Changing Expectations? The Change in the Role of the Welfare Ministry in the Regulation of Personal Social Services

• Published date: 01 September 2020
• Author: Lihi Lahat
• DOI: 10.1177/0002716220959310
• Date: 01 September 2020

ANNALS, AAPSS, 691, September 2020 153

DOI: 10.1177/0002716220959310

Changing

Expectations?

The Change in

the Role of the

Welfare

Ministry in the

Regulation of

Personal Social

Services

By

LIHI LAHAT

959310ANN THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMYThe Change in the Role of the Welfare Ministry

research-article2020

Many welfare states have increased their regulatory

role, but little attention has been given to historical

changes in the regulatory role of government minis-

tries. This study embraces a mezzo perspective and

explores the regulatory role of the Welfare Ministry of

Israel in the field of personal social services, asking the

following questions: 1) What are the changes in regula-

tory expectations versus practices over the last five

decades? and 2) How can we explain these changes and

their outcomes? The study is based on the qualitative

analysis of comptroller reports and other resources. It

reveals a growing gap between society’s expectations of

the Ministry as a regulator and the Ministry’s capacities

over five decades. Notably, it points to the variety of

regulatory spaces that have appeared in a regulatory

welfare state. The Israeli case is relevant for other

countries that have experienced processes of outsourc-

ing and privatization in the welfare state and whose

ministries had to change their role.

Keywords: personal social services; regulation;

inspection; welfare; gaps

In recent decades, the involvement of differ-

ent sectors, such as the private and voluntary

sectors, in the design and supply of social ser-

vices has created the need for new forms of

regulation in the welfare state (Braithwaite

2006; Majone 1994). The expansion of regula-

tion, rather than becoming a substitute for the

welfare state, has led to the development of

“regulatory welfare states” (RWS) that use

regulation to promote their social objectives

(Levi-Faur 2014; Haber 2017; Levi-Faur and

Benish 2020). This article focuses on the

changing role of the Israeli Ministry of Labor,

Social Services and Social Affairs (hereafter, the

Lihi Lahat is a senior lecturer in the Department of

Administration & Public Policy at Sapir Academic

College and affiliate associate professor, Azrieli Institute

of Israel Studies, Concordia University, Montreal. Her

research interests are the regulation of personal social

services, collaborative governance, and time and policy.

Correspondence: Lahat_l@mail.sapir.ac.il

154 THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY

Welfare Ministry) as the regulator of personal social services. Personal social

services (care services) include diverse programs and services providing in-kind

services to populations, individuals, and families (Katan 1996); for example, ser-

vices for addicted individuals or children suffering violence in the home. More

specifically, it explores five decades of changes in expectations and practices of regu-

lation in personal social services. It argues that society’s expectations of the Welfare

Ministry and the abilities of the Ministry itself both affected its regulatory role.

Israel, as elsewhere, has witnessed a continuous growth in the services that

non-state sectors supply (Gal and Madhala 2016). Over time, the regulatory role

of the Welfare Ministry has faced mounting criticism (Lahat and Talit 2015,

Mandelkern 2012). This criticism sparked our interest in the historical develop-

ment of the regulatory role of the Welfare Ministry. The theoretical term expecta-

tion gap refers to the gap between society’s expectations of the regulator and its

actual role (Shikdar etal. 2018). By developing this term and connecting it to

government abilities (Bali, Capano, and Ramesh 2019; Howlett, Mukherjee, and

Woo 2015), we explore the changes in the regulatory role of the Welfare Ministry.

The following qualitative analysis is based on Israeli State Comptroller Reports,

complemented by documents and interviews.1 The article makes two contribu-

tions to the RWS literature. First, it takes a novel mezzo level perspective, offering

an “inside look” at the changes in the Welfare Ministry. Second, it identifies dif-

ferent kinds of gaps that may be created in the regulatory spaces of RWSs.

Regulation of Social Services

Social regulation is not a new topic in the literature, and some studies have dealt

with the regulation of personal social services (e.g., Furness 2009; Goodship etal.

2004; Lahat and Talit 2015; Spiro and Frumer 2010). A particularly salient example

is the influential work of Braithwaite, Makkai, and Braithwaite (2007). These

authors explored the regulation of nursing homes in the United States, the UK and

Australia and suggested a model of a regulatory pyramid expressing the escalation

of coercion. However, to accomplish their role as regulators, government ministries

may need a new set of tools (Elkomy, Cookson, and Jones 2019; Hood etal. 1999).

Hood et al. (1999) mention oversight, competition, mutuality, and contrived

randomness as possible regulatory tools. Other possibilities include implementing

systems-based regulations or performance-based systems to control the process or

NOTE: I wish to thank Orphee Senouf Pilpoul for her help in gathering the comptroller

reports. I also would like to thank the interviewees for their time and patience. My sincere

gratitude to the reviewers, the editorial team, and the editors of this special issue of The

ANNALS, Professor Levi-Faur and Dr. Benish, for their illuminating remarks on previous ver-

sions of this article. I would like to thank the Azrieli Institute of Israel Studies, Concordia

University, Montreal, the Israel Institute, and the Serling Institute for Jewish Studies and

Modern Israel, Michigan State University, U.S., for the time dedicated to this article. First

versions were presented at the “Regulating for Welfare?” Workshop at the Hebrew University

of Jerusalem, May 14–17, 2019, and at the International Conference of Public Policy, ICPP4,

Concordia University, Montreal, June 26–28, 2019.