This is the first book to compare the distinctive welfare states of Latin America, East Asia, and Eastern Europe. Stephan Haggard and Robert Kaufman trace the historical origins of social policy in these regions to crucial political changes in the mid-twentieth century, and show how the legacies of these early choices are influencing welfare reform following democratization and globalization.
After World War II, communist regimes in Eastern Europe adopted wide-ranging socialist entitlements while conservative dictatorships in East Asia sharply limited social security but invested in education. In Latin America, where welfare systems were instituted earlier, unequal social-security systems favored formal sector workers and the middle class.
Haggard and Kaufman compare the different welfare paths of the countries in these regions following democratization and the move toward more open economies. Although these transformations generated pressure to reform existing welfare systems, economic performance and welfare legacies exerted a more profound influence. The authors show how exclusionary welfare systems and economic crisis in Latin America created incentives to adopt liberal social-policy reforms, while social entitlements from the communist era limited the scope of liberal reforms in the new democracies of Eastern Europe. In East Asia, high growth and permissive fiscal conditions provided opportunities to broaden social entitlements in the new democracies.
This book highlights the importance of placing the contemporary effects of democratization and globalization into a broader historical context.
Awards and Recognition
- One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2009
Stephan Haggard is the Lawrence and Sallye Krause Professor of Korea-Pacific Studies at the University of California, San Diego. Robert R. Kaufman is professor of political science at Rutgers University.
"While many authors cannot see beyond the borders of their own country, Haggard and Kaufman masterfully compare Latin America, East Asia, and East Europe from a global perspective. These two great scholars analyze urgent contemporary problems, the status and future fate of the welfare state, and the relationship of changes with the creation and development of democracy with remarkable expertise, precision, and human empathy."—János Kornai, professor emeritus, Harvard University and Collegium Budapest
"This ambitious book extends the theoretical framework of the literature on welfare states in the advanced capitalist countries, and situates the experience of these countries in a broader comparative context. Haggard and Kaufman bring out the multifaceted implications of development models and regime types for social policy. Their synthetic account is truly a tour de force and a testimony to the fruitfulness of cross-regional comparison."—Jonas Pontusson, Princeton University
"A masterly analysis of how political interests, economic circumstances, development strategies, and local history have shaped what are surprisingly different versions of the welfare state across the developing world. The authors combine fine-grained country analyses with intelligent use of data, and explain and extend the theory and literature on the modern welfare state. The book is both scholarly and readable."—Nancy Birdsall, president of the Center for Global Development
"This book has no equal in the welfare-state literature, a truly impressive achievement. Haggard and Kaufman combine meticulous scholarship with sophisticated theoretical guidance in this study of welfare state evolution in Latin America, Asia, and East Europe. The book not only fills a huge void in our knowledge, it also compels us to seriously rethink prevailing theory."—Gøsta Esping-Andersen, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona
"A very, very valuable book. Haggard and Kaufman are up to their old tricks—helping establish a new line of investigation in a desperately understudied field. This book will be widely read, heavily cited, and will inspire a generation of research. It is going to have an important impact in comparative politics and beyond."—Erik Wibbels, Duke University
"A major undertaking that will make a significant contribution to the scholarship on welfare states in political science and sociology. This ambitious book provides a wealth of information on twenty-one countries' social welfare trajectories from the end of World War II to the present. Haggard and Kaufman provide quantitative analysis of trends with detailed country histories, which makes for an empirically rich account."—Nina Bandelj, University of California, Irvine
