Httpslinkspringercom9783319625621 New Private Sector Providers in The Welfare State

This book provides a study of the rise of private sector providers in the welfare state. It compares for-profit firms as providers of hospital services and pensions and investigates the new private actors in social policy provision, whether they become political actors, and the extent of their power in welfare state politics. Focusing on Germany and the UK, the author’s analysis includes, amongst others, the surprising role of private sector firms in the National Health Service and the halting integration of financial sector companies in the German pension system.

This book discusses the emergence and development, and in some cases also the disappearance, of social movements and activism in Sweden during the 1980s. Its aim is to nuance and problematize the image of the 1980s as unilaterally dominated by right-wing politics and neoliberalism, as well as the idea of a conflict-free Scandinavian model. The 1980s have often been described as a period when the influence of radical-left movements during the 1970s diminished. Instead, this book argues that the 1980s was a decade in which new radical social movements emerged in opposition to the prevalent political order, including the nuclear disarmament movement, the women's movement, anti-fascist movements, and the punk and environmental movements. The authors also demonstrate how issues such as squatting, nuclear resistance, rent strikes and the environment, included a variety of contentious collective action. Sweden, therefore, presents an interesting example of how resistance and conflict in a strong welfare state have been influenced by contentious social movements. Placing Sweden within the wider context of Scandinavia and Europe, this edited collection makes an important contribution to the history of social movements.

by Toomas Kotkas (Editor), Kenneth Veitch (Editor)