Conservative welfare states and the challenge of universal citizenship

Résumé du document

When the newly unified Germany implemented in 1883 the first health insurance system, it paved the way for further moves towards extensive provision of public welfare for workers, but it also introduced a substantive change concerning the relationship between the state and the citizens. Basically the role of the state started to be understood and discussed in terms of social rights and citizenship. As pointed by Pierson (2004, 103), "public welfare became a benefit of full citizenship". If the industrial and capitalist countries developed throughout the 20th century different forms and schemes of welfare state (Esping-Andersen 1999; Pierson 2004), the success and the legitimacy of social welfare became increasingly important over time whatever the country and the scope of state intervention. Over the past thirty years many scholars and international organizations have however described the rising financial and demographic difficulties of welfare states (O'Connor 1973 and World Bank 2004 both in Pierson 2004).
Although Esping-Anderson (1999) only states in his typology the universality of the Social Democratic model, the social security systems of Conservative welfare states also rely on this principle: beyond the features of etatism, corporatism and familialism, each citizen has the right and the possibility to access social benefits. I will thus focus on the challenge that conservative welfare states such as France and Germany are facing concerning the universality of access to welfare security on the basis of social citizenship.

Extraits

[...] My position, in this respect, is that the conservative welfare states shouldn't give up the principle of universal citizenship. Policy choices are more ideological than based on the current state of affairs, and whatever the circumstances, the political speeches of pragmatism and necessity often prevail on public debates. As regards the economic sustainability of conservative welfare states, other factors such as growth and employment have to be reckoned with (Boyer 2000, Pierson 2004). Basically the issue of social citizenship raises above all the question of a new social contract -whether the individuals are responsible for their situation and deserve it or whether the state has the duty through economic and political choices to ensure their security. [...]

[...] Starting from this theoretical basis, many scholars have developed fierce critics of welfare state benefits and social citizenship. The first idea is the development of a dependency culture, that is to say the fact that the citizens of a welfare state are less prone to work. According to Daniel Bell (1979 quoted by Heymerick 1999), public welfare have provoked the decline of work ethic because it broke the link between income and work: while hedonism and material comfort were becoming dominant in our contemporary society, the individuals lost the moral obligation to go working and some basic values such as hard work and entrepreneurship. [...]

[...] Consequently, conservative welfare states such as France and Germany should innovate and find their own way without falling into the pitfall of liberal policies that would dismiss the historical mission of welfare states. If they should keep on providing welfare benefits on the basis of social citizenship, the status-quo is obviously not something desirable. In this respect I truly believe that conservative welfare states have to find out their own way of adaptation within the continuously changing economic and political world order. [...]

[...] It is basically a legal status that defines mutual rights and obligations between the individuals and the state on the basis of a common identity. If the civic and political rights struggles of the 18th and 19th centuries were dedicated to protect the individuals from state abuses and arbitrary politics, the emergence of social rights over 20th century was definitely the political and institutional recognition of social expectations. The state was expected to ensure the individual autonomy and well being of its citizens by providing them enough opportunities and resources so that they can meet the basic needs of their daily life. [...]

[...] Hemerijck, Anton (1999) ‘Prospects for Inclusive Social Citizenship in an Age of Structural Inactivity'. Working Paper 99/1. Max Planck Institute for the Study of societies. Jorgen, Gael Modersen and Per.H.Jensen (2002) ‘Changing Labour Markets, Welfare policies, and Citizenship: and Introduction' in Changing Labour Markets, Welfare policies, and Citizenship by Jorgen, Gael Modersen and Per.H.Jensen. Mendez, Augustin Jose (2002) foundations for social rights: a deliberative democratic approach'. Arena Working paper WP 02/32. University of Oslo Pierson, Christopher (1998) Beyond the Welfare State. The New Political Economy of Welfare. [...]