Six Globalisation and welfare: a meso-level analysis
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Chris Holden
Abstract
Globalisation and its potential impact upon welfare states has been debated frequently in recent years. The core of this debate has been about the extent to which changes in the world market have placed new constraints on national governments in terms of the economic and social policies they may implement. Deterministic claims that globalisation effectively robs governments of policy autonomy, spelling the end of social democratic arrangements based on closed national economies, have been countered by those arguing that the globalisation of the world economy has been exaggerated, or that states retain substantial room for manoeuvre. This is an important debate that is briefly surveyed in the first section of this chapter. However, what most of these accounts have in common is that they are focused at the level of the nation state and the impact upon it of the world market in general. This chapter shows how debates about welfare and globalisation may be focused at other levels of analysis, concentrating particularly on a meso-level of analysis. The framework developed by Ruigrok and van Tulder (1995) is adapted to an analysis of the relationship between internationalised private providers of long-term care operating in the UK and three other key actors: the state, staff and unions, and older people themselves. The chapter contests deterministic claims about the loss of state power by concluding that the state is the key actor in shaping the long-term care sector. However, the outcome of state policies is likely to be a trend towards greater concentration and internationalisation in the sector, an outcome in the long-term interests of those providers that are already large and internationalised.
Abstract
Globalisation and its potential impact upon welfare states has been debated frequently in recent years. The core of this debate has been about the extent to which changes in the world market have placed new constraints on national governments in terms of the economic and social policies they may implement. Deterministic claims that globalisation effectively robs governments of policy autonomy, spelling the end of social democratic arrangements based on closed national economies, have been countered by those arguing that the globalisation of the world economy has been exaggerated, or that states retain substantial room for manoeuvre. This is an important debate that is briefly surveyed in the first section of this chapter. However, what most of these accounts have in common is that they are focused at the level of the nation state and the impact upon it of the world market in general. This chapter shows how debates about welfare and globalisation may be focused at other levels of analysis, concentrating particularly on a meso-level of analysis. The framework developed by Ruigrok and van Tulder (1995) is adapted to an analysis of the relationship between internationalised private providers of long-term care operating in the UK and three other key actors: the state, staff and unions, and older people themselves. The chapter contests deterministic claims about the loss of state power by concluding that the state is the key actor in shaping the long-term care sector. However, the outcome of state policies is likely to be a trend towards greater concentration and internationalisation in the sector, an outcome in the long-term interests of those providers that are already large and internationalised.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Notes on contributors v
- The year in social policy 1
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UK developments
- Modernising primary healthcare in England: the role of Primary Care Groups and Trusts 15
- Devolution in England: coping with post-industrial industrial regions – issues of territorial inequality 37
- Reconstituting social policy: the case of Northern Ireland 57
- ‘Revolutionising’ care for people with learning difficulties? The Labour government’s Learning Disabilities Strategy 85
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International developments
- Globalisation and welfare: a meso-level analysis 107
- The ‘anti-globalisation’ movement and its implications for social policy 127
- Migration policy in Europe: contradictions and continuities 151
- The European Union’s social policy focus: from labour to welfare and constitutionalised rights? 171
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Conceptual developments
- The politics and economics of disciplining an inclusive and exclusive society 199
- Green social welfare: an investigation into political attitudes towards ecological critiques and prescriptions concerning the welfare state 225
- Using social capital in the policy context: challenging the orthodoxy 249
- Participation and social policy: transformation, liberation or regulation? 265
- Index 291
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents iii
- Notes on contributors v
- The year in social policy 1
-
UK developments
- Modernising primary healthcare in England: the role of Primary Care Groups and Trusts 15
- Devolution in England: coping with post-industrial industrial regions – issues of territorial inequality 37
- Reconstituting social policy: the case of Northern Ireland 57
- ‘Revolutionising’ care for people with learning difficulties? The Labour government’s Learning Disabilities Strategy 85
-
International developments
- Globalisation and welfare: a meso-level analysis 107
- The ‘anti-globalisation’ movement and its implications for social policy 127
- Migration policy in Europe: contradictions and continuities 151
- The European Union’s social policy focus: from labour to welfare and constitutionalised rights? 171
-
Conceptual developments
- The politics and economics of disciplining an inclusive and exclusive society 199
- Green social welfare: an investigation into political attitudes towards ecological critiques and prescriptions concerning the welfare state 225
- Using social capital in the policy context: challenging the orthodoxy 249
- Participation and social policy: transformation, liberation or regulation? 265
- Index 291
