ABSTRACT
Descending through the skies towards an airport, the first sight of a new country through an aircraft window often brings a feeling of familiarity. Viewed from an aerial perspective, most cities in advanced industrial societies seem broadly similar: high-rise office blocks huddle in downtown areas symbolising the corporate power (or indebtedness) of their occupants; factories and warehouses cluster in zones; highways snake towards the urban periphery; and sprawling low-density suburbs combine with areas of higher-density flats and apartments. Even after landing and observing the local inhabitants, the visitor is often struck by the things that unite peoples-at least in the more affluent parts of the world. Not the least of these things held in common are consumer goods such as Japanese cars, US computers, Taiwanese electronic goods, French wines and Italian shoes. Furthermore, if able to communicate with some of the inhabitants of the city, the visitor is often struck by the ways in which people share common aspirations for more basic things such as adequate housing, education and health care. It is therefore hardly surprising that such basic aspirations were enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights following the creation of the United Nations in 1948 (albeit in sexist terminology):
These basic needs are often summarised by the term ‘welfare’. However, it does not take the visitor to a new country long to appreciate that welfare needs can be met in many different ways. Thus, some nations depend heavily upon care by
families and friends; others rely upon voluntary and charitable bodies; others depend heavily upon private forms of care by businesses; while in some countries the state plays a crucial role. Throughout the world the extent to which people rely upon the state to meet their basic needs shows especially wide variations. For example, a middle-income person in Britain is likely to rely upon the state funded and state provided National Health Service (NHS), whereas a person of similar status in the US is more likely to possess a private health insurance scheme and use privately owned health care centres. Furthermore, it does not take the inquisitive visitor to a new country long to appreciate that there are considerable variations within nations in the ways in which welfare needs are met. For example, despite the widespread sale of public housing in Britain in the 1980s, public sector housing estates are still visually distinct from owneroccupied areas of British cities. In US cities, the poor of the inner areas are often forced to rely upon underfunded public hospitals which contrast with the excellent facilities to be found in suburban areas.
