Historical Institutionalism and the Welfare State

Historical institutionalism and the analysis of welfare states (including the ancillary policy domain of the labor market) overlap significantly, in two ways: (i) much single-country, program, and comparative analysis of the welfare state over the last several decades has taken an historical approach – perhaps more so than other parts of political science and public policy analysis (Amenta and Skocpol in Mahoney/Rueschmeyer); and (ii) (relatedly) some of the major scholars of the welfare state have also been the major theorists and proponents of historical institutionalism (most prominently, but not only, Skocpol, Thelen and Pierson).