ABSTRACT
The long-term development of the industrial democracies is often described under the label of modernization. To explain the origins of the welfare state is to identify the 'forces of modernization'. The process of democratization is associated with the rise of new classes as socio-economic conditions change, and with the struggle of these classes for a fair share and a rightful position in society. This chapter looks into four areas in which it has been suggested that contradictions have appeared in the wake of welfare state development. They are the problem of legitimacy, the problem of governability, the problem of economic efficiency, and the problem of activity. Some proponents of the welfare state, such as Ernst Wigforss, the early Swedish theoretician of democratic socialism, have hoped that it would be at least 'a whistle-stop on the track towards socialism'.
