Ralph Segalman

Cradle to Grave: Comparative Perspectives on the State of Welfare.

The welfare state in the Western world - American, British and Scandanavian experience the unusual case of Switzerland what are the lessons? towards reform of British and American social policy.

Support for the Family

Our reports in earlier pages of this book demonstrate graphically that, if the main direct destructive effect of state welfare is through its impact on work and work attitudes, the primary arena in which its long-term damage is done is the family. If welfare dependency is to be reduced, reforms of the work environment must be accompanied by measures designed to strengthen and support the family as a social institution.

What Really Makes Switzerland Different

What does Switzerland have that makes it immune to the problems of the welfare state which we have described in Part I of this book? We have chosen to focus on welfare dependency as one key problem, but careful analysis suggests that welfarisation is only one of a whole complex of inter-related social problems which Switzerland apparently has avoided. It is as if all the Swiss had got together and agreed to do everything possible to make their members maximally productive.

The Tenets of the Welfare State

We have examined how the welfare state has led the western nations towards the destruction of the institutions and values upon which civilisation and democracy depend. It is important to examine why the planners seek the establishment of a welfare state despite its destructive effects.

The Extent of Welfare Dependency in Switzerland

We have described the formal and informal constraints on the welfarisation process in Switzerland. Are these constraints effective in limiting welfare dependency? It is important to note that welfare experience over decades indicates that the optimum outcome is achieved by making welfare available adequately for those unable to help themselves, while also controlling it carefully to avoid interference with the labour market.

Is Switzerland a Special Case

We have demonstrated that Switzerland has avoided many of the problems of the welfare state. Is that because Switzerland is a special case, a fortunate accident, a small exception? Hardly so, when one considers that Switzerland is as large as, or larger than, many other European nations, including many welfare states, such as Holland, Belgium, and Norway, where welfarisation and its related social ills have become a serious problem.

Reform in Housing and Education

There are two further areas of social policy where radical reform is necessary if the British and American people are to leave welfare dependency well and truly behind them. These are housing and education — two fields in which the seeds of welfare dependency currently grow and flourish profusely.

Towards a Culture of Freedom

The damaging consequences of the welfare policies adopted all over the Western world after the Second World War are now apparent. Governments of left and right alike are reaching around for solutions to the decay and chaos which increasingly characterise all our major cities. Our argument is that nothing less than a reversal of these policies is necessary if we are to avoid a deepening crisis. The welfare state has proved a damaging distraction and shown itself dangerously counter-productive wherever it has been tried. Instead, we should follow the clues provided by the Swiss, by common sense, and by principles long established in free societies, to reach beyond the welfare state towards real welfare.

What the Swiss Have Taught Us

The Swiss have taught us the importance of altruism as a locally effective motivation for good citizenship. We have always known that altruism is related to love, but not too clearly. We know that love for others begins with self-love, in the baby for himself, and, in time, for his parents, his siblings, his playmates, his classmates, and others known to him (or her). Empathy for others is seldom found unless there is human interaction. It expands from self to family, to neighbours, to fellow citizens in one’s small community, and, finally, to one’s region, to the people in one’s nation, and then to other unmet humans.

Introduction: the Swiss Approach to Poverty

Switzerland is definitely not a welfare state as generally understood. There is, for example, no national health service, and most of the populations are covered by voluntary health insurance. There is no central programme to provide a minimum guaranteed income for all. There is no concept of a right to state support. Nevertheless, it has achieved what nations traditionally defined as welfare states have not: it has successfully avoided welfare dependency and intergenerational poverty, and it has succeeded in this by methods which are strikingly different from those adopted elsewhere. Just how Switzerland deals with its poor and shapes its policies to encourage self-sufficiency offers lessons for others which we should not ignore.