Typologies of the welfare state and comparative analysis: The “liberal” welfare state

Abstract

Abstract The paper begins by reviewing briefly two academic streams or traditions in the study of the welfare state from the viewpoint of the development of typologies. This sets the context for the examination of a recent typology of welfare state regimes (Esping-Andersen, 1990) with special reference to the notion of a “liberal” regime. The paper argues that the “liberal” regime conflates two distinct traditions in political ideology and practice: the classical liberal or laissez-faire and the social liberal or coFDFllectivist tradition represented by such thinkers as Keynes, Beveridge and Galbraith. This distinction has been important in the politics and ideology of the welfare state of English-speaking countries such as Britain and Canada. The Canadian welfare state, in particular, can be seen as an empirical referent of this centrist social-liberal approach to welfare. The distinction between these two models is blurred, in part, because Esping-Andersen's “liberal” regime type appears to represent bo...