1st Edition
Discretion in the Welfare State Social Rights and Professional Judgment
Introduction
1. Discretion and Its Critics
2. The Anatomy of Discretion
3. Professional Discretion in the Welfare State: Two Normative Tensions
4. Mechanisms of Accountability
5. Summing Up
Biography
Anders Molander is Associate Professor at Centre for the Study of Professions, Oslo and Akershus University College, Norway.
'What emerges from this ‘little book’, is a concise but convincing account of the analytical
distinction between structural and epistemic discretion which is far more accessible than the work
of Alexy (2000) it is inspired by. Molander demonstrates the practical application of his arguments
when addressing concerns over accountability, providing an insight into how the distinction offers
more than simply a theoretical tool for examining tensions in the granting of discretion (i.e. with
the ‘rule of law’ or ‘democratic control’), but can also bear fruit when applied to the real-world
management of discretion decision-making in a welfare bureaucracy.'Jed Meers York Law School, University of York, UK
