Making markets in the welfare state

"Over the past three decades, market reforms have transformed public services such as education, health and care of the elderly. Whereas previous studies present markets as having similar and largely non-political effects, this book shows that political parties structure markets in diverse ways to achieve distinct political aims. Left-wing attempts to sustain the legitimacy of the welfare state are compared with right-wing wishes to limit the state and empower the private sector. Examining a broad range of countries, time periods and policy areas, Jane Gingrich helps readers make sense of the complexity of market reforms in the industrialized world. The use of innovative multi-case studies and in-depth interviews with senior European policymakers enriches the debate and brings clarity to this multifaceted topic. Scholars and students working on the policymaking process in this central area will be interested in this new conceptualization of market reform"-- "In 1980, Ronald Reagan was elected President of the United States on the promise of radically reforming American government by cutting spending and welfare entitlements and improving conditions for private entrepreneurship. For Reagan, American government was akin to an alligator infested swamp, not only stagnant but dangerous. Thousands of miles away, the Swedish Prime Minister, Olof Palme, in response to a local government's attempt to privatize a childcare center, took a different stance. Palme argued that the introduction of markets would create "Kentucky Fried Children," the market standing for things American and unhealthy, a threat to Swedish children and the Swedish welfare state"--