SOCIAL PROTECTION AND NEED SATISFACTION: theoretical-methodological contributions from a renewed notion of state capacity

Abstract

Since the late twentieth century, the state capacity to face crises of different types and magnitudes has been increasingly questioned, especially in the field of welfare. This article is part of a theoretical and methodological effort to develop a substantive notion of state capacity for social protection, capturing its effects in the configuration of general conditions for the reproduction of life (individual and collective) and overcoming formalist visions of the state-society relationship. To do so, the relationships between its institutional dimension and its political-cultural expression are analyzed, understanding that the scope of the policies in the needs satisfaction processes depend on the legitimacy of the institutions in which the protective relationship materializes. A particular way of approaching the political-cultural dimension is proposed and finally its possible operationalization is tested, in order to guide empirical inquiries in this direction.

Key words
State capacity for social; Protection; Satisfaction of needs; Institutionality; Legitimacy