found.
Etymology
The
English term "welfare state" is believed by
Asa Briggs to have been coined by Archbishop
William Temple during the
Second World War, contrasting wartime Britain with the "warfare state" of
Nazi Germany.
Friedrich Hayek contends that the term derived from the older German word
Wohlfahrtsstaat, which itself was used by nineteenth century historians to describe a variant of the ideal of
Polizeistaat ("police state"). It was fully developed by the German academic
Sozialpolitiker—"socialists of the chair"—from 1870 and first implemented through Bismarck's "state socialism". Bismarck's policies have also been seen as the creation of a welfare state.
In
German, a roughly equivalent term (
Sozialstaat, "social state") had been in use since 1870. There had been earlier attempts to use the same phrase in English, for example in
Munroe Smith's text "Four German Jurists", but the term didn't enter common use until William Temple popularized it. The Italian term "Social state" (
Stato sociale) has the same origin.
The
Swedish welfare state is called
Folkhemmet and
goes back to the 1936 compromise between the
Union and big
Corporate companies. It is a
Mixed economy, built on strong
unions and a strong system of
Social security and
universal health care.
In
French, the synonymous term "providence state"
(État-providence) was originally coined as a sarcastic
pejorative remark used by opponents of welfare state policies during the Second Empire (
1854-
1870).
In
Spanish and many other languages, an analogous term is used:
estado del bienestar; translated literally: "state of well-being".
In
Portuguese, a similar phrase exists:
Estado de Bem-Estar-Social; which means "well-being-social state".
The development of welfare states
An early version of the welfare state appeared in
China during the
Song Dynasty in the
11th century. Prime Minister
Wang Anshi believed that the state was responsible for providing its citizens the essentials for a decent living standard. Accordingly, under his direction the state initiated agricultural loans to relieve the farming peasants. He appointed boards to regulate wages and plan pensions for the aged and unemployed. These reforms were known as the "new laws," New Policies, or
xin fa (新法).
Modern welfare states developed through a gradual process beginning in the late
19th century and continuing through the
20th. They differed from previous schemes of poverty relief due to their relatively universal coverage. The development of
social insurance in
Germany under
Bismarck was particularly influential. Some schemes, like those in
Scandinavia, were based largely in the development of autonomous, mutualist provision of benefits. Others were founded on state provision. The term was not, however, applied to all states offering social protection. The sociologist
T.H. Marshall identified the welfare state as a distinctive combination of
democracy,
welfare and
capitalism.
Examples of early welfare states in the modern world are
Germany, all of the
Nordic Countries, the
Netherlands,
Uruguay and
New Zealand in the
1930s. Germany is generally held to be the first social welfare state. Changed attitudes in reaction to the
Great Depression were instrumental in the move to the welfare state in many countries, a harbinger of new times where "cradle-to-grave" services became a reality after the
poverty of the Depression. During the Great Depression, it was seen as an alternative "middle way" between
communism and
capitalism. In the period following the
Second World War, many countries in
Europe moved from partial or selective provision of
social services to relatively comprehensive coverage of the population.
The activities of present-day welfare states extend to the provision of both cash welfare benefits (such as old-age pensions or unemployment benefits) and in-kind welfare services (such as health or childcare services). Through these provisions, welfare states can affect the distribution of wellbeing and personal autonomy among their citizens, as well as influencing how their citizens consume and how they spend their time.
After the discovery and inflow of the oil revenue,
Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait,
Qatar,
Bahrain,
Oman and the
United Arab Emirates all became welfare states. However, the services are strictly for citizens and these countries don't accept immigrants; those born in these countries don't qualify for citizenship unless they're of the parentage belonging to their respective countries.
In the United Kingdom, the beginning of the modern welfare state was in 1911 when
David Lloyd George suggested everyone in work should pay national insurance contribution for unemployment and health benefits from work.
In 1942, the 'Social Insurance and Allied Services' was created by
Sir William Beveridge in order to aid those who were in need of help, or in poverty. Beveridge worked as a volunteer for the poor, and set up national insurance. He stated that 'All people of working age should pay a weekly national insurance contribution. In return, benefits would be paid to people who were sick, unemployed, retired or widowed.' The basic assumptions of the report were the National Health Service, which provided free health care to the UK. The Universal Child Benefit was a scheme to give benefits to parents, encouraging people to have children by enabling them to feed and support a family. This was particularly beneficial after the second world war when the population of the United Kingdom declined. Universal Child Benefit provided encouragement for new babies, which sparked the
Baby boom. The impact of the report was huge and 600,000 copies were made.
He recommended to the government that they should find ways of tackling the five giants, being Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness. He argued to cure these problems, the government should provide adequate income to people, adequate health care, adequate education, adequate housing and adequate employment.
Before 1939, health care had to be paid for, this was done through a vast network of friendly societies, trade unions and other insurance companies which counted the vast majority of the UK working population as members. These friendly societies provided insurance for sickness, unemployment and invalidity, therefore providing people with an income when they were unable to work. But because of the 1942 Beveridge Report, in 5th July 1948, the National Insurance Act, National Assistance Act and National Health Service Act came into force, thus this is the day that the modern UK welfare state was founded.
Effects on poverty
Empirical evidence suggests that taxes and transfer considerably reduce poverty in all developed countries, whose welfare states commonly constitute at least a fifth of GDP.
Further Information
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