Possible Challenges to the Welfare State in a Post-COVID-19 Society: An Illustration from a Citizen’s Perspective

Abstract

The essay aims to clarify possible challenges to the welfare state in a post-COVID-19 society and to illustrate conceptual ideas on how to tackle those challenges from a citizen’s perspective. This is based on interdisciplinary studies, particularly the literature survey in English and Japanese. The direct and indirect impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the global community have been examined from a broader perspective. The article clarifies that the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are expected to be far larger and more complicated than those originally expected. The issues regarding possible challenges to the welfare state in a post-COVID-19 society are discussed in the three contexts of 1) the vulnerability approach, 2) governmental policy priority, and 3) social distancing in a civil society. Then, some ideas are illustrated from a citizen’s perspective. Through the discussion, it can be assumed that the government of each welfare state will make its best endeavors to respond to the requests of citizens but will face challenges that cannot be resolved easily with respect to the national budget, skilled human resources, technology, information, and so on. International cooperation among states would be of paramount importance to cope with a global issue like the COVID-19 pandemic. Another important aspect to bear in mind is that the future will be created by people in civil society embracing universal values and social ethics while maintaining a good relationship with the government. When facing inexperienced challenges, good citizenship in civil society would be a starting point because governments, parliaments, and courts cannot respond to sudden challenges. Individuals may take actions to express their ideas where the information technology of social networking services has developed.