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This article examines the role of India's states in shaping the implementation and framing of social policy within India's federal system. Since the 2000s, the central government has overseen a substantial expansion of social welfare policies partly through a new push toward rights-based social provision. Yet, it is India's states that are both responsible for an increasing proportion of total public expenditure on social welfare provision as well as determining the nature and effectiveness of that provision across space. Drawing on a comparative research program across pairs of Indian states, three critical factors explaining how state-level political environments shape social policy are identified: the role of policy legacies in shaping policy frames; the role of social coalitions underpinning political party competition; and the role of political leaders in strengthening state capacity to achieve program goals.

This paper examines welfare policies and budget allocation of programs for different migrant groups in South Korea. The results of a budget allocation analysis show that social welfare policies for migrants predominantly focus on the group of marriage migrant women, whereas foreign workers are excluded from many welfare policies, although they comprise the majority of migrants in Korea. The concentration of welfare policies on marriage migrant women may result in program duplication and hinder the balanced treatment of migrants in Korea. A restructured allocation of the budget would contribute not only to promoting the successful integration of migrants but also to enhancing the efficiency of public expenditure.

Data from three national surveys conducted in Sweden, 1986-1996, are drawn on to explore potential class differences in attitudes toward the welfare state & whether these changed in the face of the economic crises & growing welfare state entrenchment of the 1990s. Opinions on issues of the delivery of welfare services, the financing of various welfare policies, & suspicions of welfare fraud are focal. Results indicate little support for strict class divisions in attitudes toward welfare policies; rather, there are significant differences within the middle class based on gender, occupational sector, & occupational level. Implications for future welfare policy are discussed. 5 Tables, 6 Figures, 32 References. K. Hyatt Stewart