The Spanish «mid way» to the Mediterranean Welfare State Model

Abstract

The Spanish Welfare State incorporates elements of both Bismarckian and Beveridgean traditions, and can be labelled as a via media with respect to other systems of social protection in advanced democracies. It also represents a middle way of de-commodification and gendering, and of universal and means-tested access to services and benefits. This article analyses the main features of the Mediterranean welfare regime, and concentrates in the development of the programmes of social assistance and social services in Spain. The rationale implicit in the process of federalisation in Spain, and that of the territorial subsidiarity in the European Union, favours the participation of sub-state layers of government in the running of social policies according to criteria of efficiency and of democratic accountability.