POLS 3170 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Economic Stagnation, Ideal Type, Decommodification
Document Summary
Week 2: theoretical explanations of the welfare state: The widely used approaches to explain the way in which official decision makers make public policy decisions are; The y cannot explain why government has chosen a particular alternative among many alternatives. We need to rely on theories that can identify the independent variables (factors and forces that shape and influence the decision-making. 1-liberal perspective: unit of analysis (levels of economic development). Industrialization, urbanization, the disintegration of traditional way of social protection. Tackling the social and demographic implications of industrialization. Main focus is on overall government expenditure (not how it is spent) It cannot explain the presence of residual social programs in affluent societies. 2- weberian perspective: -state-centred / institutionalism: unit of analysis (state and institutional structures) The role of bureaucrats in translating public/national interest into public policy. State structures: centralization/decentralization play crucial role in shaping governments" responses to socioeconomic development.