Practice question · Multiple choice
T. H. Marshall treated social rights as the culmination of citizenship, but Bismarck introduced social insurance before universal suffrage. What does this divergence imply for the origins of modern welfare?
Hints
- Why would an authoritarian leader like Bismarck offer social concessions to workers?
- Did early welfare institutions always originate from popular democratic consent?
Show the answer
B. Welfare expansion can serve regime stability rather than democratic demand
Why
Autocratic or non-democratic regimes often initiated social insurance from above to pre-empt working-class radicalism and maintain order, demonstrating that entitlement systems did not require prior democratic enfranchisement.
Practise The Welfare State: Rise, Crisis, Typologies
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More questions on The Welfare State: Rise, Crisis, Typologies
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