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This article analyzes the modern model of social policy in the Russian Federation. It examines the main prob-lems and directions of development of social institutions in the context of strategic tasks for building a socially oriented state. The research focuses on the need to integrate global experience and national peculiarities to form an effective system of social protection. Particular attention is paid to the proposal of a model of social policy focused on achieving social justice and improving the social security system in accordance with constitu-tional principles and guarantees. The central element of the proposed model is the strengthening of social guarantees in key sectors, including healthcare, education, labor relations, and social insurance. Emphasis is placed on the necessity of ensuring sustainable social development and improving the quality of life of the population.

Abstract.  The origins of the Nordic social policy model(s) need to be viewed broadly and historically from its late nineteenth‐century initiation to the immediate postwar period (1940s to the early 1960s), when a social democratic model began to consolidate. In reference to the alternate social policy traditions of British poor relief and German occupational insurance, this article analyzes the sociopolitical contexts that finally prevented Scandinavian states from developing similarly, instead enabling development of universalistic social policy. The historical narratives are arranged with respect to four analytical aspects: policy development; the configuration of state institutions; the strength of liberal, conservative and leftist power blocs; and intra‐Nordic divergence in all these respects. Such an approach integrates state‐centred and power‐resources‐focused analyses of Nordic welfare.

This article compares features of the redistributive, developmental and productivist models of social policy. Using East Asian welfare systems as examples, it illustrates the application of the productivist and developmental models, and describes the contextual factors influencing these models. It argues that each model is an outgrowth of a particular social, economic and political context. When the context changes, the choice of model will also change, as shown in the recent development of redistributive policies in the East Asian region.

Mason M.S. Kim, Comparative Welfare Capitalism in East Asia: Productivist Models of Social Policy. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2016, 172 pp., $81.80– $95.00, ISBN: 9781137471840 (Hardbound).

The essential objective of the paper is to present the German model of social policy as compared to the social solutions adopted in the European Union. The author analyzes the transformations of social policy, established by virtue of the Treaty on the European Union, The Nice Treaty and Lisbon Treaty, among other documents. The further part of the paper presents the main assumptions of the German model of the welfare state. The author concludes with a suggestion that, at a time of global financial crisis, both the European Union and Germany will need to change their social policies. ; The essential objective of the paper is to present the German model of social policy as compared to the social solutions adopted in the European Union. The author analyzes the transformations of social policy, established by virtue of the Treaty on the European Union, The Nice Treaty and Lisbon Treaty, among other documents. The further part of the paper presents the main assumptions of the German model of the welfare state. The author concludes with a suggestion that, at a time of global financial crisis, both the European Union and Germany will need to change their social policies.