Is the future American? Or, can left politics preserve European welfare States from Erosion through growing ‘racial’ diversity? P. Taylor-Gooby

Résumé du document

This text was written by P. Taylor-Gooby in 2005. It is about the erosion of European welfare States which are challenged by a growing ethnic diversity. In this text, the author tries to contradict the idea that the absence of welfare states would result from a large racial diversity. In his mind, left politics should be taken into consideration to explain social spending. He also compares Europe and the USA to understand these differences and to take examples. In my opinion, this text is well-written; the arguments are clearly presented and easy to understand. Furthermore, the author draws on statistics and empirical studies in order his work more rigorous.

In the first part, the author identifies the different challenges European welfare states have to face: the globalization of the economy (it becomes necessary for governments to invest in areas which contribute to the economic production), the transition to oriented-services economy which make the growth less exponential, the erosion of national governments with the EU construction. Taylor-Gooby also argues that European societies are more and more individualistic (lack of social cohesion) even if we can notice that welfare states increase social spending.

Extraits

[...] Left wing cannot solve all the problems because it is for welfare states. Most European right political parties have been converted to welfare states and Left does not have monopoly of welfare states as it does not have solutions to get out of this crisis. References Taylor-Gooby, P. (2005). 'Is the future American? Or can left politics preserve European welfare states from erosion through growing ?Racial? diversity?? Journal of Social Policy 34 part 4 (October): 661-672. [...]

[...] The fourth part is quite interesting because the author bases his work on statistical analysis to explain his theory about the role played by left wing in order to promote welfare states. First, he refuses the idea that fractionalization is a real threat to welfare states because most of the welfare states' spending are made horizontally. Even if the most people see welfare states are vertically redistributive, it is only a little share of their expenditure. However welfare states do need a sense of collectivity. [...]

[...] Another critic we can make is that Left wing is not the only factor of welfare states' promotion. Indeed, welfare states have developed in countries where left was not in power (even if it is obvious that left was more involved than right wing in this process). For example, in France, social security policy (“sécurité sociale”) was implemented under coalition governments comprising right wing. Finally, I think that the author does not the answer the question of current welfare states' crisis which has been getting worse with the economic crisis started in 2008. [...]

[...] Furthermore, the author draws on statistics and empirical studies in order his work more rigorous. In the first part, the author identifies the different challenges European welfare states have to face: the globalization of the economy (it becomes necessary for governments to invest in areas which contribute to the economic production), the transition to oriented-services economy which make the growth less exponential, the erosion of national governments with the EU construction. Taylor-Gooby also argues that European societies are more and more individualistic (lack of social cohesion) even if we can notice that welfare states increase social spending. [...]

[...] First of all, I find it important to remind the previous theories elaborated to show that ethnical diversity generates less social cohesion and less state's spending. Furthermore, I think the author brilliantly deconstructs this theory to show that the ‘left in power' variable is also essential to understand differences between European welfare states and the USA. However, I think we can make a number of critics to his demonstration. Firstly, I think the author could take other aspect into consideration to explain why European countries have welfare regimes. Indeed, I think that cultural differences between the USA and Europe are important to understand structural divergences. [...]