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A welfare state is a concept of government where the state plays the primary role in the protection and promotion of the economic and social well-being of its citizens. It is based on the principles of equality of opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth, and public responsibilityfor those unable to avail themselves of the minimal provisions for a good life. The general termmay cover a variety of forms of economic and social organization. [1]

Modern welfare states include countries such as Norway and Denmark which employ a systemknown as the Nordic model . The welfare state involves a direct transfer of funds from the state,to the services provided (i.e. healthcare, education) as well as directly to individuals ("benefits").The welfare state is funded thru redistributionist taxation and has been referred to as a type of "mixed economy ". [2]

Etymology

English term "welfare state" is believed by Asa Briggs to have been coined by ArchbishopWilliam Temple during the Second World War , contrasting wartime Britain with the "warfarestate" of Nazi Germany .[3] It was fully developed by the German academic Sozialpolitiker "Social Politicians" from 1870 and first implemented through Bismarck's conservative reforms.Bismarck's policies have also been seen as the creation of a welfare state. [4]

In German , a roughly equivalent term ( Sozialstaat , "social state") had been in use since 1870.There had been earlier attempts to use the same phrase in English, for example in MunroeSmith 's text "Four German Jurists", [5] but the term did not enter common use until WilliamTemple popularized it. The Italian term "Social state" ( Stato sociale ) has the same origin. The

term "Wohlfahrtsstaat", which is a direct translation from English, is used to describe Sweden.

The Swedish welfare state is called Folkhemmet (literally; the folk home) and goes back to the1936 compromise between the Union and big Corporate companies . It is a Mixed economy , builton strong unions and a strong system of Social security and universal health care .

In Spanish and many other languages, an analogous term is used: estado del bienestar ; translatedliterally: "state of well-being".

In Portuguese , a similar phrase exists: Estado de Providncia ; which means "Providing State", asin the State should provide citizens their demands in order to achieve people's well-being.

In Brazil it is referred to as Estado de Bem-Estar Social , translated as social well-being state.

Hi story of welfare states

Germany

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In Germany, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck created the modern welfare state by building on atradition of welfare programs in Prussia and Saxony that began as early as in the 1840s, and bywinning the support of business. In the 1880s he introduced old age pensions, accident insurance,medical care and unemployment insurance that formed the basis of the modern European welfarestate. His paternalistic programs won the support of German industry because its goals were to

win the support of the working classes for the Empire and reduce the outflow of immigrants toAmerica, where wages were higher but welfare did not exist. [6][7] Bismarck further won thesupport of both industry and skilled workers by his high tariff policies, which protected profitsand wages from American competition, although they alienated the liberal intellectuals whowanted free trade. [8][9]

M odern model

Modern welfare programs differed from previous schemes of poverty relief due to their relativelyuniversal coverage. The development of social insurance in Germany under Bismarck was

particularly influential. Some schemes were based largely in the development of autonomous,

mutualist provision of benefits. Others were founded on state provision. The term was not,however, applied to all states offering social protection. The sociologist T.H. Marshall identifiedthe welfare state as a distinctive combination of democracy , welfare and capitalism . Examples of early welfare states in the modern world are Germany , all of the Nordic Countries , the

Netherlands , Uruguay and New Zealand and the United Kingdom in the 1930s.

Changed attitudes in reaction to the Great Depression were instrumental in the move to thewelfare state in many countries, a harbinger of new times where "cradle-to-grave" services

became a reality after the poverty of the Depression. During the Great Depression, it was seen asan alternative "middle way" between communism and capitalism .[10] In the period following theSecond World War , many countries in Europe moved from partial or selective provision of

social services to relatively comprehensive coverage of the population.The activities of present-day welfare states extend to the provision of both cash welfare benefits(such as old-age pensions or unemployment benefits) and in-kind welfare services (such ashealth or childcare services). Through these provisions, welfare states can affect the distributionof wellbeing and personal autonomy among their citizens, as well as influencing how their citizens consume and how they spend their time. [11][12]

Br i ta in

In Britain, the beginning of the modern welfare state was in 1911 when David Lloyd George andhis Liberal Party enacted the National Insurance Act of 1911 setting up a national insurancecontribution for unemployment and health benefits from work. [13] In 1942, the Social Insuranceand Allied Services was created by Sir William Beveridge in order to aid those who were in needof help, or in poverty. Beveridge worked as a volunteer for the poor, and set up nationalinsurance. He stated that 'All people of working age should pay a weekly national insurancecontribution. In return, benefits would be paid to people who were sick, unemployed, retired or widowed.' The basic assumptions of the report were the National Health Service would providedfree health care to all citizens. The Universal Child Benefit was a scheme to give benefits to

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parents, encouraging people to have children by enabling them to feed and support a family. Onetheme of the report was the relative cheapness of universal benefits. Beveridge quoted miner's

pension schemes as some of the most efficient available, and argued that a state scheme would be cheaper to run than individual friendly societies and private insurance schemes, as well as being cheaper than means-tested government-run schemes for the poor. The cheapness of what

was to be called National Insurance was an argument alongside fairness, and justified a schemein which the rich paid-in and the state paid-out to the rich, just as for the poor. In the originalscheme, only some benefits called National Assistance were to be paid regardless of contribution. Universal benefits paid to rich and poor such as child benefit were particularly

beneficial after the Second World War when the birth rate was low. Universal Child Benefit mayhave helped drive the Baby boom .

Beveridge recommended to the government that they should find ways of tackling the fivegiants, being Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness. He argued to cure these problems,the government should provide adequate income to people, adequate health care, adequateeducation, adequate housing and adequate employment. Before 1939, most health care had to be

paid for through non government organisations, this was done through a vast network of friendlysocieties, trade unions and other insurance companies which counted the vast majority of the UK working population as members. These friendly societies provided insurance for sickness,unemployment and invalidity, therefore providing people with an income when they were unableto work. But because of the 1942 Beveridge Report, in 5 July 1948, the National Insurance Act,

National Assistance Act and National Health Service Act came into force, thus this is the daythat the modern UK welfare state was founded. Institutions run by local councils to providehealth services for the uninsured poor - part of the poor law tradition of workhouses - weremerged into the new national system.

Welfare systems had been developing intensively since the end of the World War II. At the endof the century due to their restructuring, part of their responsibilities started to be channeledthrough non-governmental organizations which became important providers of social services. [14]

O i l countr ies

After the discovery and inflow of the oil revenue, Saudi Arabia ,[15][16] Brunei , Kuwait , Qatar ,Bahrain , Oman , and the United Arab Emirates all became welfare states for their respectivecitizens but not for guest labourers who did most of the work.

Three forms of the welfare state

According to Esping-Andersen (1990), [17] there are three ways of organizing a welfare stateinstead of only two. [18]

Rothstein argues that in the first model, the state is primarily concerned with directing theresources to the people most in need. This requires a tight bureaucratic control over the peopleconcerned. Under the second model, the state distributes welfare with as little bureaucraticinterference as possible, to all people who fulfill easily established criteria (e.g. having children,receiving medical treatment, etc.). This requires high taxation . This model was constructed by

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the Scandinavian ministers Karl Kristian Steincke and Gustav Mller in the 30s and is dominantin Scandinavia. The third model is similar to the one found in Britain (Beveridge model) and is

based more on citizenship and a certain level of welfare as a right, which may then be modifiedaccording to needs.

Esping-Andersen argues, based on comparative histories of actual welfare states, that they fallinto three types of policies: liberalist (heavily means tested, limited services), corporatist (pre-market conservative welfare state in origin, social insurance schemes), and social democratic(universalistic "Beveridge" style social rights based on citizenship instead of working life).

Effects on poverty

Main article: Welfare's effect on poverty

Empirical evidence suggests that taxes and transfers considerably reduce poverty in mostcountries, whose welfare states commonly constitute at least a fifth of GDP. [19][20] The

information shows that many "welfare states" would have higher poverty rates than a "non-welfare state" such as the U.S. before the transfer of wealth; an example would be Sweden thathas a 23.7% poverty rate pre-transfer while the U.S. has a 21% poverty rate pre-transfer.

DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT

The last few weeks bore witness to a lot of developments relative to the March 12, 2011 episode of Willing Willie, where a 6-year old boy was made to dance provocatively while tears streamed down his

face. The huge public outcry against the video clip of the episode, which continues to spread via theinternet, was a wake up call for everyone. The resulting publicity on the incident propelled concernedindividuals, parents, and non-government organizations to look at child abuse as an all-important issue.This also led government agencies and child rights advocates to step up their campaign for thepromotion of children s welfare and the protection of their rights. Likewise, media practitioners andadvertisers were compelled to re-examine their policies and practices relative to shows which involvechildren and youth.

The Department of Social Welfare and Development approached this matter, fully cognizant of the needto protect the child and his family. From a policy perspective, as lead agency in social welfare anddevelopment, we intensified our coordination with concerned agencies and stakeholders for theprotection and promotion of the rights of children. In line with our mandate of providing preventive,protective, rehabilitative and developmental programs and services, we also provided psychosocial

interventions to the child and his family.

Today, after much study and deliberation, we decided to file a case against Mr. Willie Revillame forviolation of Republic Act No. 7610, otherwise known as the Special protection of Children againstAbuse, Exploitation and Discrimination Act. Our decision to initiate legal proceedings is pursuant to ourmandate to protect children who are victims of abuse, neglect and exploitation. It is also in response tothe public clamor for government intervention regarding Mr. Revillame s actuations toward the littleboy in that unfortunate episode of Willing Willie.

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We are filing this case because it is our job. We do this for all cases of child abuse that we come across,and we provide services to everyone who needs our help. There is no political angle here; neither isthere any hidden agenda, as some quarters may allege. Our main concern is to promote the welfare of the child and his family, and others who are or may be placed in a similar situation.