The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State: (Oxford Handbooks)

The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State is the authoritative and definitive guide to the contemporary welfare state. In a volume consisting of nearly fifty newly-written chapters, a broad range of the world's leading scholars offer a comprehensive account of everything one needs to know about the modern welfare state. The book is divided into eight sections. It opens with three chapters that evaluate the philosophical case for (and against) the welfare state. Surveys of the welfare state 's history and of the approaches taken to its study are followed by four extended sections, running to some thirty-five chapters in all, which offer a comprehensive and in-depth survey of our current state of knowledge across the whole range of issues that the welfare state embraces. The first of these sections looks at inputs and actors (including the roles of parties, unions, and employers), the impact of gender and religion, patterns of migration and a changing public opinion, the role of international organisations and the impact of globalisation. The next two sections cover policy inputs (in areas such as pensions, health care, disability, care of the elderly, unemployment, and labour market activation) and their outcomes (in terms of inequality and poverty, macroeconomic performance, and retrenchment). The seventh section consists of seven chapters which survey welfare state experience around the globe (and not just within the OECD). Two final chapters consider questions about the global future of the welfare state. The individual chapters of the Handbook are written in an informed but accessible way by leading researchers in their respective fields giving the reader an excellent and truly up-to-date knowledge of the area under discussion. Taken together, they constitute a comprehensive compendium of all that is best in contemporary welfare state research and a unique guide to what is happening now in this most crucial and contested area of social and political development.

Table of Contents:
List of Tables and Figures About the Contributors Stephan Leibfried: Preface Stephan Leibfried: A Note on the Jacket Illustration 1: Francis G. Castles, Stephan Leibfried, Jane Lewis, Herbert Obinger, and Christopher Pierson: Introduction Part I Philosophical Justifications and Critiques of the Welfare State 2: Stuart White: Ethics 3: Christopher Pierson and Matthieu Leimgruber: Intellectual Roots 4: Desmond King & Fiona Ross: Critics and Beyond Part II History 5: Stein Kuhnle & Anne Sander: The Emergence of the Western Welfare State 6: Frank Nullmeier & Frank-Xaver Kaufmann: Post-War Welfare State Development Part III Approaches 7: Edwin Amenta & Alexander Hicks: Research Methods 8: Willem Adema & Peter Whiteford: Public and Private Social Welfare 9: Mary Daly: Families versus State and Market 10: Einar Øverbye: Disciplinary Perspectives Part IV Inputs and Actors 11: Jan Zutavern & Martin Kohli: Needs and Risks 12: Torben Iversen: Democracy and Capitalism 13: Bernhard Ebbinghaus: Unions and Employers 14: Manfred G. Schmidt: Parties 15: Ellen M. Immergut: Political Institutions 16: Stefan Svallfors: Public Attitudes 17: Ann Shola Orloff: Gender 18: Kees van Kersbergen & Philip Manow: Religion 19: Stephen Castles & Carl-Ulrik Schierup: Migration and Ethnic Minorities 20: Gerda Falkner: European Union 21: Klaus Armingeon: Intergovernmental Organizations 22: Duane Swank: Globalization Part V Policies 23: Herbert Obinger & Uwe Wagschal: Social Expenditure and Revenues 24: Karl Hinrichs & Julia Lynch: Old-Age Pensions 25: Richard Freeman & Heinz Rothgang: Health 26: August Oesterle & Heinz Rothgang: Long-term Care 27: Olli Kangas: Work Accident and Sickness Benefits 28: Mark Priestley: Disability 29: Joakim Palme, Eero Carroll & Ola Sjöberg: Unemployment Insurance 30: Lane Kenworthy: Labour Market Activation 31: Thomas Bahle, Michaela Pfeifer & Claus Wendt: Social Assistance 32: Jonathan Bradshaw & Naomi Finch: Family Benefits and Services 33: Tony Fahey & Michelle Norris: Housing 34: Marius R. Busemeyer & Rita Nikolai: Education Part VI Policy Outcomes 35: John Stephens: Social Rights of Citizenship 36: Peter Saunders: Inequality and Poverty 37: Isabela Mares: Macroeconomic Outcomes 38: Jonah Levy: Welfare Retrenchment Part VII Worlds of Welfare 39: Wilhelm A. Arts & John Gelissen: Models of the Welfare State Established Welfare States 40: Mikko Kautto: The Nordic Countries 41: Bruno Palier: Continental Western Europe 42: Maurizio Ferrera: The South European Countries 43: Francis G. Castles: The English-speaking Countries Emerging Welfare States 44: Evelyne Huber & Juan Bogliaccini: Latin America 45: Ito Peng & Joseph Wong: East Asia 46: Linda. J. Cook: Eastern Europe and Russia Part VIII Prospects 47: Howard Glennerster: The Sustainability of Western Welfare States 48: Ian Gough & Goran Therborn: The Global Future of Welfare States

About the Author :
Francis G. Castles is Professor Emeritus at the University of Edinburgh and Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the Research School of Social Sciences at Australian National University and at the Center for Social Policy Research (CeS) in Bremen. Stephan Leibfried is Professor of Public Policy at the University of Bremen, Director of the Collaborative Research Center "Transformations of the State " (TranState) and member of the Unit History and Institutions of the Center for Social Policy Research (CeS) there. Jane Lewis is Professor of Social Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science, a Fellow of the British Academy, and a Founding Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. Herbert Obinger is Professor of Comparative Public and Social Policy at the University of Bremen, directs the Unit History and Institutions of the Center for Social Policy Research (CeS) and directs two projects in the Collaborative Research Center "Transformations of the State " (TranState). Christopher Pierson is Professor of Politics at the University of Nottingham and Director of Teaching and Lead Editor of the British Journal of Politics and International Relations.

Review :
Students new to transnational comparative social policy focusing on the rich societies of the West will find it invaluable. The Handbook will also, of course, be useful for teachers and researchers, in mapping out contemporary themes and issues. This landmark book achieves its aspiration to provide the "most authoritative survey and critique of the welfare state yet published"... It transcends Christopher Pierson's fine Beyond the Welfare State and should be part of the foundation collection in any college library. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-division undergraduates and above. This is a landmark book for international scholarship in social policy. It has been compiled by some of the leading international scholars in the field and published, in some style, by Oxford University Pressall academics in the field should ensure that university libraries acquire copies of the book. It will prove to be an essential reference for all those studying social policy, as well as many in politics, public administration, sociology and other cognate subjectsMore generally, it is attention to detail, co-existing with breadth of vision and reach, which make this such an attractive book. The editors and their contributors are addressing most of the big questions that underpin the history of the welfare state and its future prospects, and they are doing this on an international scaleIf you are not passionate about social policy before encountering this Handbook, then surely you will be once you have begun to delve into it. The Oxford Handbook of the Welfare State, written by an impressive array of scholars, is the book to read to understand the welfare state in all its complexity, from philosophical foundations to methodological and substantive theories, from policies and processes to actors and institutions, and from established welfare states to emerging ones. This is not a book for the faint-hearted, nor for those looking for welfare-state lite. Instead, this large coherent volume offers a rich array of talented authors applying diverse approaches historical, philosophical, political, sociological, and economic to analysing and comparing welfare states around the world and to offering a powerful reassertion of their resilience and their importance in a modern economy. This new Handbook of the Welfare State represents state-of-the-art scholarship on one of the most important institutions of our times. The book brings together the world's leading authorities from many disciplines and provides an exhaustive and yet easily accessible treatment of the complete range of issues relevant for understanding welfare states. The volume has simply no rival, be it in terms of intellectual breath or scholarly quality — a truly impressive addition to OUP's fantastic Handbook series.