WELFARE-STATE RETRENCHMENT - PLAYING THE NATIONAL CARD

An analysis of welfare-state restructuring under conservative governme nts during the 1980s undermines the notion that the nation-state is be ing rendered obsolete by economic globalization. The nation-state is s till the principal site of political conflict. Yet this conflict has t o be analyzed in light of global economic and cultural pressures. Cons ervative attempts to restructure the welfare state were parallel event s within a larger transition in the world economy, but they had decisi vely distinct national trajectories.