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The Politics of Fragmentation in an Age of Scarcity: A Synthetic View and Critical Analysis of Welfare State Crisis*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 November 2009

Thomas O. Hueglin
Thomas O. Hueglin
Affiliation:
Wilfrid Laurier University
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Abstract

A general perception of crisis at the end of the postwar period of growth has spawned two types of theoretical response: while a conservative theory of overload focusses on ungovernability caused by postmaterialist value change, radical analysis points to the structural contradictions of the welfare and intervention state. This article suggests that the current crisis is characterized by postmaterialist persistence and structural contradictions under the conditions of economic constraint. It examines polarization and potential mobilization of fragmented postindustrial societies in the context of neo-conservative politics, and it suggests a regime of economic dualism and/or corporatism as the most likely outcome.

Résumé

La crise telle que perçue généralement depuis la fin de la période de croissance des années d'après-guerre a suscité deux types d'explication: celle de la théorie conservatrice qui met l'accent sur le phénomène de l'ingouvernabilité et du changement vers des valeurs post-matérialistes, et celle de l'analyse radicale qui fait ressortir les contradictions structurelles de l'interventionnisme d'état et de l'État providence. Le présent article caractérise la crise actuelle à la fois par la persistance des valeurs post-matérialistes et par l'existence de contradictions structurelles inhérentes aux conditions de l'économie. II examine la polarisation sociale et les possibilités de mobilisation au sein des sociétés post-industrielles fragmentées et ce, dans le contexte des politiques néo-conservatrices, et il propose un régime d'économie mixte et/ou de corporatisme comme étant l'ssue la plus vraisembable.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , June 1987 , pp. 235 - 264
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 1987

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