The Nonprofitized Welfare State: Examining the Relationship between Social Welfare Nonprofitization and Service Expansiveness in Canada and the United Kingdom by Kristen Pue A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science Department of Political Science University of Toronto Ó Copyright by Kristen Pue 2021 The Nonprofitized Welfare State: Examining the Relationship between Social Welfare Nonprofitization and Service Expansiveness in Canada and the United Kingdom Kristen Pue Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science Department of Political Science University of Toronto 2021 Abstract When governments reach out to nonprofit organizations to provide social welfare services, a common argument posits, service expansiveness is weakened: either contracting out is an explicit abdication of public duty or it creates incentives that undermine service expansiveness over time. And yet the evidence does not seem to support this simple explanation of welfare state nonprofitization. This dissertation presents a comparison of nonprofitized welfare in two countries – Canada and the United Kingdom – and two policy areas – homelessness and emergency management. It argues, first, that there is no necessary relationship between the level of nonprofitization and social welfare expansiveness. Nonprofitization occurs within a context where the public duty is being continuously renegotiated, meaning that the boundaries of the welfare state are always in flux. Two pathways to nonprofitization result from the different directions of these fluctuations: cost-cutting and co-optation. While the cost-cutting pathway is linked to service contraction, co-optation is linked to the expansion of public duty. Thus, there is no single overarching relationship between welfare nonprofitization and service expansiveness: nonprofitization operates in both directions. However, this dissertation also argues that the choices that governments make about how to institutionalize nonprofit social welfare can ii influence whether welfare expansiveness erodes over time or, indeed, actually increases. Service expansiveness is undermined when institutions of acquisition embed values of free-market competition, rather than collaboration or service stability. Service expansiveness is facilitated where the policy structure offers opportunities for nonprofit voice through advocacy, shaping the service, and piloting. iii Acknowledgements This dissertation would not have been possible without support and guidance from many individuals over many years. It is extremely gratifying to be able to articulate my appreciation here. First and foremost, I would like to extend my sincerest thank you to Dan Breznitz, who has always been an excellent mentor. I want to thank you in particular for the encouragement as I muddled through the most difficult stages of this harrowing process. Thanks also to Amos Zehavi, Rod Haddow, Joe Wong, Jane Gingrich, and David Rueda, all of whom have provided helpful feedback throughout this journey. Thanks to everyone who helped me in gathering data for this project. Most importantly, thank you to the 104 individuals that were generous with their time and willing to be interviewed. Some of you sat down with me for upwards of two hours! Thanks also to the Canada Revenue Agency’s Charities Directorate for providing information from the charities list from 1990-2015. I have been consistently impressed with the professionalism and speed of the Charities Directorate in responding to requests. A special shout out to Karim Hussain, archivist at the British Red Cross. Thank you, Karim, for your helpful advice and for the engaging conversations during my visits. Thanks also to the staff at the Bishopsgate Institute research library, for their assistance in my accessing the Shelter Archives. I also wish to thank my undergraduate supervisor, Greg Anderson. I have been bad about keeping in touch, but you were an excellent advisor. We all looked up to you. iv Thanks to Steven Bernstein for supervising my Master’s research paper and for encouraging me to accept my offer for the PhD program. Thanks to Teresa Kramarz for the support during my capstone project, and for bringing me on as a Teaching Assistant afterwards. Thanks to Matt Hoffmann for helping me through the beginning of the PhD. Thanks, Stefan Renckens, Michael Trebilcock, and Mariana Mota Prado, for offering me so many opportunities to grow as a researcher. Thank you to Richard Sandbrook for helping me develop a deep understanding of Karl Polanyi’s work. Dan, thanks for giving me such interesting work and for the space to write in the later years. But, of course, the most wasted of all days is one without laughter. Therefore, I wish to express gratitude for my wonderful friends in Canada and around the world. Your generosity, love, whimsy, patience, gamesmanship, and wisdom made this marathon possible. Above all, thanks to Kathleen Elhatton-Lake for being a vociferously steadfast friend. Thanks, Bianca Vong, for sharing your effervescence. To Mary Milner, Stu MacLaren, Ian Literovich, Sarah Mistak, Scott Latham, Rory and Justice Johnston, Penny Angelopoulos, Elizabeth Shelley, and Faye Simmonds, for making an expensive Master’s degree worth every cent. To Kirstie Sutcliffe, for being basically family. To Catherine Fan, Ian Burch, Iain Ireland, Zoë Francis, Nisha Patel, Mary McPhail, Robbie Lees-Miller, Ashvin Singh and the rest of the UADS diaspora. To the Canadian Red Cross’ emergency management staff and volunteers, in the GTA and around the country. To the pub trivia regulars, to the worst floor hockey team in history, to the Rock Oasis crew, to Orange Krush, to fellow food ethics enthusiasts, to thoroughly inartistic art therapy sessions. Thank you for getting me through the difficult days, and for reveling in the triumphs. v A special thanks to Kyla Hewson for being a timeless friend. You and Fariya Mohiuddin gave me the perfect induction to London. (And here’s to our farcical, but still thoroughly enjoyable, Maltese adventure). Merci aussi à Stacey Boknek de m’avait montrée les joyaux de Paris. And, of course, my family deserves immeasurable accolades for, among other things, listening to six years of esoteric rants about how my dissertation is going. Thanks to Lauren Pue, Richard Pue, Taryn Pue, Sherry Bohn, Brenda Kropp, Karen and Rodger Grover, Michelle Grover, Jon Pue, and Nancy Haynes for the love and support. And in the same breath, thanks to Diane and Gary Hnatko. Thanks also to my doctoral colleagues and friends in the University of Toronto’s Department of Political Science. A special thanks to Nicholas Conserva, Scott McKnight, Brianna Botchwey, Elena Goracinova, Alix Jansen, and Reut Marciano, each of whom suffered through my writing at some point during the process. Thanks also to Jason Vandenbeukel and Meghan Snider for the excellent introduction to Canadian politics. Shout out to the Political Animals, computer lab gabbers, strike captains, enviro-gals, study groups, and prairie illuminati. Thanks for the collegiality, whether it was Friday or not. vi Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ iv List of Tables .................................................................................................................................. xi List of Figures ............................................................................................................................... xiv List of Appendices ......................................................................................................................... xv Chapter 1. Welfare State Nonprofitization and Service Expansiveness: When Does Nonprofitization Undermine Social Rights, and When Can it Advance them? .............................. 1 1.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Bringing Nonprofit Welfare to the Welfare State Literature ................................................. 2 1.2.1 The Nonprofitization of the Welfare State ..................................................................... 4 1.2.2 The Political Consequences of Nonprofit Social Welfare Provision ............................. 6 1.3 The Nonprofit Studies Literature on Government Contracting ............................................. 9 1.4 Nonprofitization and Service Expansiveness: Error Causality Not Found ......................... 13 1.4.1 Moving Beyond State Abdication Narratives ............................................................... 13 1.4.2 Practicing Publicness .................................................................................................... 17 1.4.3 If Not Cost-Cutting, Then What? ................................................................................. 19 1.5 Two Pathways to Nonprofitization ...................................................................................... 20 1.5.1 Co-optation as an Alternate Pathway to Nonprofitization ............................................ 20 1.5.2 Why Co-opt Nonprofit Services into the WS ............................................................... 23 1.6 Service Expansiveness and the Institutions of Nonprofitized Welfare