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Welfare States under Pressure provides a timely and comprehensive review of welfare policy-making in Europe. The text compares the different ways in which welfare states have responded to similar pressures over recent years, and considers how welfare is likely to develop in the future

'CRISIS? WHAT CRISIS?', THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER was reported to have replied to a question concerning the alleged crisis in sterling. In the case of the welfare state it might seem that the appropriate response would be 'Which crisis? ' since there are several on the menu - fiscal crisis, legitimacy crisis, crisis of ungovernability . Left, Right and Centre have become convinced that there is a crisis. This is after a period of history which had seen an unprecedented rise in the standard of living of the vast majority of the population living in what are normally regarded as welfare states.

The Dynamic Welfare State accounts for the transition of social programming from governmental to corporate auspices, identifying not only the primary beneficiaries of emerging social markets, but the increasing influence of wealthy individuals and corporations in crafting public policy to meet industry requirements as well. Significantly, the degradation of social services, evident in the poverty trap, deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill, and the school-to-prison pipeline contributes to public defection from the welfare state.

In recent decades, so-called universal welfare states have experienced considerable immigration from non-Western countries and, accordingly, rising levels of ethnic diversity. On that basis, scholars have debated how ethnic diversity affects public opinion in recipient societies. The debate is to a significant extent shaped by studies of American public opinion, where public opinion on some issues is widely considered 'racialized', i.e. in part based on attitudes toward racial outgroups. The dissertation examines whether by the same token, political attitudes in universal welfare states can become 'ethnicized', i.e. in part based on attitudes toward ethnic outgroups. The existing literature has tended to focus on the issue of welfare, where the expectation is that ethnic diversity will diminish public support. I outline a theoretical framework which explains why political attitudes can be ethnicized, but also why it is more likely for some issues (such as European integration or crime) than others (such as welfare). The dissertation includes four stand-alone articles illustrating the influence of group identities in political cognition. Compared to the existing literature, they suggest that ethnicization is at once more limited (in that it is unlikely for the most widely discussed issue, welfare) and more pervasive (in that it can arise from local contexts as well as from media). Ethnicization of attitudes is one way in which immigration can influence political life, even when the political agenda ostensibly revolves around something else.

This volume presents research on the recasting of European welfare states from the European Forum on Welfare at the European University Institute in Florence. The chapters include both comparative analyses of topical issues, and in-depth studies of changes in the major European countries.

Preface -- The welfare state in the twenty-first century / Joseph E. Stiglitz -- Adapting labor and social protection systems to twenty-first-century capitalism / Sandra Polaski -- The welfare state in the twenty-first century : latest trends in social protection / Isabel Ortiz -- Supporting equal opportunities through laws and policies : global progress and persisting challenges / Jody Heymann and Aleta Sprague -- The sustainable development goals, domestic resource mobilization, and the poor / Nora Lustig -- Intra-household inequality and overall inequality / Ravi Kanbur -- Human capital, inequality, and growth / Torben M. Andersen -- The EU welfare state : past, present, and future / Elva Bova and Ernst Stetter -- Visible costs and hidden gains / Kalle Moene -- Social protection systems in Latin America : toward universalism and redistribution / José Antonio Ocampo and Natalie Gómez-Arteaga -- Social protection in Latin America : some challenges for reducing inequality / Ana Sojo -- Do competitive markets of individual savings accounts and health insurance work as part of the welfare state? / Andras Uthoff -- Innovations in protecting the old : mostly social insurance and some assets / Teresa Ghilarducci -- Universal basic income and the welfare state / Richard McGahey -- Employment guarantee in the age of precarity : the case of India's NREGA / Amit Basole and Arjun Jayadev -- Contributors -- Index.

Why have some countries have been more successful in welfare state reform than others? This book examines the experiences of various countries in reforming their welfare states through renegotiations between the state and peak associations of employers and employees. This corporatist concertation has been blamed for bringing about all the ills of the welfare state, but lately corporate institutions have learned from their bad performances, modified their structures and style of operation, and assumed responsibility for welfare state reform. Consensual bargaining is back on the agenda of both policy makers and of social science. This topical volume with its internationally respected panel of contributors will appeal to all those interested in the welfare state and labour relations. It includes chapters focusing on the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland and Ireland as well as a section looking at the role of corporatist concertation in the European Union.