Taxation and Democracy is the first book to examine the structure, politics, and historic development of taxation policies in several countries. Comparing three quite different political democracies--Sweden, Britain, and the United States--the book provides a powerful account of the ways these democracies have managed to finance their welfare programs despite widespread public resistance to taxes. Sven Steinmo argues that the different political structures of these countries produce varying tax systems and, by extension, differing social policy regimes.

According to Steinmo, all...

The modern welfare state is under threat from a variety of fronts. Changing demographic patterns, declining public trust, interest group demands and growing international competition for capital and labour are presenting modern states with intense pressures. This volume examines these competing pressures and offers a coherent analyses of both institutional resilience and institutional change. Adopting an evolutionary approach, this innovative volume demonstrates both how past practices and policies significantly affect the current options and how social and economic forces impinge upon each...

This volume brings together original essays by scholars working on a diverse range of empirical issues, but whose work is in each case informed by a "historical institutional" approach to the study of politics. By bringing these pieces together, the volume highlights the methodological and theoretical foundations of this approach and illustrates the general contributions it has made to comparative politics. The essays demonstrate the potential of the approach to illuminate a broad range of issues such as how and why institutions change, how political ideas are filtered through institutional...

This book explores the forces pushing America away from its democratic friends and neighbors. It examines the underlying forces shaping the democratic states of the West. Individual chapters pose questions such as: Why is religion so powerful in America? How will the flow of immigration shape politics across the West? Why is Europe rejecting America s version of capitalism? How is the media changing in Europe and America? Why are Conservatives so different on each side of the Atlantic? And, finally, what do these competing forces portend for the future of the transatlantic relationship?"

This book explores the forces pushing America away from its democratic friends and neighbors. It examines the underlying forces shaping the democratic states of the West. Individual chapters pose questions such as: Why is religion so powerful in America? How will the flow of immigration shape politics across the West? Why is Europe rejecting America s version of capitalism? How is the media changing in Europe and America? Why are Conservatives so different on each side of the Atlantic? And, finally, what do these competing forces portend for the future of the transatlantic relationship?"

The Evolution of Modern States is a significant contribution to the literatures on political economy, globalization, historical institutionalism, and social science methodology. The book begins with a simple question: Why do rich capitalist democracies respond so differently to the common pressures they face in the early twenty-first century? Drawing on insights from evolutionary theory, Sven Steinmo challenges the common equilibrium view of politics and economics and argues that modern political economies are best understood as complex adaptive systems. The book examines the political,...