Die Krise der sozialen Sicherung und die Globalisierung – Politische Mythen und ordnungspolitische Wirklichkeit

Seliger Bernhard

ORDO. Jahrbuch für die Ordnung von Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft, 2001, vol. 52, issue 1, 215-238

Abstract: Globalisation means increasing locational competition and factor mobility and thereby endangers current welfare systems, especially the developed welfare states in Western Europe. Technological as well as political developments make institutional alternatives more and more easily available. Competition between welfare systems shows more clearly inherent economic problems of welfare states. Institutional competition is often interpreted rather as a danger for welfare positions once achieved than as a widening of institutional choice. Groups and states under pressure from competition become more and more interested in restrictions of competition and interventions in the market process to guarantee specific economic results. This article analyses the myths about the welfare state in globalisation developed in order to justify such obstacles to competition or interventions in market processes. These political justifications focus on defence against an unsocial global model of capitalism. This capitalism allegedly races to the bottom: social welfare system converge at the lowest possible level. Solidarity in the national economy and the international community of states passes away. Only planful coordination in form of national restrictions of competition or international coordination of welfare standards could stop this process. Restrictions of competition as proposed to escape from the pressure on welfare states lead to institutional sclerosis. Interventions in market processes to guarantee specific results are a presumption of knowledge not available to political deciders and lead to an interventionist spiral. Instead, this article proposes to understand the competition between welfare systems as a chance to find better solutions for social problems. The discovery of viable welfare institutions is possible, if the welfare states open their welfare systems for competition.

Date: 2001
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DOI: 10.1515/ordo-2001-0114

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