The Public Interest and the Welfare State: A Legal Approach

19 Pages Posted: 18 Sep 2008 Last revised: 23 Jun 2013

See all articles by Gijsbert J. Vonk

Gijsbert J. Vonk

University of Groningen - Department of Administrative Law and Public Administration, Faculty of Law

Albertjan Tollenaar

University of Groningen - Department of Administrative Law and Public Administration

Date Written: September 17, 2008

Abstract

The boundaries between public and private social security change over the years. The Dutch social security system increasingly makes use of private arrangements. This privatization gives rise to questions regarding the protection of public interests. These questions are perceived very differently by the various disciplines. We have opted for a legal point of view. We will address the following question: 'Does the law provide a basis for defining the public interests of social security and if so, is it possible to identify a catalogue of these interests with reference to the law?'.

We answer this question affirmatively. An initial observation is that legal theory of fundamental socio-economic rights does constitute a suitable framework for defining state responsibilities in the welfare state. This proposition is worked out in paragraph 3 with reference to the modern method of differentiating the state obligations in the obligation to respect, the obligation to protect and the obligation to fulfill.

The next step is to clarify what should be respected, promoted or fulfilled. In paragraph 4 we introduce seven leading principles of social security, being one of the pillars of the welfare state. These principles go beyond legal reasoning and will meet some recognition also from an economical, historical or sociological perspective. The seven principles are formulated under the headings of: protection, inclusion, security, equality, solidarity, rule of law and good governance. After the concept of social security is thus unravelled it becomes possible to associate each of the seven principles with legal principles and requirements which are more clearly established in law. In this way the right to social security will be identified with a set of concrete legal standards. Examples of such deductive exercise will be presented in paragraph 5. The article concludes in paragraph 6 with a number of reflective remarks as to the appropriateness and relevance of the method we introduce in this paper.

Keywords: public interest, Social security as a fundamental socio-economic right, equality, rule of law, protection

JEL Classification: H53, H55, I30, K40

Suggested Citation

Vonk, Gijsbert J. and Tollenaar, Albertjan, The Public Interest and the Welfare State: A Legal Approach (September 17, 2008). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1269372 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1269372

Gijsbert J. Vonk

University of Groningen - Department of Administrative Law and Public Administration, Faculty of Law ( email )

PO Box 800
9700 AH Groningen, 9700 AV
Netherlands

HOME PAGE: http://www.rug.nl/staff/g.j.vonk

Albertjan Tollenaar (Contact Author)

University of Groningen - Department of Administrative Law and Public Administration ( email )

PO Box 716
Groningen, 9700 AS
Netherlands

HOME PAGE: http://www.rug.nl/staff/a.tollenaar

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
395
Abstract Views
3,093
Rank
137,145
PlumX Metrics