Responsibility and the demands of solidarity. Defending the welfare state in hard times

Welfare states are under pressure: defence spending adds to budgetary pressures confronting many European governments, whilst new social and health-related challenges require reform. I return to fundamental questions that shaped social policy over the last 40 years, notably the issue of ‘personal responsibility’ versus ‘solidarity’ and ‘moral hazard’ as a limit to the organisation of solidarity. I highlight long-term trends and swings in the ideational debate on solidarity, responsibility and moral hazard. I argue that, from a normative point of view, welfare state solidarity is inherently a responsibility-sensitive concept. I distinguish four connotations of responsibility, which I see as ‘demands of solidarity’. An adequate conception of solidarity that answers the challenges of contemporary welfare states and allows a robust defence of welfare state solidarity cannot shy away from questions of personal responsibility, but it should include all the demands of responsibility – of which personal responsibility is only one. The paper is based on the 2025 Sidney Ball Lecture organised by the Department of Social Policy and Intervention of the University of Oxford.