ABSTRACT
Welfare states have developed rapidly in western Europe, but a common model has not been fully established. Each welfare system has its own peculiar policy problems. For example, the British and Swedish systems have been criticised for placing excessive strains on the economy (Friedman 1980:100). It was Bismarck, however, who established the forerunner of all social-insurance systems. His system was subsequently developed during the Weimar Republic and under the Nazis. In the post-war era, social policy became an integral part of the SME. It will be shown below that there is a valuable conceptual framework—the social budget—which illustrates the formal incorporation of the welfare state (Sozialstaat) into German policymaking. It will also be shown that other policy developments, notably Allfinanz and Finanzplatz Deutschland (Chapter 7), are of a more recent and less rudimentary nature. The crucially important policy debate over Standort Deutschland (Chapter 8) has been misleadingly associated by some observers solely with the debate over the future of the welfare state. While obviously related in some ways, the two debates are in fact concerned with a number of independent issues.
