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This book argues that the dramatic post-1970 rise in international capital mobility has not systematically contributed to the retrenchment of developed welfare states as many claim. Nor has globalization directly reduced the revenue-raising capacities of governments and undercut the political institutions that support the welfare state. Rather, institutional features of the polity and the welfare state determine the extent to which the economic and political pressures associated with globalization produce Welfare state retrenchment.
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Global Capital, Political Institutions, and Policy Change in Developed Welfare States
DUANE SWANK
Cambridge University Press
Global Capital, Political Institutions, and Policy Change in Developed Welfare States This book argues that the dramatic post-1970 rise in international capital mobility has not, as many claim, systematically contributed to the retrenchment of developed welfare states. Nor has globalization directly reduced the revenue-raising capacities of governments and undercut the political institutions that support the welfare state. Rather, institutional features of the polity and the welfare state determine the extent to which the economic and political pressures associated with globalization produce welfare state retrenchment. In systems characterized by inclusive electoral institutions, social corporatist interest representation and policy making, centralized political authority, and universal and social insurance–based program structures, pro–welfare state interests are relatively favored. In nations characterized by majoritarian electoral institutions, pluralist interest representation and policy making, decentralization of policy-making authority, and liberal program structure, the economic and political pressures attendant on globalization are translated into rollbacks of social protection. Consequently, globalization has had the least impact on the large welfare states of Northern Europe and the most effect on the already small welfare states of Anglo nations. Duane Swank is associate professor of political science at Marquette University. He specializes in the international and comparative political economy of advanced capitalist democracies, comparative public policy, and European politics. His articles have appeared in such journals as the American Journal of Political Science, American Political Science Review, Comparative Political Studies, European Journal of Political Research, and Political Studies, as well as numerous edited volumes.
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Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics General Editor Margaret Levi University of Washington, Seattle Associate Editors Robert H. Bates Harvard University Peter Hall Harvard University Stephen Hanson University of Washington, Seattle Peter Lange Duke University Helen Milner Columbia University Frances Rosenbluth Yale University Susan Stokes University of Chicago Sidney Tarrow Cornell University
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