Introduction

As the principle of a citizen's stake becomes tentatively established in British social policy, and attracts attention from around the world, deep and searching questions inevitably arise. Three sets of questions may be distinguished:

• 1) The underlying social ideal. What broader social vision is the citizen’s stake connected with? The basic idea of the citizen's stake is compatible with a wide range of conceptions of the good society. This is why it draws support across the political spectrum. But once the principle is established, further development of policies like the Child Trust Fund (CTF) requires a clear view of the specific conception of the good society we wish to advance.

• 2) International relevance. It has been argued that while asset-based approaches might have some relevance for nations of ‘Anglo-Saxon’ capitalism (such as Britain, the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia), they have little relevance to continental Europe or other parts of the world. Is this fair comment?

• 3) Immediate actions. What immediate actions should policy makers take to shape future development of the CTF in particular and the citizen's stake more broadly? We now look at each of these questions in turn.

Underlying social ideal

What kind of society is the CTF meant to help create? We begin by locating the CTF in relation to a currently influential conception of the good society centred on a social investment paradigm. We then outline three further perspectives that offer challenges or modifications to this paradigm: libertarianism; post-productivism (which we see as related to civic republicanism); and egalitarianism.

The social investment paradigm

A major theme in centre-left thinking in recent years is that the state should seek not merely to assist those in need, but, where possible, to help people build their capacities so that they can be more selfsupporting. Spending to this end is not simply welfare, but a kind of investment. In Britain, this theme came into mainstream discussion with the report of the Commission on Social Justice in 1994, stressing the need to create an ‘Investor's Britain’ as opposed to a mere ‘Leveller’s Britain’ based on income redistribution (Commission on Social Justice, 1994).