Imperial Migration and the Contributory Principle: The Beveridge Model Revisited

Roslyn Dubler, Max Planck Institute of Legal History and Legal Theory

This paper revisits a crucial but forgotten moment in the development of the British welfare state: the shift from universal pension schemes to a contributory scheme with a means-tested complement. Drawing on new archival records, this paper examines the role of imperial migration - both among British administrators and colonial subjects - in this shift. By situating this change in the context of imperial administration, soldier entitlements, and financial costs of welfare and empire, this paper suggests the imperial underpinnings of the famous Beveridge model. In doing so, it offers a new account of the ways that imperial migration defined the distribution and the principles of the model welfare state.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 178. Imperialism, Migration, and the Welfare State