Modern Social Politics in Britain and Sweden was the winner of the 1974 Woodrow Wilson Foundation Book Award for the best book published in the United States on government, politics, or international affairs.
“[Heclo] painstakingly analyses the evolution of income maintenance policies over the past 100 years in Britain and Sweden in an effort to explain why these policies evolved as they did. He thus poses a question of fundamental importance to both policy and political science and he produces an answer which is neither obvious nor dramatic but which is original, discriminating, and persuasive. His book is an unusually judicious combination of political theory, historical research, comparative method, and policy analysis. And not to be overlooked is the fact that all this is expressed in a crisp, literate prose style, of the sort which has unfortunately become, somewhat rare in our profession. Modern Social Politics represents a major contribution to the discipline on not one but several fronts and stands as a model of how political scientists can tease out of history answers to the question: why?”
Samuel P. Huntington, Chairman of the Award Committee
“I only wish I had [this book] at my disposal when I was lecturing on comparative welfare states as a visiting professor…. [Heclo] has done his work thoroughly, delving equally into the British records (of which I have some knowledge) and into the Swedish records (where I have none). I can only assume that he is bilingual, a great advantage in a work of this kind; he has put this facility to excellent use.”
Edwin, Lord Samuel, Journal of Economic Literature
“This book is an important and significant contribution to our understanding of the politics of income maintenance policies on a cross-national basis, and it provides a fascinating study of the impact of political culture on the policymaking process.... A valuable contribution to all students of European politics and to students of comparative public policy.“ Perspective
Hugh Heclo (1943-2017) was Robinson Professor of Public Affairs at George Mason University, a former Professor of Government at Harvard University, and prior to that a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. Most recently he is author of Christianity and American Democracy (Harvard University Press, 2007) and On Thinking Institutionally (Paradigm Press, 2008).
