Partisan governance, women's employment, and the social democratic servicestate

The causes of the expansion and cross-national variation in the provision o f welfare state goods and services are examined. Social democratic governan ce is by far the most important determinant of the public delivery of servi ces and is one of the most important determinants of the public funding of the provision of welfare state goods and services. Christian democratic gov ernance is an important determinant of public funding of services, but is n ot related to public delivery. State structure is also an important determi nant. Women's labor force participation is an important determinant of the expansion of public social welfare services net of other social, political, and historical factors. The analysis also shows an interactive effect of w omen's labor force participation and social democratic governance on public delivery of welfare state services. We conclude that public delivery of a wide range of welfare state services is the most distinctive feature of the social democratic welfare state and that this feature is a product of the direct and interactive effects of social democracy and women's mobilization .