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Privatisation and New Modes of State Intervention: The Long-Term Care Programme in Israel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2000

MIMI AJZENSTADT  and
ZEEV ROSENHEK
MIMI AJZENSTADT
Affiliation:
Baerwald School of Social Work and Institute of Criminology, Faculty of Law, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, 91905, Israel
ZEEV ROSENHEK
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology and Anthropology, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mt. Scopus, Jerusalem, 91905, Israel
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Abstract

This article analyses the formulation and implementation of a relatively new statutory programme of care services for dependent elderly people in Israel, which has as a basic characteristic the supply of services by non-state agencies. The analysis serves as a basis for an exploration of the effects of privatisation and the emergence of quasi-markets upon the functioning of the welfare state both as a benefits provider and as a major employer. In contrast to the perspectives that consider privatisation as leading to the weakening of the state in the welfare domain, we argue that through the transfer of services supplied by non-state agencies the state protects itself from demands and pressures from clients, while maintaining its control and regulation capabilities. This process decreases the state's accountability towards its citizens, enhancing in turn its autonomy. Privatisation policies do not imply, therefore, the dissolution of the welfare state, but rather the emergence of a new mode of state intervention.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Social Policy , Volume 29 , Issue 2 , April 2000 , pp. 247 - 262
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

Authors' names appear in alphabetical order. We would like to thank John Gal, Daniel Maman, Michael Shalev and Shlomo Ketko for their comments on earlier versions of the article. Special thanks are due to Abraham Doron for his comments and for providing us with valuable information and records.