Social Welfare Reform: Comparative Perspectives on Europe and the United States
Author(s)
Bordas, Maria
Abstract
The effects of American approaches to welfare are compared with the effects of privatization and other recent changes in European welfare systems. European theories traditionally have held that the provision of welfare services is a state responsibility. While European governments continue to protect welfare services from economic forces, recent US approaches have emphasized incorporating market principles in welfare programs. It is debated in the European literature whether American public administration has established a new relationship between public and private sectors and whether such an approach can be applied to law-governed, Continental European systems. The pressing question in Western Europe is whether law-governed European public administration can provide adequate welfare services and whether legal regulations can guarantee that such services will be maintained in the manner outlined by law.
