Empowering Democratic Citizenship: The Welfare State as Constitutional Rights and Government Spending

Abstract

Scholars traditionally have defined the welfare state either in terms of government’s affirmative duty to provide for the people’s social welfare needs or in terms of the actual public social expenditures on welfare programs. What has been missing in the study of the welfare state is focus on both conceptions of the welfare state as constitutional rights and as government spending. This paper attempts to provide that focus by asking the following questions: what is the relationship between the welfare state defined as constitutional rights and as government spending‘ Does constitutional affirmation of welfare rights precede and/or promote higher levels of government spending on social welfare programs, is it the reverse, or is there little relationship between the welfare state defined constitutionally and in terms of government spending. In addition to exploring these issues, the authors also examine the relationship between the welfare state and civic engagement. The “policy feedback” literature suggests that government spending on social programs positively affects political attitudes, such as trust and confidence in government, and social tolerance, and political behavior, such as voter turnout, participation in political organizations, and volunteer activity in community groups and other social organizations. But to what extent does the welfare state defined as constitutional rights and/or as government spending promote civic engagement and empower democratic citizenship? To answer these questions, the authors examine the constitutions of 28 OECD countries for provisions of social welfare rights, compare government spending on various social welfare programs in these countries over time, and attempt to determine whether some forms of the welfare state are better than others in empowering democratic citizenship.