Translating social policy ideas: The Beveridge report, transnational diffusion, andpost‐warwelfare state development in Canada, Denmark, and France

Abstract

In the history of social policy in advanced industrial societies, the 1942 Beveridge Report stands as one of the most influential government‐sponsored reports ever published. In this article, we explore how the principles and the policy proposals formulated in the report diffused to other countries and how domestic actors adapted them to their local context through policy translation processes. The social policy ideas that Beveridge put forward in his 1942 report influenced post‐war policy debates in ways that varied greatly from country to country. To illustrate this claim, we analyse the reception and policy impact of this report over time in three different welfare states: Canada, Denmark, and France. This comparison shows how Beveridge's ideas influenced policy debates in different countries through translation processes that adapted these ideas to each country's institutional and political context.

War and the adoption of family allowances

“…Hence, the introduction of other social protection schemes such as health insurance, old age pensions, unemployment insurance (related to military demobilization and lay-offs in the war industries), and provisions for millions of disabled veterans and the survivors of killed servicemen was a political priority. Third, international platforms, or international organizations (IOs) promoting and supporting policy adoption in this field, had a much greater importance at the time of World War 2 than World War 1 (Béland et al 2022). However, and in line with our theoretical argument, there is ample empirical evidence that the Great War was already an important turning point for state intervention in other family policies, such as child and youth welfare, maternal leave, and child care (e.g.…”

Canadian Public Policy: The State of the Discipline

“…He argues that these policy differences can be attributed to differences in the two provinces' party systems and organization of labour and business, which result in a coordinated market economy and collaborative policy process in Quebec, as compared to a liberal-market-oriented economy and uncoordinated policy process in Ontario. Elsewhere, the effects of local institutional and political/partisan factors in mediating the impact of transnational policy ideas are revealed in discourses and policies for child care (Mahon et al, 2012(Mahon et al, , 2016White, 2017), social security (Béland, Marchildon et al, 2021) and immigration (Triadafilopoulos, 2012).…”

“…There is also attention to the causal role of ideas, discourses and knowledge in the policy process. Scholars have, for example, documented the existence and effects on policy developments of gendered assumptions about childcare work (L. Pasolli, 2015; White and Prentice, 2016; White, 2017) and elder care (Scala et al, 2019), norms of universality in social welfare (Béland et al, 2014, 2019; Béland, Marchildon et al, 2021), paradigms of social assistance in provincial social assistance reforms (Daigneault, 2015), norms of legitimate conjugal (family) relationships on refugee determination, immigration and citizenship policies (Gaucher, 2018), assumptions about what constitutes authoritative knowledge in the regulation of assisted reproduction technologies (Scala, 2019) and the development of many provincial early childhood education and care policies (Prentice and White, 2019), and media framing of biofuels policies (Bognar et al, 2020). These examples show the policy process to be a tug-of-war of rival normative and cognitive policy ideas whose influence is bounded by institutional rules and cultural norms.…”

Introduction: Towards a Sustainable Welfare State

“…Although the origins of modern welfare states can be traced to the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, Beveridge’s report on Social Insurance and Allied Services foregrounded what has been described as a period of ‘unprecedented and, at least to some extent, consensual growth in welfare states’ (Pierson et al ., 2014: 3). Setting out to address the five evils of want, disease, squalor, ignorance, and idleness – and prioritising equality, full employment and state intervention to promote welfare for individuals and society – it catalysed ‘a new agenda’ (Béland et al ., 2021) for social policy in Britain that also shaped welfare state development in many other countries. Post the ravages of WW2, the Beveridge report mapped a blueprint to build back a more inclusive and democratic state based on contributory social insurance systems, enhanced age pensions, and universal public services in health and education where citizens would be free from deprivation and need.…”