ABSTRACT
This book showed that the ideological positions of policy makers, the patterns of distribution of governmental authority, and the actions of veto players are critical in explaining social policy change. Ideologies shape policies. It is almost commonsensical to assert that when policy makers regard the market as the best and most efficient provider of goods and services and as the chief resource allocator and when they consider that the state should not intervene in providing goods and services unless the market fails to do so, their policy proposals and recommendations will be formulated accordingly. They will seek, then, to create social policies that are tied to economic performance and focused on offering minimum protection only to those individuals who fall below a pre-determined low-income level.
