ABSTRACT
Introduction: the cost of democracy and the rise of the New Right parties Where are the modern democracies heading these days? What is the most recent change in the advanced democracies? To review these questions in full, we need to look at the recent electoral outcomes that raise relevant evidence for further speculation. One of the changes in the attitude toward social policy in modern democracies is that the role of the state has been reviewed and changed from the generously spending welfare state to the stingily saving welfare state, so as to cope with the globalization of the world economy. It has been argued that the state should not intervene in the economy to set regulations or to impose duties and taxes on the market, for it hinders the freedom of action of enterprises and individuals. In most of the advanced countries that are influenced by the globalization of their economies, the state has become something that restrains the economy’s liberty. With the coming of the age of the neoliberal policy regime at the global level in the 1980s, the era of Thatcherism and Reaganomics, the deregulation of state interventions prevailed in most advanced countries. Too much regulation and too much tax cause stagnation of the country’s economy and weaken its presence in the global economy. These policy changes do not come as a matter of course. Some might say the change in the outcome of the policy of government is insufficient. There was a thrust from political groups that were ardently pursuing the reduction of the “cost of democracies” in the 1990s, for the advanced democracies could not maintain the stance of generous welfare state spending. These groups are the New Right parties. The New Right parties are eager to attack the unnecessary welfare costs of government. They see the over-encompassing welfare scheme of modern democracies to be too much. They feel self-help is important to overcome crises, not to resort to and wait for the state to assist because the state is not liable to assist people who do not strive to help themselves. The state has a lack of financial resources to maintain and enhance its welfare schemes. Not only could it not pay for its own welfare schemes, it could not afford the other aspects of democracy imposed by the international system.
