EL ESTADO SOCIAL

Abstract

Contrary to the Liberal State, the Welfare State arises from a formal and specifi c concept of freedom, equality and dignity. Based on this creed, it aims at justice and development and at enabling all citizens to enjoy and exercise their social and economic rights —rights previously neglected by abstentionist liberalism— such that nobody remains below their rightful minimum subsistence level. To do so the State intervenes in civil society, corrects market deviations without suppressing it, directs and partly manages the economy. But, so as not to fall into authoritarianism, the Welfare State must be under the rule of Law and be democratic, that is, function in accordance with the principle of legal certainty and with the participation of that same society it leads, a society no longer atomized into individuals but organized into all sorts of associations and institutions. Th is establishes a State/society dialectic in which the former intervenes in the latter, which, in turn, participates in the decision-making process at the diff erent levels of the State. Today the Welfare State is fi ghting its toughest battle against a systemic economic crisis of global dimensions.