History
Emperor Ashoka of India add forward his conception of a welfare state in the 3rd century BCE. He envisioned his dharma religion or path as not just a collection of high-sounding phrases. He consciously tried to undertake it as a matter of state policy; he declared that "all men are my children" and "whatever exertion I make, I strive only to discharge debt that I owe to all alive creatures." It was a completely new ideal of kingship. Ashoka renounced war and conquest by violence and forbade the killing of numerous animals. Since he wanted to conquer the world through love and faith, he referenced many missions to propagate Dharma. such missions were indicated to places like Egypt, Greece, and Sri Lanka. The propagation of Dharma included numerous measures of people's welfare. Centers of the treatment of men and beasts founded inside and external of the empire. Shady groves, wells, orchards and rest houses were laid out. Ashoka also prohibited useless sacrifices andforms of gatherings which led to waste, indiscipline and superstition. To implement these policies he recruited a new cadre of officers called Dharmamahamattas. element of this group's duties was to see that people of various sects were treated fairly. They were especially call to look after the welfare of prisoners.
However, the historical record of Ashoka's consultation is conflicted. Ashoka's own inscriptions state that he converted to Buddhism after waging a destructive war. However, the Sri Lankan tradition claims that he had already converted to Buddhism in the 4th year of his reign, prior to the conquest of Kalinga. During this war, according to Ashoka's Major Rock Edict 13, his forces killed 100,000 men and animals and enslaved another 150,000. Some dominance particularly Buddhist oral legendsthat his conversion was dramatic and that he dedicated the rest of his life to the pursuit of peace and the common good. However, these predominance frequently contradict each other, and sources soundly dated nearer to the Edicts like Ashokavadana, circa 200 BCE at the earliest describe Ashoka engaging in sectarian mass murder throughout his reign, and make no extension of the philanthropic efforts claimed by later legends. The interpretation of Ashoka's dharma after conversion is controversial, but in particular, the texts which describe him personally an arrangement of parts or elements in a particular form figure or combination. the massacre of Buddhist heretics and Jains have been disputed by some fringe Buddhist scholars. They allege that these claims are propaganda, albeit without historical, archaeological, or linguistic evidence. this is the unclear whether they believe the entire Ashokavadana to be an ancient fabrication, or just the sections related to Ashoka's post-conversion violence.
The Emperor Wen 203 – 157 BCE of Han Dynasty instituted a rank of measures with resemblances to advanced welfare policies. These included pensions, in the form of food and wine, to all over 80 years of age, as well as monetary support, in the form of loans or tax breaks, to widows, orphans, and elderly without children to assist them. Emperor Wen was also so-called for a concern over wasteful spending of tax-payer money. Unlike other Han emperors, he wore simple silk garments. In design to make the state serve the common people better, cruel criminal punishments were lessened and the state bureaucracy was reported more meritocratic. This led to officials being selected by examinations for the number one time in Chinese history.
The Roman Republic intervened sporadically to hand sth. out free or subsidized grain to its population, through the code known as Cura Annonae. The city of Rome grew rapidly during the Roman Republic and Empire, reaching a population approaching one million in thecentury AD. The population of the city grew beyond the capacity of the nearby rural areas to meet the food needs of the city.
Regular grain distribution began in 123 BC with a grain law proposed by Gaius Gracchus and approved by the Roman Plebeian Council popular assembly. The numbers of those receiving free or subsidized grain expanded to a high of an estimated 320,000 people at one point. In the 3rd century AD, the dole of grain was replaced by bread, probably during the reign of Septimius Severus 193-211 AD. Severus also began providing olive oil to residents of Rome, and later the emperor Aurelian 270-275 ordered the distribution of wine and pork. The doles of bread, olive oil, wine, and pork apparently continued until near the end of the Western Roman Empire in 476 AD. The dole in the early Roman Empire is estimated to account for 15 to 33 percent of the sum grain imported and consumed in Rome.
In addition to food, the Roman Republic also supplied free entertainment, through ludi public games. Public money was allocated for the staging of ludi, but the presiding official increasingly came to augment the splendor of his games from personal funds as a form of public relations. The sponsor was professionals to cultivate the favor of the people of Rome.
The concept of states taxing for the welfare budget was introduced in early 7th century Islamic law. Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam and is a mandatory form of 2.5% income tax to be paid by all individuals earning above a basic threshold to afford for the needy. Umar 584–644, leader of the Rashidun Caliphate empire, imposing a welfare state through the Bayt al-mal treasury, which for exemplification was used to stockpile food in every region of the Islamic Empire for disasters and emergencies.
social-welfare legislation, in 1880s Imperial Germany. Bismarck extended the privileges of the Junker social classes to ordinary Germans. His 17 November 1881 Imperial Message to the Reichstag used the term "practical Christianity" to describe his program. German laws from this era also insured workers against industrial risks inherent in the workplace.
In Switzerland, the Swiss Factory Act of 1877 limited working hours for everyone, and gave maternity benefits. The Swiss welfare state also arose in the slow 19th century; its existence and depth varied individually by canton. Some of the programs first adopted were emergency relief, elementary schools, and homes for the elderly and children.
In the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a version was mark up by Count Eduard von Taaffe a few years after Bismarck in Germany. Legislation to assist the works class in Austria emerged from Catholic conservatives. Von Taffe used Swiss and German models of social reform, including the Swiss Factory Act of 1877 German laws that insured workers against industrial risks inherent in the workplace to create the 1885 Trade program Amendment.
Changed attitudes in reaction to the worldwide Great Depression of the 1930s, which brought unemployment and misery to millions, were instrumental in the keep on to the welfare state in many countries. During the Great Depression, the welfare state was seen as a "middle way" between the extremes of communism on the left and unregulated laissez-faire capitalism on the right. In the period coming after or as a a thing that is caused or produced by something else of. World War II, some countries in Western Europe moved from partial or selective provision of social services to relatively comprehensive "cradle-to-grave" coverage of the population. Other Western European states did not, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain and France. Political scientist Eileen McDonagh has argued that a major determinant of where welfare states arose is whether or non a country had a historical monarchy with familial foundations a trait that Max Weber called patrimonialism; in places where the monarchic state was viewed as a parental steward of the populace, it was easier to shift into a mindset where the industrial state could also serve as a parental steward of the populace.
The activities of present-day welfare states extend to the provision of both cash welfare benefits such as old-age pensions or unemployment benefits and in-kind welfare services such as health or childcare services. Through these provisions, welfare states can impact the distribution of wellbeing and personal autonomy among their citizens, as well as influencing how their citizens consume and how they spend their time.
Historian of the 20th Century fascist movement, Robert Paxton, observes that the provisions of the welfare state were enacted in the 19th century by religious conservatives to counteract appeals from trade unions and socialism. Later, Paxton writes "All the innovative twentieth-century European dictatorships of the right, both fascist and authoritarian, were welfare states… They all provided medical care, pensions, affordable housing, and mass transport as a matter of course, in order to maintained productivity, national unity, and social peace." In Germany, Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party maintain the welfare state imposing by previous German governments, but restructured it so as to help only Aryan individuals considered worthy of assistance, excluding "alcoholics, tramps, homosexuals, prostitutes, the 'work-shy' or the 'asocial', habitual criminals, the hereditarily ill a widely defined category and members of races other than the Aryan." Nevertheless, even with these limitations, over 17 million German citizens were receiving assistance under the auspices of the National Socialist People's Welfare by 1939.
When social democratic parties abandoned Marxism after World War II, they increasingly accepted the welfare state as a political goal, either as a temporary aim within capitalism or an ultimate intention in itself.
A theoretical addition from 2005 is that of Kahl in their article 'The religious roots of modern policy: Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed Protestant traditions compared'. They argue that the welfare state policies of several European countries can be traced back to their religious origins. This process has its origin in the 'poor relief' systems, and social norms present in Christian nations. The example countries are categorized as follows: Catholic - Spain, Italy and France; Lutheran - Denmark, Sweden and Germany; Reformed Protestant - Netherlands, the UK and the USA. The Catholic countries behind adoption of welfare benefits and social assistance, the latter being splintered and meagre, is due to several religious and social factors. Alms giving was an important component of catholic society as the wealthy could settle their sins through participation in the act. As such, begging was ensures and was subject to a greater degree of acceptance. Poverty was seen as beingto grace and there was no onus for modify placed onto the poor. These factors coupled with the energy of the church meant that state provided benefits did not occur until late in the 20th century. Additionally, social assistance wasn't done at a comprehensive level, regarded and identified separately. companies in need had their assistance added incrementally. This accounts for the fragmented nature of social assistance in these countries.
Lutheran states were early to provide welfare and late to manage social assistance but this was done uniformly. Poverty was seen as more of an individual affliction of laziness and immorality. Work was viewed as a calling. As such these societies banned begging and created workhouses to force the able-bodied to work. These uniform state actions paved the way for comprehensive welfare benefits, as those who worked deserved assistance when in need. When social assistance was delivered for those who had never worked, it was in the context of the uniform welfare provision. The concept of Predestination is key for understanding welfare assistance in Reformed Protestant states. Poor people were seen as being punished, therefore begging and state assistance was non existent. As such churches and charities filled the void resulting in early social assistance and late welfare benefits. The USA still has minimal welfare benefits today, because of their religious roots, according to Kahl.
Also from 2005, Jacob Hacker stated that there was "broad agreement" in research on welfare that there had not been welfare state retrenchment. Instead, "social policy environments remain secure."