Conclusions : Welfare regimes in the 21st century: From labelling to explaining
In this concluding chapter, editors Martin Grander and Mark Stephens summarise the findings and reflect on the evolution of regime approaches as theoretical frameworks for understanding housing systems. The central thesis is that the housing regime operates within a wider welfare regime that incorporates both micro- and macro- social and economic institutions. Identifying the interrelationships between the housing and wider welfare regimes is key to understanding how housing systems operate, and what policy can – and cannot – achieve. Interpreting welfare regimes and housing regimes, and the relationship between them has become more complex as the world has become more integrated; it has become simply impossible to understand housing systems solely from within. Neither merely describing institutional frameworks and policies nor categorising them on the basis of the role of the state, market and households will provide a satisfactory explanation. Understanding requires capturing organisational logic, which is itself more difficult as traditional ideologies and party systems are weakened, although the significance of legacy regimes remains.