How Does Decentralisation Affect the Welfare State? Territorial Politics and the Welfare State in the UK and US
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2115153 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Scott L Greer (0000-0002-5288-0471, University of Michigan, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 181-201 |
| Publication date | 2010-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Social Policy (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0047-2794 • E-ISSN: 1469-7823 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0047279409990407 |
| OpenAlex | W2140267830 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 27 |
| References cited | 64 |
The relationship between political decentralisation and the welfare state is much studied, and large-scale studies have repeatedly found that decentralised states have less generous welfare states. How do we fit that with other studies that emphasise the potential of decentralisation to raise welfare standards? This article argues that decentralisation, as a variable, is too broad and it is more efficient to focus on the structure of veto players in the central state, intergovernmental relations and intergovernmental finance. Those are the actual mechanisms that connect decentralisation to the welfare states, and they can all vary independently of decentralisation. It uses recent changes in the United States and United Kingdom as examples. The fragmentation and average weakness of the US welfare state is mostly due to a federal government riddled with internal veto points that permits considerable interstate variation and low overall average provision, while tight central control on finances in the UK means that most variation is in the organisation, rather than levels, of social services
Central government · Decentralization · Economic system · Economics · Local government · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Public economics · State (computer science) · Veto · Welfare · Welfare state · Law · Local Government Finance and Decentralization · Political Systems and Governance · Public Administration · Social Policy and Reform Studies
La centralización de la gobernanza territorial en las políticas activas del mercado de trabajo en España durante la Gran Recesión (2011-2016)
Refugee-Run Grassroots Organizations
Who Has the Power? The Role of NPOs in Local Authorities
The State of Nationalism (SoN)
Moments of alignment between devolved political ideology and policy design
Patient mobility within national borders. Drivers and politics of cross-border healthcare agreements in the Spanish decentralized system
Building Evidence for Evidence‐Based Policy Making
Governance transitions’ and minority nationalist parties’ pressure for welfare state change
Dual decentralization in China's transitional economy
Challenging scalar fallacy in state‐wide welfare studies
The Sub-State Politics of Welfare in Italy
Negotiating universalism in India and Latin America
Social spending at the state-level in the neoliberal era
Taking subnational and regional welfare states seriously
Navigating Digital Welfare
The regionalisation of housing policies in Spain
Devolution, social democratic visions and policy reality in Scotland
Investigating the Space of Poverty and Health Care
Arranjo Federativo e Desigualdades em Saúde no Brasil e na Argentina
Effects of Federalism on Social Policies in a Comparative Perspective
Much Beyond the Minimum Why Do Brazilian Municipalities Overallocate Their Own Revenues to Healthcare
Territory and solidarity
Is Welfare Retrenchment Inevitable? Scope and Drivers of Healthcare Reforms in Five Spanish Regions During the Crisis
The National Health Service at a Critical Moment
From National to Sub-National? Exploring the Territorial Dimension of Social Assistance in Italy
Decentralising the Active Welfare State
Welfare Regimes and Global Cities
Yankee Leviathan
Territory, Democracy and Justice
Devolution and social citizenship in the UK
Rich DemocraciesPolitical Economy, Public Policy, and Performance
Democracies
Parting at the Crossroads
Federalism and Democracy in Latin America
Accidental Logics
Territorial Party Politics in Western Europe
Nationalism and Social Policy
The rules of the game
An Essay on Fiscal Federalism
The logic of comparative social Inquiry
The welfare state and equality
Veto Players
Federalism and Territorial Cleavages
Social Democracy and Welfare Capitalism
Fighting Poverty in the US and Europe
Global Capital, Political Institutions, and Policy Change in Developed Welfare States
The Territorial Politics of Welfare
Rich Democracies
Development and Crisis of the Welfare State
The New Politics of the Welfare State
Blair's Britain, 1997–2007
Historical institutionalism in comparative politics
Spain, a Via Media of Welfare Development
Federalism and the Welfare State
Why Welfare States Persist
Welfare States under Pressure
Healthy, wealthy and fair
Pouvoir normatif et protection sociale dans les fédérations multinationales
Citizenship, Diversity, and Pluralism
The Nature of Citizenship in the United States and Great Britain
A Pure Theory of Local Expenditures
Timing and the development of social care services in Europe
A Note on the Nature of Federalism
Decentring Social Policy? Devolution and the Discipline of Social Policy
Bypasses to a social Europe? Lessons from federal experience
Swiss worlds of welfare
Evolution and Devolution
Federalism and Health Care Cost Containment in Comparative Perspective
Social Policy and Social Citizenship
Fragmented Welfare States
Decentralization and the post–war political economy
Federalism and the Politics of Old-Age Care in Germany and the United States
Racing to the Bottom? Provincial Interdependence in the Canadian Federation
Modernising the welfare state
The Expansion of the Public Economy
Politics, Institutions, and Welfare Spending in Industrialized Democracies, 1960-82
Social Democracy, Christian Democracy, Constitutional Structure, and the Welfare State
| Unique citing works | 27 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,69 |
| Citation span | 2010 - 2025 (16) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 27 |