The Spanish ‘via media’ to the development of the Welfare State

Abstract

The case of Spain has attracted very little attention from academics and experts in the area of social policy, perhaps because it was under Franco's rule for a period of nearly 40 years. This Working Paper analyses succinctly the process of building a welfare system in Spain during the 20th century stressing general differences and similarities with respect to other advanced industrial countries. At present, Spanish welfare development appears as a via media between both 'corporatist-continental' and Anglo-Saxon 'liberal' models. It also incorporates some socialdemocratic inputs as reference tokens. However, the most relevant aspect concerning future trends is that associated with the deepening of regional and local decentralisation both at the level of planning and policy implementation.