Unstable States: The Transformation of Welfare Systems

Abstract

This paper explores the transformation of welfare states. It reflects on two analytic frameworks — political_economy and governmentality — and their consequences for thinking about welfare states. The paper explores the shifting articulations of ‘welfare’, ‘state’ and ‘nation’ in the contemporary politics of welfare. It suggests that a focus on welfare state settlements as ‘temporary equilibria’, and the processes of destabilisation and realignment, might be a productive alternative analytic framework.