Welfare state generosity and national identity: A study on institutions

Abstract: National identity has in a growing field of literature been proposed as a possible tool which, if manipulated, can be used to construct institutions of social justice and particularly a redistributive welfare state. In contrast, decades of welfare state research is largely in consensus that redistributive welfare states were created in response to societal issues such as poverty, emigration and declining fertility rates. In arguing that a redistributive welfare state cannot be treated as dependent on national identity, this study constructs an analytical framework combining literature from welfare state research, institutionalism, and political psychology to argue that welfare state generosity is a determinant of national identity. The study distinguishes and investigates three dimensions of national identity – national attachment, national pride, and national chauvinism – and explores their relationship to welfare generosity. Employing multilevel modelling, the study finds a positive but not statistically significant relationship between welfare generosity and national attachment. Welfare generosity is, further, found to have a negative and statistically significant relationship to both national pride and national chauvinism.