The Question of Welfare State in Natural Law Theories

Abstract

Introduction Many scholars, not only historians, but also social scientists, have contributed to the research in the origins of the idea of „welfare state“ . According to the conventional interpretation it appeared at the end of the 19th century and became a powerful agenda of social policy in the era after World War II . In general, the welfare state or the Sozialstaat is considered as a state which aims at the promotion and maintainance of national welfare and takes on also the responsibility for the well-being of its citizens .1 In particular, a welfare state is committed to combat poverty among its citizens, provide guarantee for their level of living and equality in the distribution of economic benefits . Moreover, a welfare state has the authority to intervene in many aspects of civil life in order to attain those purposes . Students of welfare state have often focused mainly on the development of social welfare policy in the late the 19th century and in the early 20th century, and then created some typologies of the welfare state . The best known is the typology of the Danish social scientist, Gøsta Esping-Andersen .2 Apart from the historical studies of welfare state in western and northern European countries and in the United States, there has recently appeared new research in the post-communist countries of Eastern Europe . Even though western scholars believe that these East-European works have not crossed the broderline of the 19th century, the opposite is true . The new research by Jakub Rákosník and others has focused mainly on state social policies in the 20th century .3