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Published online: 22 Mar 2018 ; In all advanced democracies, policies related to the welfare state are the largest part of public policy activity. Cross-pressured by globalization, deindustrialization, rising public debts, demographic changes, permanent austerity and the rise of 'new social risks', welfare states in post-industrial democracies have entered a new phase of consolidation and transformation since the 1980s. Against early fears, retrenchment has not been 'the only game in town'. Rather, many countries have expanded new welfare policies such as 'social investments'. This collection adds to the recent literature on the emergence of the 'social investment state' in several ways: (1) it assesses to what degree social investment policies have become established across countries and at the EU level; (2) it demonstrates that and why the politics of social investment are different from those of compensatory social policies on the micro and macro level; and (3) it points at important socio-economic effects of social investments.

A new wave of support for populist parties and movements represents a serious threat to universal healthcare coverage in traditional liberal democracies and beyond. This article aims to contribute empirical material on the relationships between healthcare governance, professions and populism. It applies an explanatory cross-country comparative approach and uses mixed methods, including micro-level data garnered from international comparative databases and documents. Denmark, England, Germany, Italy and Turkey have been selected for comparison, reflecting different types of healthcare systems and populist movements. The results reveal variety in the ways populist discourses impact in healthcare. Abundant economic resources, network-based governance, high levels of trust in healthcare providers and doctors participating as insiders in the policy process seem to work as a bulwark against populist attacks on healthcare and professional expertise. On the other hand, poorly resourced NHS systems with doctors as outsiders in the policy process and major NPM reforms together with low to medium levels of trust in healthcare providers may be fertile ground for populist discourse to flourish. Our explanatory data provide hints of correlations, which may inform further studies to investigate causality. Yet the research highlights that healthcare governance and professions matter, and brings into view capacity for counteracting populist attacks on universal healthcare and professional knowledge.

Frontmatter -- Index -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction. Which Road to Development? The Mediterranean Model Revisited -- Part I. Economic Features and Institutional Context of Southern European Countries -- 1. Is There a "Mediterranean" Growth Model? -- 2. States' Performance, Reforms, and Policy Capacity in Southern European Countries -- 3. Which Level of Analysis? Internal versus External Explanations of Eurozone Divergence -- 4. Following Different Paths of Modernization. The Changing Sociocultural Basis of Southern Europe -- Part II. Policies and Processes of Change -- 5. Labor Market (De)Regulation and Wage-Setting Institutions in Mediterranean Capitalism -- 6. Southern European Welfare Systems in Transition -- 7. How to Adjust? Italy and Spain at the Test of Financial Integration and Crisis -- 8. Human Capital Formation, Research and Development, and Innovation -- Conclusion. Mediterranean Capitalism between Change and Continuity -- References -- Contributors -- Index