Welfare states have spread across the globe, transforming modern civilization. But the take-over is often going badly. In Marseilles, armed drug gangs dominate the social housing estates. In America, an outstandingly wealthy country, 45 million people are dependent on food stamps. In Britain, the NHS has one of the worst records for cancer care in the advanced world. Many countries are collecting more than ever in taxes but managing to get deeper into debt because of their burgeoning welfare states. All around the world, culture is being damaged by welfare state dependency while governments become more and more like Big Brother, telling us what we must do.
The twentieth century experienced an epochal war between capitalism and communism. Bartholomew argues that, out of the ashes of that conflict, the real winner has been neither communism nor capitalism. It has been welfare statism—the new, defining form of government of our age that has swept across the advanced world. Without any revolution or great theorist, welfare states are changing the nature of modern civilization. But in what ways? And what lessons can be learned before it is too late?
James Bartholomew traveled around the world seeing how cultures and lives are being changed—seeing what is going wrong but also looking for countries where they are making better policy decisions. His book is an unparalleled investigation in which he tells the story of the people and places he visited. He takes the reader on a journey, which includes burnt-out cars in France, a tough-minded benefits office in Singapore and innovative hospitals in Spain.