In the Nordics, the welfare society was built during those decades. However, the system is steadily on the decline, though most don't see (or don't want to see) it yet. Perhaps there was something in the second world war which pushed idealists to the ruling classes of the society, allowing them to restructure it in the actual mutual interest, above self-serving sociopathic interests. Could it be that existential crisis prompts the elite-selectors to favor actual competence over political machinations?

In any case, it seems a common theme in the West that the society built during the height of the cold war is currently being milked in every way possible in the interests of the ruling class, with nothing new being built in its place.