policy such as education, employment, health,
social services and transport, the state appar-
atus strives to ensure the delivery of some
basic levels of service. So, for example, state-
funded schooling sets out to ensure that every
child receives an education. Empirical studies
have, however, revealed that in practice it is
not easy to control who benefits. They have
found that it is sometimes the case that the
most affluent in society that gain from the
provision ofpublic services.
The modern Western welfare state emerged
during the 1930s and 1940s, in the context of
the two world wars and significant economic
and political turbulence. The precise timing
differed from one country to another, as did
the functions that were brought within the
remit of the welfare state. Most noticeably,
for example, the USA has never had a national
health service, unlike most of thenationsof
Europe. In general, welfare states were formed
to address some of the fundamental social
issues of the time, such as disease, inequality
andpoverty. A strong role for the state appar-
atus was created, in which it would it ensure a
basic standard for all citizens. These decisions
reflected the wider belief at the time in the
enlightenmentproject, and in the enshrining
ofuniversalrightsinthedesign and structure of
the original welfare states (see alsocitizenship).
However, since the 1980s the welfare state
has been restructured both quantitatively
and qualitatively (Pierson, 1991). Although
in many countries it remains heavily involved
in the lives of citizens, its size and its organiza-
tion have changed considerably in recent
years. Critiques from the political parties of
the right have become mainstream policy in a
number of countries. In a growing number of
countries, we have witnessed a significant
rethinking of the role assigned to the welfare
state. On the one hand, some functions it
previously performed have been contracted-
out to private-sector providers, in the form
ofprivatization, or through the formation of
public__private partnerships. This growth in
private-sector firms, employing their workers
on private-sector terms and conditions,
troubles the notion of public services (Pinch,
1997). How public is a service managed by
the welfare state but delivered by the private
sector, according tomarketrules? This also
challenges us to reflect carefully on where the
welfare state starts and stops, where its edges
are (Peck, 2001a). On the other hand, the
introduction into the state apparatus of private
sector-type audits, evaluations, management
techniques and performance indicators has
transformed itsmodus operandi. While the
welfare state might continue to deliver the
services, the conditions under which this is
performed is as a result qualitatively different
(Jessop, 2002). kwaSuggested reading
Jessop (2002); Pierson (1991).West, the The idea of the West and the con-
cept of westernization are interwoven with
a world-view that believes in the superiority
of the human over the non-human, the mas-
culine over the feminine, the adult over the
child, and the modern over the traditional.
Legitimized through ‘anthropocentric doc-
trines of secular salvation, in the ideologies of
progress, normality and hyper-masculinity,
and in theories of cumulative growth of sci-
ence and technology’ (Nandy, 1997, p. 169),
westernization is akin to another form of col-
onization –an intimate enemy–
which at least six generations of thethird
worldhave learnt to view as a prerequisite
for their liberation. This colonialism
colonizes minds in addition to bodies and it
releases forces within the colonial societies to
alter their cultural priorities once and for all.
In the process, it helps generalize the concept
of the modern West from a geographical and
temporal entity to a psychological category.
The West is now everywhere, within the West
and outside; in structures and in minds.
(Nandy, 1997, p. 170)
ForBhabha (1985),suchomnipresenceofthe
West (cf.eurocentrism)allowsopportunities
forhybridityandresistance:whencolonized
peoplebecome‘European’,theresemblancecan
subvert theidentityof that which is being
represented. The hybrid that articulates colonial
and native knowledges may reverse the process
of domination as repressed knowledges enter
subliminally, enabling subversion, intervention
and resistance (Peet and Watts, 1993).
The concept ofdevelopment, with its close
affinity withteleologicalviews of history,
science and progress, has served as a central
and dynamic theme in Western modernist dis-
cursive formations. By the end of the nine-
teenth century, both the colonialist as well as
the radical alternative intellectual traditions
became associated with ‘linearity, scientism,
and modernization, universalisms which car-
ried the appeal of secular utopias constructed
with rationality and enlightenment’ (Peet
and Watts, 1993, p. 232). Withcapitalism,
bureaucracy andscienceas the holy trinity,Gregory / The Dictionary of Human Geography 9781405132879_4_W Final Proof page 808 31.3.2009 4:10pmWEST, THE