%0 Journal Article
%T Modern Welfare State and Social Democracy: Interdependence and Policy Importance
%A Emmanouil Mavrozacharakis
%A Stylianos Ioannis Tzagkarakis
%J Open Access Library Journal
%V 5
%N 3
%P 1-39
%@ 2333-9721
%D 2018
%I Open Access Library
%R 10.4236/oalib.1104406
%X
Social democratic parties
during the early stages of their development have accepted capitalism and have
considered the welfare state as a tool in order to indirectly achieve the goals
of social justice and cohesion. In the first half of the 20th century, the
welfare state was the basic tool for the implementation of the social
democratic ideas, but after the oil crises of the 1970s and more intensively during the last three
decades, the deregulation policies led social democracy to seek its identity as
an effort which balances between the implementation of embryonic social
measures and deregulation policies. At the same time, it is true that the welfare state needs to be
transformed in order to meet current challenges (globalization, technological
development, population aging), but this targeting does not necessarily mean
its complete dismantling as it is the main balancing mechanism of the risks
created by the free market economy. This study aims to categorize social
democratic parties based on the social policy framework they embrace and to
highlight the political deficit that has led to the dismantling of social
policy, to the crisis of the state and consequently to European social
democracy crisis.
%K Social Democracy
%K Welfare State
%K Crisis
%U http://www.oalib.com/paper/5293158