ABSTRACT
After the Second World War, state intervention under party government was increasingly seen as crucial for the reconstruction and development of society. The regulation of work and welfare became a legitimate political goal and a precondition for domestic peace. The established post-war consensus – enabling coalescent behaviour in government across Western Europe – predominantly manifested itself in two political groupings, Social Democracy and Christian Democracy. It was parties belonging to these two ‘families’ that became the main architects of the welfare state. During the first period after the war, the contours of the Scandinavian (Social Democratic) and the Continental (Conservative) model of the welfare state emerged and expanded. Both types of welfare state contributed to the reconstruction of the national economy, each in its own way ‘planning’ the economy, rearranging industrial relations, creating and regulating labour markets, implementing income policies, and dealing with social risks, particularly developing (state) pensions for the elderly and organising education for young people and healthcare for all in need (Flora 1986; Briggs 2000/1969).
