TANF and the Libertarian and Communitarian Prescriptions to Poverty

Abstract

This paper analyzes the libertarian and communitarian views of the welfare state and the proper responsibilities and limits of governmental action. In the middle of the 1990s, the Clinton administration administered systematic welfare reform with its central philosophy of temporary assistance and welfare for struggling families in order to facilitate them for reengagement into the work force and education. Such programs as The Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), the dynamics of welfare have changed since the era of the Great Society. With this policy in its first decade of existence, this paper focuses on both the theoretical and philosophical interpretations of the libertarian community and communitarian community.