Governance and modern welfare states

The new theory of governance represents strong analogies with the proposals that are beginning to dominate thinking about welfare states. In both cases, according to the experts, the complexity of the modern world is forcing states to limit their field of action and to enter into action networks with private sector partners. This article attempts to demonstrate that the functionalism inherent in this kind of approach does not enable it to account correctly for the way welfare states are currently developing, and that the proposals for good governance err by being too simplistic and by underestimating what states have inherited in the way of institutions and standards.