Today there were a lot of problems in the world such as the problems of modernity, of identity and the representation crisis of democracy but at the same time we know that we live a pauperization and global/regional/social polarization in a world which is incredibly more prosperous. It is known that all these problems put politics and democratization on the agenda again. In short, the socio-economic inequalities we live can not be accounted only in the context of economy, of growth and even of welfare state that the necessity to analyze all these problems on the basis of democracy problem should not be forgotten. On the other hand, it seems more meaningful to talk about the effects that the globalization and neo-liberal policies on the abolition of the function of democracy where as they create serious questions for labor and are analyzed in this context. This article, with this apprehension, is starting to its way with the idea of re-thinking democracy and politics against the “real liberalism and real globalization” being offered us as the only choice and feels the necessity of concentrating on the relations between democracy, the perspective of political equality and socio-economic inequalities. With this approach, it starts to discuss the social model reproduces the welfare state which emerged as a result of political democracy and transformed capitalism to welfare capitalism and market to social market economy. At this point it becomes important to consider the development of social welfare as a function of political democracy rather than as a function of economic development that is to analyze welfare state as the function of state in the distribution of welfare. Secondly it is necessary to accept that the most determinant factor is the power relations in society in order for politics and democracy to perform such a function. Therefore this article on the one hand analyses the conditions creates social welfare state in Western Europe and the challenges it faces today and on the other hand tries to examine why the character of social state could not develop which had been the official characteristics of state in Turkey since 1960’s.
Primary Language | Turkish |
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Journal Section | Research Article |
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Publication Date | January 1, 2005 |
Published in Issue | Year 2005 Volume: 2 Issue: 5 |