Guns and Butter? Regime Competition and the Welfare State during the Cold War

Obinger, Herbert; Schmitt, Carina

doi:10.1017/s0043887111000025

Cited by 46 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 43 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In order to reap these externalities, states strategically deviate from the policy course adopted by their neighbours. Obinger and Schmitt (), using spending data from 16 Western democracies and five Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON) countries from 1961 to 1989, provide empirical evidence that the welfare state was subject to political regime competition during the Cold War. The expansion of social protection in the Eastern bloc was used as a strategy aimed at increasing mass compliance and stability of authoritarian political regimes and demarcating these regimes from the capitalist West.…”

Section: The State Of the Art: Policy Diffusion And Policy Transfer Imentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Policy Diffusion and Policy Transfer in Comparative Welfare State Research

2012

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

For many years, comparative welfare state research has followed a 'methodological nationalism' in the sense that countries were treated as independent units. Yet the recent 'spatial turn' in comparative politics has also influenced welfare state research. For some years now, the field has been witnessing a growing interest in questions about interdependencies and policy diffusion between countries. In this article, we provide a structured overview of the state of the art in the policy diffusion and transfer literature that deals specifically with social policy. We present and critically evaluate existing theoretical concepts and quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches that enable the analysis of interdependencies between countries. Moreover, we summarize the empirical findings of quantitative and qualitative studies on the diffusion and transfer of social policy, from some pioneering studies to the latest findings. Against this background we point out what we believe to be promising avenues for future research. We focus on five areas: theoretical work on the mechanisms underlying diffusion and transfer; methodological approaches; the impact of domestic institutions and policy characteristics on social policy diffusion and transfer; programme-specific dynamics; and the systematic combination of horizontal and vertical interdependencies.

show abstract

Section: The State Of the Art: Policy Diffusion And Policy Transfer Imentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Open Method of Coordination). Moreover, the welfare state featured prominently in the regime competition that took place between the Western democracies and the Soviet bloc during the Cold War (Obinger and Schmitt ; Petersen ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Policy Diffusion and Policy Transfer in Comparative Welfare State Research

2012

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Did the ideological rivalry between the two superpowers and their respective blocs influence the expansion of the welfare state? A recent study by Obinger and Schmitt (2011) 1950-1966. (1975, 77-9) PRINTED FROM OXFORD SCHOLARSHIP ONLINE (www.oxfordscholarship.com).…”

Section: After Mass Warfare: the Cold War And The Contemporary Warfarmentioning

confidence: 99%

War and Welfare States Before and After 1945

Obinger

Petersen

Schmitt

2018

Oxford Scholarship Online

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The conclusion reports major findings and discusses possible cross-country patterns. It shows that war’s impact on welfare state development can be differentiated into several distinct conclusions, each highlighting specific effects or causal mechanisms. Next, the case study evidence of the long-term effects of war is confirmed with quantitative data. For a sample of eighteen countries (thirteen of which are presented in this volume) war is shown to contribute to a better understanding of several of the phenomena lying at the heart of comparative welfare state research (i.e. social expenditure, benefit generosity, the public–private mix in provision, and the timing of legislation). The impact on outcomes such as income inequality is briefly discussed, along with the impact of the Cold War on welfare state development. Due to changes in warfare and the size of the existing welfare state, the effect of war on welfare state-building has all but disappeared today.

show abstract

“…Under the pressure of revolutionary waves and the resulting formation of non-capitalist regimes spanning from Eastern Europe to East Asia, capitalist states gave significant concessions to the working class in the form of formal and stable jobs, pensions, the right to unionize, and free healthcare and education. In fact, regime competition during the Cold War led to significant welfare expansion on both sides of the Iron Curtain (Obinger and Schmitt, 2011). Of course, differences in terms of the balance of power between capital and labor and financial capacity of the state led to significant international variation of welfare expansion.…”

Section: Paradigmatic Changes In Development Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Neoliberal Dönemde Mülksüzleştirme ve Kalkınma

Gürel¹

2019

Ankara Üniversitesi SBF Dergisi

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Based on a detailed review of the existing literature, this article makes four arguments regarding the dispossessory effects of development projects in the neoliberal era. First, it redefines "accumulation by dispossession" as the state's transfer of lower-class people's small-scale private property or common property over land, water, and other resources to capital through extra-economic and/or economic coercion. In doing so, the paper stresses the need to clearly distinguish the state's deliberate manipulation of the market for dispossessory purposes from the centralization of capital through market competition. Second, it suggests that while the goal of expanding capitalist production shaped dispossessory practices in the era of national developmentalism, the link between production and dispossession has been less direct and relatively weaker in the neoliberal era. Hence, due to the rapid development of labor-saving technology and increasing significance of the real estate sector, capital prioritizes the land and natural resources of the lower-class people over the exploitation of their labor. Third, international development institutions like the World Bank depoliticize development in order to naturalize and legitimize dispossession. Finally, this paper points to the potentials of and challenges to possible alliances of workers' movements and popular struggles against dispossession.

show abstract

Guns and Butter? Regime Competition and the Welfare State during the Cold War

Cited by 46 publications

References 43 publications

Policy Diffusion and Policy Transfer in Comparative Welfare State Research

Policy Diffusion and Policy Transfer in Comparative Welfare State Research

War and Welfare States Before and After 1945

Neoliberal Dönemde Mülksüzleştirme ve Kalkınma

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About