Throughout the western world the last decade has seen welfare systems under challenge from economic change and fiscal crisis. At the same time they have been subject to a series of powerful critiques associated with neo-conservativism and the new right, mounted both in philosophical and theoretical terms and in relation to the effectiveness and rationality of specific social policies.
In Welfare and Citizenship Ian Culpitt assesses the justification for welfare policies in the light of the neo-conservative challenge. At a theoretical level, he examines the underlying philosophical foundations of welfare systems. Have welfare states promoted an emphasis on the welfare rights of those in need at the expense of the obligations of those with resources? To what extent can the idea of citizenship provide a new political base for welfare policies?
The author also reviews the policy issues raised by the economic contexts of contemporay welfare and by the challenge of the new right. He examines the challenge posed for conventional welfare by the `efficient' mangement of welfare: a problem highlighted by the concepts of privatization and the contracting out of services.
Analysing both the fundamental questions of citizenship in welfare states and the central problems posed by the efficacy of welfare policies, the book offers a unique reassesment of the core issues in contemporary social policy.