ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the wider question of what is left to the state through reforms. It focuses on an assessment of the utopian project of privatisation. The chapter highlights some of the limitations of privatisation and the inefficiencies and rigidities that it creates in welfare systems. It also focuses on a wider assessment of why democracy matters and begins to flesh out an argument for enhanced democratic engagement as a mode of governance that not only generates greater equality but also provides the grounds for more efficient and effective forms of welfare. The chapter sets out the argument that at times stronger state structures can act as a guarantor of individual rights and freedoms. This argument sits uncomfortably with the Neo-Progressive narratives of governments in recent decades, with their emphasis on devolution and bottom-up empowerment.
