ABSTRACT
When they were preparing the agenda tor their International Symposium for Sharing Productive Welfare Experience, the organizers wisely designated one of the five plenary sessions for a review of its philosophical principles and policy objectives. Three papers were presented in this session. Stein Kuhnle (Chapter 4) explored the democratic credentials of productive welfare philosophy, Neil Gilbert (Chapter 2) and Ramesh Mishra (Chapter 3) examined its economic connotations, respectively with regard to the institutions of the competitive market and the process of globalization. Welfare institutions make up the third major component of what is generally described today as the modern pluralist nation-state. All three contributors discussed the normative linkages between democratic, economic and welfare values.
