New Perspectives on the Welfare State in Europe

Not since the 1940s has there been such comprehensive scope for uncertainty within and about Europe. Who can tell what the map will look like by the turn of the century, what political structures and alignments will operate, what the pattern of economic performance will be, and whose visions of the best way to run a society will prevail? It is with this last facet of uncertainty that New Perspectives on the Welfare State is concerned. This volume examines welfare stateism and our present understanding of it, compares the welfare state in Europe with elsewhere and explores particular state trends and prospects within and across Europe. The highly distinguished contributors explore many themes and trends within the welfare states including the particular prospect for the British welfare state in general to particular prospects for it in the new Europe; the trials of the model Swedish welfare state; the tribulations of the former communist regimes in Eastern Europe and the challenge of Confucianism from the Asian Pacific. Including contributions from Deakin, Klein, Leibfried, Mishra and Rose the work should provide essential reading for students, researchers, lecturers and policy makers in policy, politics, and sociology.