Welfare spending in an era of globalization: the North-South divide
Welfare spending in an era of globalization: the North-South divide
This paper examines the assertion that economic globalization has led to the decline of welfare spending in recent decades. Although it is often argued that the increasing intensity of globalization has led to such a decline in the industrialized states, the paper finds that there has been little, if any, downturn in either levels of state expenditure in general or in levels of welfare spending in particular. However, the experience of the developing states has been rather different. In their case, the last few decades indicate that stagnation or a decline in welfare spending has occurred, particularly during the period of structural adjustment implementation. It is argued that the OECD countries still manage to provide a high level of social welfare to their populations that closely resembles the compensatory state model. In contradistinction, many of the states in the South have struggled to maintain their levels of social expenditure and therefore most resemble Cerny's competitive state model. In order to explain these two divergent outcomes, the paper examines the way in which the behaviour of certain key international financial actors (investors, multinational companies, international financial institutions) differs with regard to these two sets of countries.
capital taxation, compensatory state, competitive state, developing states, globalization, industrialized countries, industrializing states, welfare spending
27-50
Glenn, John
d843e423-d1f9-4be5-b667-8e44a42efff2
2009
Glenn, John
d843e423-d1f9-4be5-b667-8e44a42efff2
Glenn, John
(2009)
Welfare spending in an era of globalization: the North-South divide.
International Relations, 23 (1), .
(doi:10.1177/0047117808100608).
Abstract
This paper examines the assertion that economic globalization has led to the decline of welfare spending in recent decades. Although it is often argued that the increasing intensity of globalization has led to such a decline in the industrialized states, the paper finds that there has been little, if any, downturn in either levels of state expenditure in general or in levels of welfare spending in particular. However, the experience of the developing states has been rather different. In their case, the last few decades indicate that stagnation or a decline in welfare spending has occurred, particularly during the period of structural adjustment implementation. It is argued that the OECD countries still manage to provide a high level of social welfare to their populations that closely resembles the compensatory state model. In contradistinction, many of the states in the South have struggled to maintain their levels of social expenditure and therefore most resemble Cerny's competitive state model. In order to explain these two divergent outcomes, the paper examines the way in which the behaviour of certain key international financial actors (investors, multinational companies, international financial institutions) differs with regard to these two sets of countries.
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Published date: 2009
Keywords:
capital taxation, compensatory state, competitive state, developing states, globalization, industrialized countries, industrializing states, welfare spending
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Local EPrints ID: 47462
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/47462
ISSN: 0047-1178
PURE UUID: cb3871f5-2718-4015-b0ec-ef0dc431b97d
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Date deposited: 21 May 2009
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 02:55
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