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Social Democratic Welfare State

   

Added on  2021-04-17

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Running head: SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC WELFARE STATESOCIAL DEMOCRATIC WELFARE STATEName of the student:Name of University:Author Note:

SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC WELFARE STATE1This essay discusses the concept of social democracy in the operation of welfarestates. The ideologies that the governments of the welfare states follow, largely focus on theappropriate combination of democracy and capitalism in protecting the interest of the citizensof the country (Ringen and Ngok 2017). Due to the fact that the aims of the capitalismsharply oppose the aims of a democratic state. Most of the welfare states either follow threedifferent categories namely social democracy, liberal and conservative or have formed a newmodel to govern effectively for instance, the government of Canada, Finland, Sweden andNorway and France. There are various advantages as well as disadvantages of socialdemocratic welfare state model.Social democracy refers to the gradual but peaceful transition from capitalism tosocialism by democratic means. It is a social, political and economic ideology which supportssocial and economic interventions for promoting social justice within the structure of liberaldemocratic institution and capitalist economy (Bergh and Bjørnskov 2014). Social democracybuilds a political regime that involves commitments to the participatory and representativedemocracy. This type of setting, measurers income redistribution along with regulation ofeconomy in the general interest as well as welfare state provisions.This can include, cashpayments, concessions, subsidies, grants and public distribution. Welfare state remains responsible for protecting and promoting the social as well aseconomic well-being of the citizens. These governments believe in the principles of equalopportunity for everyone, equal distribution of wealth in the society. The Republic of Chinais the greatest example of social welfare state (Ringen and Ngok 2017). For being a welfarestate, it is socialistic in nature. It believes the principles of equality and feels keen to provideequal opportunities to all. It also aims to ensure equitable distribution of wealth. In additionto this, the state takes responsibility for the people who are unable to avail minimumprovisions for good life (Bergh and Bjørnskov 2014). Modern welfare states include the

SOCIAL DEMOCRATIC WELFARE STATE2Nordic countries such as Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway and other Europeancountries like France, Belgium, Germany and Netherlands. These welfare states involve thetransfer of fund from state to services provided like healthcare and education. The states likeCanada and China also provide assistance to the public directly through taxation. Such typeof taxation usually includes a larger income taxes for the people with high income which isreferred as progressive tax (Scase 2016). The social democratic welfare states follow a particular model which is based on theprinciples of universalism that grant access to the services and advantages based oncitizenship (Ringen and Ngok 2017). The social welfare states provide autonomy to thecitizen but limit reliance of the market as well as family. In such context the social policiesare seen to be policies against market. According to Rothstein and Steinmo (2016) the chiefaim of the non-universal welfare states, is directing the resources to the people most in need.The welfare states that follow the ideologies of social democracy, has similarities withthe socialist states in their operations. The social democrats are committed to act for thecommon good (En.unesco.org 2018). The ideology of social democracy falls in the centralleft of the political spectrum. This kind of governments believe in individual freedom as wellas democratically selected government in one hand and emphasise the requirement forprotecting the interest of the minority groups (Forrest and Murie 2014). They arrangeprograms for supporting the people economically lagged behind. Social democratic welfarestates support gender equality, freedom education and trade unions. Finland is a social welfare state which has one of the best education systems in theglobe. The students do not spend tuition fees and also given meals by the government. Theliteracy rate here is 100% (En.unesco.org 2018). Both the countries of the Netherlands aswell as Finland have the highest standard of living. In Netherlands, the government execute

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