Transforming the 'Cordon Sanitaire': the liberalization of public services and the restructuring of European welfare states

In this contribution to a review symposium, Maurizio Ferrera The Boundaries of Welfare: European Integration and the New Spatial Politics of Social Protection (Oxford: Oxford U Press, 2005), Leibfried & Starke laud Ferrera for his study of the impact of European integration on national welfare states in areas rarely considered in the European social policy literature. Focusing on public pensions, health care, & social assistance, Ferrera shows how the institutions of the European Union have created a "new spatial architecture of citizenship," marked by overlapping membership spaces. The authors argue that profound changes are also occurring in public services, the outer ring of the welfare state. With such public service goals as affordability & universal access, the state has been engaging in active market correction to the benefit of disadvantaged. The recent liberalization trend has revealed the social objectives inherent in many state economic activities. However, the Single Market legal framework & the EU competition rules have recently highlighted issues relating to the appropriate role of state provision & the likely impact of competition on equity & efficiency, which may well affect the welfare state. As the EU leans further toward market solutions & market compatibility, the outer ring of public services may begin to crumble, thus leaving Ferrera's 'inner ring', the welfare state proper, vulnerable to diminishment as well. References. S. Stanton