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ECONOMIC RATIONALISM VERSUS THE COMMUNITY: REFLECTIONS ON SOCIAL DEMOCRACY AND STATE CAPACITY
Author(s) -
Dow Geoff
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
australian journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1839-4655
pISSN - 0157-6321
DOI - 10.1002/j.1839-4655.1999.tb01078.x
Subject(s) - skepticism , abandonment (legal) , democracy , social democracy , context (archaeology) , social welfare , project commissioning , social policy , welfare state , politics , state (computer science) , government (linguistics) , political economy , sociology , welfare , public administration , publishing , economics , political science , law , epistemology , algorithm , computer science , biology , paleontology , philosophy , linguistics
In the context of calls for a ‘third way’ which proposes the abandonment of many of the social democratic and statist commitments of the postwar era, this paper reviews both the responsibilities accepted by peak bodies such as ACOSS and those that ought to be retained by government. It is sceptical of claims that social policy debates in Australia lead to the conclusion that welfare state development here has been satisfactory. Social democratic objectives (derived from intellectual contributions in the 1940s and 1950s as well as from the comparative political economy of the 1980s and 1990s) emphasize more decommodified provision of services than can be readily admitted in Australia. If the demand for social welfare and social policy continues to increase to the extent suggested by past and present circumstances, serious implications emerge for both public and private providers.