Competing Interests within the Globalised Welfare State

Abstract

The importance of the international arena to the shaping of national welfare systems has already been alluded to in previous chapters. This chapter examines globalisation in more detail, especially as it relates to international discourse and legal frameworks governing approaches to welfare. The international context is especially impor­tant in informing our understanding of the balance between cor­porate and social welfare that characterises the diversity of existing welfare systems. Regulations regarding provision to and protection of national corporations have been established for some time. In the present stage of globalisation, global regulations and discourse in the area of social welfare are playing an increasingly important role in shaping national welfare systems, a process that began as far back as the 1970s. This chapter examines the international context for wel­fare, looking at what globalisation has meant for the distribution of power within and beyond nation states and its implications for wel­fare programmes. It also considers the importance of global discourse on welfare to the framing of supranational and national welfare debates. It begins with a definition of globalisation before going on to consider the importance of economics and politics to welfare policy.