Modern Social Politics in Britain and Sweden

Modern Social Politics in Britain and Sweden
Author: Hugh Heclo
Publisher:
Total Pages: 382
Release: 2010
Genre: Political Science
ISBN:

Modern Social Politics in Britain and Sweden was the winner of the 1974 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Book Award for the best book published in the United States on government, politics, or international affairs. In this book, Heclo analyzes the history of income maintanence policies in Britain and Sweden--and the fundamental questions that have been raised in the past one hundred years in the wake of these policies--using sharp political analysis, comparative method, historical research and political theory.

Modern Social Politics in Britain and Sweden

Modern Social Politics in Britain and Sweden
Author: Hugh Heclo
Publisher: ECPR Press
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2024-10-31
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1910259616

Modern Social Politics in Britain and Sweden was the winner of the 1974 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Book Award for the best book published in the United States on government, politics, or international affairs. “[Heclo] painstakingly analyses the evolution of income maintenance policies over the past 100 years in Britain and Sweden in an effort to explain why these policies evolved as they did. He thus poses a question of fundamental importance to both policy and political science and he produces an answer which is neither obvious nor dramatic but which is original, discriminating, and persuasive. His book is an unusually judicious combination of political theory, historical research, comparative method, and policy analysis. And not to be overlooked is the fact that all this is expressed in a crisp, literate prose style, of the sort which has unfortunately become, somewhat rare in our profession. Modern Social Politics represents a major contribution to the discipline on not one but several fronts and stands as a model of how political scientists can tease out of history answers to the question: why?” Samuel P. Huntington, Chairman of the Award Committee “I only wish I had [this book] at my disposal when I was lecturing on comparative welfare states as a visiting professor…. [Heclo] has done his work thoroughly, delving equally into the British records (of which I have some knowledge) and into the Swedish records (where I have none). I can only assume that he is bilingual, a great advantage in a work of this kind; he has put this facility to excellent use.” Edwin, Lord Samuel, Journal of Economic Literature “This book is an important and significant contribution to our understanding of the politics of income maintenance policies on a cross-national basis, and it provides a fascinating study of the impact of political culture on the policymaking process.... A valuable contribution to all students of European politics and to students of comparative public policy.“ Perspective

Bringing the State Back In

Bringing the State Back In
Author: Social Science Research Council (U.S.). Committee on States and Social Structures
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 406
Release: 1985-09-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780521313131

Papers from a conference held at Mount Kisco, N.Y., Feb. 1982, sponsored by the Committee on States and Social Structures, the Joint Committee on Latin American Studies, and the Joint Committee on Western European Studies of the Social Science Research Council. Includes bibliographies and index.

War, Revenue, and State Building

War, Revenue, and State Building
Author: Sheldon Pollack
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Total Pages: 337
Release: 2011-03-15
Genre: History
ISBN: 0801457904

In a relatively short time, the American state developed from a weak, highly decentralized confederation composed of thirteen former English colonies into the foremost global superpower. This remarkable institutional transformation would not have been possible without the revenue raised by a particularly efficient system of public finance, first crafted during the Civil War and then resurrected and perfected in the early twentieth century. That revenue financed America's participation in two global wars as well as the building of a modern system of social welfare programs.Sheldon D. Pollack shows how war, revenue, and institutional development are inextricably linked, no less in the United States than in Europe and in the developing states of the Third World. He delineates the mechanisms of political development and reveals to us the ways in which the United States, too, once was and still may be a "developing nation." Without revenue, states cannot maintain political institutions, undergo development, or exert sovereignty over their territory. Rulers and their functionaries wield the coercive powers of the state to extract that revenue from the population under their control. From this perspective, the state is seen as a highly efficient machine for extracting societal revenue that is used by the state to sustain itself.War, Revenue, and State Building traces the sources of public revenue available to the American state at specific junctures of its history (in particular, during times of war), the revenue strategies pursued by its political leaders in response to these factors, and the consequential impact of those strategies on the development of the American state.

The Oxford Handbook of Modern British Political History, 1800-2000

The Oxford Handbook of Modern British Political History, 1800-2000
Author: David Brown
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 717
Release: 2018-03-29
Genre: History
ISBN: 0191024279

The two centuries after 1800 witnessed a series of sweeping changes in the way in which Britain was governed, the duties of the state, and its role in the wider world. Powerful processes - from the development of democracy, the changing nature of the social contract, war, and economic dislocation - have challenged, and at times threatened to overwhelm, both governors and governed. Such shifts have also presented challenges to the historians who have researched and written about Britain's past politics. This Handbook shows the ways in which political historians have responded to these challenges, providing a snapshot of a field which has long been at the forefront of conceptual and methodological innovation within historical studies. It comprises thirty-three thematic essays by leading and emerging scholars in the field. Collectively, these essays assess and rethink the nature of modern British political history itself and suggest avenues and questions for future research. The Oxford Handbook of Modern British Political History thus provides a unique resource for those who wish to understand Britain's political past and a thought-provoking 'long view' for those interested in current political challenges.

Bringing the State Back In

Bringing the State Back In
Author: Peter B. Evans
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 488
Release: 1985-09-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1107717132

Until recently, dominant theoretical paradigms in the comparative social sciences did not highlight states as organizational structures or as potentially autonomous actors. Indeed, the term 'state' was rarely used. Current work, however, increasingly views the state as an agent which, although influenced by the society that surrounds it, also shapes social and political processes. The contributors to this volume, which includes some of the best recent interdisciplinary scholarship on states in relation to social structures, make use of theoretically engaged comparative and historical investigations to provide improved conceptualizations of states and how they operate. Each of the book's major parts presents a related set of analytical issues about modern states, which are explored in the context of a wide range of times and places, both contemporary and historical, and in developing and advanced-industrial nations. The first part examines state strategies in newly developing countries. The second part analyzes war making and state making in early modern Europe, and discusses states in relation to the post-World War II international economy. The third part pursues new insights into how states influence political cleavages and collective action. In the final chapter, the editors bring together the questions raised by the contributors and suggest tentative conclusions that emerge from an overview of all the articles. As a programmatic work that proposes new directions for the analysis of modern states, the volume will appeal to a wide range of teachers and students of political science, political economy, sociology, history, and anthropology.

Social Democracy in Capitalist Society (Routledge Revivals)

Social Democracy in Capitalist Society (Routledge Revivals)
Author: Richard Scase
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 114
Release: 2016-02-05
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1317234413

First published in 1977. This book considers the nature of industrial society, contemporary capitalism and the impact of political ideas on social structure. These ideas are discussed by reference to the impact of social democracy on the structure of capitalist society in a comparative analysis of Britain and Sweden — including an interview survey of industrial workers socio-political attitudes. The study is concluded by a general discussion of the role of social democracy in capitalist society. It is argued that the development of social democracy generates ‘strains’ which, in the long term, question the legitimacy of capitalism among industrial manual workers.

Politics in Europe

Politics in Europe
Author: M. Donald Hancock
Publisher: CQ Press
Total Pages: 810
Release: 2018-05-09
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 150639910X

Politics in Europe, Seventh Edition introduces students to the power of the European Union as well as seven political systems—the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Russia, Poland—within a common analytical framework that enables students to conduct both single-case and cross-national analysis. Each case addresses the most relevant questions of comparative political analysis: who governs, on behalf of what values, with the collaboration of what groups, in the face of what kind of opposition, and with what socioeconomic and political consequences? Packed with captivating photos and robust country descriptions from regional specialists, the Seventh Edition enables students to think critically about these questions and make meaningful cross-national comparisons.

The Political Power of Bad Ideas

The Political Power of Bad Ideas
Author: Mark Lawrence Schrad
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 315
Release: 2010-03-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0199742359

In The Political Power of Bad Ideas, Mark Schrad uses one of the greatest oddities of modern history--the broad diffusion throughout the Western world of alcohol-control legislation in the early twentieth century--to make a powerful argument about how bad policy ideas achieve international success. His could an idea that was widely recognized by experts as bad before adoption, and which ultimately failed everywhere, come to be adopted throughout the world? To answer the question, Schrad utilizes an institutionalist approach and focuses in particular on the United States, Sweden, and Russia/the USSR. Conventional wisdom, based largely on the U.S. experience, blames evangelical zealots for the success of the temperance movement. Yet as Schrad shows, ten countries, along with numerous colonial possessions, enacted prohibition laws. In virtually every case, the consequences were disastrous, and in every country the law was ultimately repealed. Schrad concentrates on the dynamic interaction of ideas and political institutions, tracing the process through which concepts of dubious merit gain momentum and achieve credibility as they wend their way through institutional structures. He also shows that national policy and institutional environments count: the policy may have been broadly adopted, but countries dealt with the issue in different ways. While The Political Power of Bad Ideas focuses on one legendary episode, its argument about how and why bad policies achieve legitimacy applies far more broadly. It also extends beyond the simplistic notion that "ideas matter" to show how they influence institutional contexts and interact with a nation's political actors, institutions, and policy dynamics.

A Companion to Modern European History

A Companion to Modern European History
Author: Martin Pugh
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 434
Release: 1997-10-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 0631192182

Its sixteen thematic chapters - each written by an expert in the field - cover social and economic developments, the rise and fall of all the major political movements as well as the immense changes generated by war and international diplomacy across Europe.