The Cold War–Welfare State Nexus: An Introduction

This introductory chapter summarizes the state of art in terms of the impact of the Cold War on welfare state development in industrialized countries in the Global North. The chapter’s main part discusses possible causal mechanisms linking bipolar system confrontation and welfare state development in capitalist and socialist countries. System competition, which was essentially a struggle for political legitimacy, is seen as the key and overarching causal mechanism linking the Cold War and welfare state development. Other relevant causal mechanisms that were important in both blocs include a possible fiscal trade-off between military and social spending; policy diffusion resulting from the various activities of the two superpowers to enhance their power in their spheres of influence; and policy innovations related to system competition, notably ideas and concepts of a third way. Finally, the chapter discusses two bloc-specific causal mechanisms that were only relevant for Western democracies. The first is the presence and agitation of communist parties. The second is the impact of the Cold War on political coalition-building processes in countries with proportional representation.