Cutting against the grain: Reagan, Thatcher and the politics of welfare state retrenchment

This analysis focuses on the efforts of the Reagan and Thatcher administrations to produce significant changes in both the size and structure of the welfare state. The dissertation first develops a conceptualization of "retrenchment" which moves beyond a preoccupation with immediate cutbacks in public expenditure. Case studies of three policy areas--old age pensions, housing and income support for the working-aged poor--are then used to develop an explanation for the pattern of successes and failures of the two administrations. Without suggesting that one factor can fully account for these patterns, the analysis places great weight on the role existing program structures play in influencing the prospects for successful retrenchment.