Edited volume by Gøsta Esping-Andersen.
This wide-ranging comparative analysis of contemporary and future changes in welfare states looks at the different trajectories of the welfare states of Europe, North America, the Antipodes, and the emerging scenarios in Latin America, East Asia and Central and Eastern Europe.
Leading experts on each of these regions examine the current structures of social protection, consider the causes of the current welfare state crisis and highlight evolving trends for welfare policy. Different welfare states are shown to manifest different forms of crisis. Among the symptoms of crisis, Welfare States in Transition suggests that the effect of popluation ageing is exaggerated, and an at least equally fundamental challenge lies in the revolution of the modern family and the changing economic role of women. The contributors are sceptical about the neo-liberal formula for reform, not only because it increases inequality but also because it does not address the growing need for an active social investment policy to ensure against entrapment in poverty or low-paid jobs.
Contents: Dharam Ghai Foreword \ Gøsta Esping-Andersen After the Golden Age? Welfare State Dilemmas in a Global Economy \ PART ONE: DECLINE OR RENEWAL IN THE ADVANCED WELFARE STATES? \ John D Stephens The Scandinavian Welfare States: Achievements, Crisis and Prospects \ Gøsta Esping-Andersen Welfare States without Work: The Impasse of Labour Shedding and Familialism in Continental European Social Policy \ Francis G Castles Needs-Based Strategies of Social Protection in Australia and New Zealand \ John Myles When Markets Fail: Social Welfare in Canada and the United States \ PART TWO: EMERGING NEW WELFARE STATES? \ Evelyne Huber Options for Social Policy in Latin America: Neoliberal versus Social Democratic Models \ Roger Goodman and Ito Peng The East Asian Welfare States: Peripatetic Learning, Adaptive Change and Nation-Building \ Guy Standing Social Protection in Central and Eastern Europe: A Tale of Slipping Anchors and Torn Safety Nets \ CONCLUSION \ Gøsta Esping-Andersen Positive-Sum Solutions in a World of Trade-Offs?