Overview
Compares and contrasts the development of welfare capitalism in France and Germany, through good times and bad, since the 1970s
Full Product Details
Author: Mark Vail
Publisher: Temple University Press,U.S.
Imprint: Temple University Press,U.S.
Dimensions:
Width: 15.20cm
, Height: 2.30cm
, Length: 22.90cm
Weight: 0.476kg
ISBN: 9781592139675
ISBN 10: 1592139671
Pages: 248
Publication Date: 15 November 2009
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
This is an important and extremely well written book. Vail challenges the dominant theoretical approaches within comparative political economy. Recasting Welfare Capitalism is a comprehensive account, well researched, and exceptionally clear. It will reshape academic discussions of welfare state change. Chris Howell, Department of Politics, Oberlin College Vail challenges prevalent theories purporting to explain the four-decade-old transformation of welfare states in his analysis of the effects of liberalization and austerity on welfare capitalism... Readers both inside and outside the box will be captivated by this seminal contribution to the literature on the development of varieties of welfare capitalism. Summing Up: Highly recommended. - CHOICE
This is an important and extremely well written book. Vail challenges the dominant theoretical approaches within comparative political economy. Recasting Welfare Capitalism is a comprehensive account, well researched, and exceptionally clear. It will reshape academic discussions of welfare state change. Chris Howell, Department of Politics, Oberlin College Vail challenges prevalent theories purporting to explain the four-decade-old transformation of welfare states in his analysis of the effects of liberalization and austerity on welfare capitalism... Readers both inside and outside the box will be captivated by this seminal contribution to the literature on the development of varieties of welfare capitalism. Summing Up: Highly recommended. - CHOICE A timely comparative analysis of social and economic policy in Germany and France since the 1970s...Recasting Welfare Capitalism makes important empirical and theoretical contributions to the literature on recent patterns of reform of developed welfare capitalist political economies. His comprehensive, detailed analyses of the social politics of economic adjustment in France and Germany since the Second World War effectively challenge the widely discussed convergence and the 'national capitalisms' hypotheses, and present an innovative synthesis and extension of institutional change and regulation theoretical perspectives. This study will be of great interest not only to students of the political economies of France and Germany, but also to political scientists and sociologists with a broader interest in the recent developments and possible futures of European welfare capitalism. - Combarative Sociology Mark Vail's new book provides an extraordinary tour de force of economic and social policy reform in Germany and France from the post-war period until the present...[His] analysis provides relevant new evidence for all major ongoing debates in the comparative political economy of Western Europe. - French Politics The review read, Recasting Welfare Capitalism...captures the transformation of national models of welfare capitalism in Germany and France as they shift from a climate of prosperity to periods of economic austerity. This relevant book carefully walks us through four decades of gradual change by laying out different stages in the creation, expansion, and reforms of French and German welfare states and models of capitalism... The contributions of Recasting Welfare Capitalism will be echoed in the years to come...Vail encourages us to revisit and update traditional models of welfare capitalism and of labor market governance. - Comparative Political Studies
Recasting Welfare Capitalism presents very illuminating and detailed analysis of contemporary political and economic adjustment strategies in Germany and France. In so doing, it debunks the widely shared perception that these countries have been moribund and plagued by political stalemate. Vail's insights stem from a creative theoretical shift away from contemporary institutionalism in political economic analysis to an emphasis on informal relational dynamics and ideas. His persuasive argument about the emergence of new relations and dynamics is grounded in elegant and historically informed case studies of crucial policy and relational realms. -Gary Herrigel, Department of Political Science, University of Chicago Mark Vail's Recasting Welfare Capitalism shows how French and German political actors navigated the difficult and contentious transitions from rapid postwar economic growth to the slower growth of the past three decades. By linking the usual welfare-state analytic categories to broader economic management issues, he highlights how actors and their ideas mattered for the gradual transformation of both sides of the welfare-capitalism model in France and Germany. This is one of the rare studies offering a comprehensive and insightful analysis of structures, actors, and policy changes across the whole postwar era. -Herman Schwartz, Department of Politics, University of Virginia This is an important and extremely well written book. Vail challenges the dominant theoretical approaches within comparative political economy. Recasting Welfare Capitalism is a comprehensive account, well researched, and exceptionally clear. It will reshape academic discussions of welfare state change. -Chris Howell, Department of Politics, Oberlin College
This is an important and extremely well written book. Vail challenges the dominant theoretical approaches within comparative political economy. Recasting Welfare Capitalism is a comprehensive account, well researched, and exceptionally clear. It will reshape academic discussions of welfare state change. Chris Howell, Department of Politics, Oberlin College Vail challenges prevalent theories purporting to explain the four-decade-old transformation of welfare states in his analysis of the effects of liberalization and austerity on welfare capitalism... Readers both inside and outside the box will be captivated by this seminal contribution to the literature on the development of varieties of welfare capitalism. Summing Up: Highly recommended. - CHOICE A timely comparative analysis of social and economic policy in Germany and France since the 1970s...Recasting Welfare Capitalism makes important empirical and theoretical contributions to the literature on recent patterns of reform of developed welfare capitalist political economies. His comprehensive, detailed analyses of the social politics of economic adjustment in France and Germany since the Second World War effectively challenge the widely discussed convergence and the 'national capitalisms' hypotheses, and present an innovative synthesis and extension of institutional change and regulation theoretical perspectives. This study will be of great interest not only to students of the political economies of France and Germany, but also to political scientists and sociologists with a broader interest in the recent developments and possible futures of European welfare capitalism. - Combarative Sociology
Author Information
Mark I. Vail is Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Tulane University. He is a contributor to The State after Statism, edited by Jonah D. Levy, and has published work in Comparative Politics, The Journal of European Political Research, and West European Politics, among other venues.
