Globalization and the Future of the Welfare State

Extract

Globalization and the Future of the Welfare State. Edited by Miguel Glatzer and Dietrich Rueschemeyer. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2005. 288p. $29.95.

Is globalization a causal factor in the development of welfare states? If globalization does matter, does it constrain or facilitate the creation and expansion of social programs? If globalization has a positive effect on welfare states, which conditions prevent or enable increases in social spending and broadening of coverage? These questions are the focus of Miguel Glatzer and Dietrich Rueschemeyer's edited volume. These editors, who coauthored the introduction and conclusion, carefully selected studies by a group of scholars who are all both experts in the study of welfare states and masters of a specific geographic region or country. The studies include Western Europe (by John D. Stephens), Eastern Europe (Mitchell A. Orenstein and Martine R. Haas), Southern Europe (Miguel Glatzer), Latin America (Evelyne Huber), Russia (Linda J. Cook), and South Korea (Ho Keun Song and Kyung Zoon Hong). In addition to these regional or country case studies, there is a variable-oriented chapter by Geoffrey Garrett and David Nickerson that explores correlations between globalization and social spending across a large number of countries. Since they provided the authors with a limited common framework, giving them sufficient room to explore their own ideas, the editors achieved a good balance between coherence and diversity. All the chapters are of high quality, and each provides a particular insight into the relationship between globalization and welfare state development.