Political Economy and Emergence of Welfare States

NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.

NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.

Table of Contents

Introduction
Factors Contributing to Emergence of Welfare States
The Role of Worldviews
Iranian Ideology on Political Economy
Conclusion
Bibliography
Footnotes

Introduction

Welfare states are a matter of increased interest among political scientists around the world. Welfare states are understood as concepts of government that provide basic safety for most vulnerable populations achieved by social insurance, public healthcare plans, and poverty relief.¹ The primary distinguishing feature of a welfare state is that it emerges in market economies, aims at meeting people’s basic needs, and uses relatively direct methods to meet these needs.²

Goodin emphasizes the importance of distinguishing between welfare states and welfare organizations, such as the Salvation Army, United Fund, or Catholic Benevolent Fund, as those are private charitable initiatives.³ Instead, welfare states are systems of “compulsory, collective, and largely nondiscretionary welfare provision.”⁴ Such states emerged after World War II due to various factors.⁵ The present paper aims at identifying and explaining these factors, evaluating the role that worldviews may play in the emergence of welfare states, and analyzing the impact of presumptions and ideologies on the Iranian political economy.

Factors Contributing to Emergence of Welfare States

Cultural Changes

When of the most vividly discussed questions concerning welfare states is what the primary reason for their emergence is. Some political scientists claim that welfare states are a result of changing social values norms. In other words, earlier governments failed to create a basic safety net because nobody believed it was the responsibility of the government.⁶ Earlier societies believed that caring for the vulnerable populations was the responsibility of churches and other charitable organizations.⁷

However, during World War II, the state supported the wellbeing of the citizens using rationing, price control, rent restriction, and subsidies.⁸ After the war, people realized the efficiency of some of the practices and their benefits for society. At the same time, before the war, it was generally accepted that poor people are to blame for their state. However, the war demonstrated that there were many people who were not responsible for their misfortune, which implies that their state is society’s fault.⁹ Therefore, the idea emerged that the care for the vulnerable populations should be compulsory and fulfilled by the state.

Another concept central for the followers of the cultural change theory is the idea of solidarity. According to Marshall, solidarity means the protection of one class from dangers that threaten that class alone.¹⁰ Such ideas were first documented in the early 20^th century in speeches by Millerand, who promoted the idea that the elderly have paid their duties and have the right to be protected.¹¹

In modern literature, the idea is still prevalent as Jennings promotes that in the age of the crisis of welfare states, people should remember about solidarity between generations and other classes to protect the current policies.¹² However, even though the idea of cultural change is valid, its explanatory abilities are limited.

Industrial Capitalism

Some scientists explain the emergence of welfare states as a natural reaction to industrial capitalism. Before capitalism, society was agrarian, which implies that people lived in large families. However, industrialization led to people becoming more nuclear, which shifted their role as supporters for the vulnerable populations to the government.¹³ Marxists believe that welfare states were a reaction of capitalists to the growing poverty and society’s discontent with this fact.¹⁴

Others believe that the matter is the result of actions socialists against capitalists.¹⁵ Finally, some scientists believe that capitalism was the central reason for the appearance of welfare states; however, the reasons are more complex rather than just defending or opposing the regime.¹⁶ Even though capitalism has its impact on the emergence of welfare states, the matter seems to be overly complex to be explained only by industrialization.

Mobilization and Political Action

The third theory that aims at explaining the matter of interest focuses on the actors rather than abstract notions and generalizations. The supporters of this theory believe that these actors are groups of people, which claim to represent economic classes, such as trade and labor unions.¹⁷ The theory is beneficial for explaining the differences in welfare state regimes, as there is no guarantee that such groups would emerge or they would have the same powers or structures in different societies.¹⁸

According to the theory, the emergence of welfare states is the result of political reaction to the rivalry between different classes, which may also vary depending on societies’ beliefs and presumptions.¹⁹ The classes unite in coalitions and have varying demands, which results in three different types of welfare capitalism.²⁰ While the theory seems well-rounded, there is another approach that provides a comprehensive explanation of the emergence of welfare states.

International Learning

The final theory adds the understanding that welfare states do not emerge in a political vacuum. In other words, representatives of different societies may learn from one another through various forms of interactions, which impacts the kind of emerging welfare states.²¹ It is vital to note that the theory does not believe that younger welfare states borrow systems from older states. The approach implies that the process of borrowing elements and practices is continuous and bilateral due to the complexity of international relationships.²² Even though the theory cannot explain the emergence of welfare states entirely, it adds to its understanding considerably.

The Role of Worldviews

As stated above, the form of emerging welfare states is highly dependent on ideologies and worldviews prevalent in society. For instance, supporters of the Marxist theory believe that the working class has supreme power over other classes.²³ Marxism relies on two major assumptions, which are that all changes are progressive and that the dialectal power of classes will end.²⁴ Such a worldview leads to the idea that there should be no compromise between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, which will lead to open conflicts between classes and revolutions.²⁵

The most famous of these revolutions is the one led by Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov (Lenin) in Russia, which ended in the formation of the regime in which the working class became the most privileged one.²⁶ The Judo-Christian worldview is led by the idea of personal sacrifice says that people should “go and sell all your possessions and give to the poor and you will have treasure in Heaven.”²⁷ This implies that societies with Christian worldviews are more likely to compromise and subdue to the dominant class.²⁸ In summary, the prevailing worldview has a critical role in the formation of the welfare state.

Iranian Ideology on Political Economy

In order to appreciate how prevailing worldviews affect the political economy, it is beneficial to discuss the matter using specific examples. In Iran, the dominant worldview is an Islamic extremist ideology supported by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC).²⁹

According to the worldview, the central mission of the Islamic leaders is to spread the ideology and clear the world from people adherent to a different faith. With this in mind, the political regime uses its economic potential to support a nuclear program and promote threatening behavior to its neighbors.³⁰ Instead of using its resources on building a more stable, secure, and prosperous society, Iran spent $16 billion propping up the Assad regime and supporting its other partners in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen. Moreover, it provided over $800 million a year to different terror groups.³¹

As a result, the country suffers from a lack of open markets, regulatory efficiency, and corruption.³² Iran is an excellent example of how the value system affects government spending and the distribution of wealth. The repression of citizens is supported by the prevalent worldview, which implies that the development of a welfare state in Iran is problematic according to all the reviewed theories.

Conclusion

The emergence of welfare states is a complex matter, which should be explained from various viewpoints. First, cultural changes are one of the central driving forces of the process since, after World War II, people accepted the responsibility of the poor and misfortunate. Second, industrial capitalism also plays a central role in the formation of welfare states as people move from rural areas to cities, and families become more nuclear. Third, the appearance of welfare states can be explained by the mobilization of groups representing economic classes and political reactions to their activities.

Finally, international learning also impacts the emergence of welfare states, as societies may borrow ideas from one another. At the same time, prevailing worldviews have a central role in the formation of welfare states and political economy in general, which is illustrated by Iranian example. While all the described theories have some explanatory abilities, to is vital to acquire a complex approach to the matter to appreciate all the different reasons for the matter.

Bibliography

Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs. “Comprehensive Iran Fact Sheet.” US Department of State. Web.

Dickovick, Tyler J. and Jonathan Eastwood. Comparative Politics: Integrating Theories, Methods, and Cases. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2019. ISBN: 9780190854867.

Dickovick, Tyler J. and Jonathan Eastwood. Comparative Politics: Classic and Contemporary Readings. 1st ed., New York: Oxford University Press, 2017. ISBN: 9780199730957.

Goodin, Robert E. Reasons for welfare: The political theory of the welfare state. Princeton University Press, 1988.

Jennings, Bruce. “Solidarity and Care Coming of Age: New Reasons in the Politics of Social Welfare Policy.” Hastings Center Report 48 (2018): S19-S24.

Martin, Glenn. Prevailing Worldviews of Western Society since 1500. Newton: Triangle Publishing, 2006. ISBN: 9781931283168.

Marshall, T. H. “The Welfare State: A Sociological Interpretation.” European Journal of Sociology 2, no. 2 (1961): 284-300.

Miller, Terry, Kim R. Holmes, and Edwin J. Feulner. 2013 Index of Economic Freedom. Washington: The Heritage Foundation, 2013.

Salsman, Richard M. “Holy Scripture and the Welfare State.” Forbes, 2011. Web.

Footnotes

Tyler J. Dickovick and Jonathan Eastwood, Comparative Politics: Integrating Theories, Methods, and Cases, 3rd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2019), 86.
Robert E. Goodin, Reasons for welfare: The political theory of the welfare state, (Princeton University Press, 1988), 11.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Dickovick and Eastwood, Comparative Politics: Integrating Theories, 86.
Ibid, 88.
Ibid.
T.H. Marshall, “The Welfare State: A Sociological Interpretation,” European Journal of Sociology 2, no. 2 (1961): 288.
Ibid, 296.
Ibid, 297.
Ibid, 296.
Bruce Jennings, “Solidarity and Care Coming of Age: New Reasons in the Politics of Social Welfare Policy,” Hastings Center Report 48 (2018): S22-S23.
Dickovick and Eastwood, Comparative Politics: Integrating Theories, 89.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid, 90.
Ibid, 91-92.
Tyler J. Dickovick and Jonathan Eastwood, Comparative Politics: Classic and Contemporary Readings, 1st ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017): 67.
Dickovick and Eastwood, Comparative Politics: Integrating Theories, 90.
Dickovick and Eastwood, Comparative Politics: Classic and Contemporary Readings, 65-69.
Dickovick and Eastwood, Comparative Politics: Integrating Theories, 93.
Ibid, 93-94.
Glenn Martin, Prevailing Worldviews of Western Society since 1500 (Newton: Triangle Publishing, 2006), chapter 9.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Mark 10:21.
Richard M. Salsman, “Holy Scripture and the Welfare State,” Forbes, 2011. Web.
Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs, “Comprehensive Iran Fact Sheet.” US Department of State. 2020. Web.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Terry Miller, Kim R. Holmes, and Edwin J. Feulner, 2013 Index of Economic Freedom (Washington: The Heritage Foundation, 2013), 249-250.

Click Here To Order Now!