Italy: Right Turn for the Welfare State?

Abstract

Article 38 above of the Italian Constitution of 1948 (Moss and Rogers, 1980, p. 161) reflected the welfare philosophy of the past rather than the new and more positive role of the state in welfare envisaged by such reports as those of Beveridge in the UK, Laroque in France, and so on. It talked about ‘maintenance’ for those ‘unable to work’ rather than national unity and social rights for all. For this reason, even though social expenditure in the 1960s and early 1970s as a proportion of GDP was high by OECD standards (see Table 1.2), the philosophy and the method of provision of welfare were dated. It was not until the late 1970s that Italy adopted a universalist approach in the area of health and also extended its social security system to most groups in society. Interestingly enough, this climax in the development of social policy in Italy was reached at a time when the welfare state was already under attack in many other West European countries.

Every citizen unable to work and without the necessary means of subsistence has the right to maintenance and social assistance. It is the right of workers to have the means adequate to their necessities of livelihood foreseen and provided for in the case of injury, sickness, disablement, old age and involuntary unemployment. (Italian Constitution, 1948)