State and Welfare Groups: Competition or Cooperation? Some Observations on the Israeli Scene

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Abstract
Voluntary welfare associations (VWAs) act both as pressure groups trans mitting demands from citizens to state and as functional groups cooperating with government in the formulation and implementation of public policies. Pressure is employed within the pluralist configuration, in which VWAs retain their autonomy vis-à-vis the state. Concerted action and partnership between state and associations occur under corporatism. In each model, a certain cost-benefit balance emerges. Under corporatism, the state devolves power in order to obtain legitimacy; associations forfeit their autonomy in order to gain integrated participation. Under pluralism, the state trades power for legitimacy; associations retain their autonomy at the expense of participation in decision making. This article examines the relevance of these ideas to the Israeli context. The corporatist relationship was expected to prevail when VWAs performed primary functions. When they fulfilled complementary roles, the relationship should tend to be pluralistic. These expectations were examined on eight VWAs, divided equally between the health (primary) and the handicapped (complementary) domains.

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