Routledge Handbook of European Welfare Systems (Routledge International Handbooks)

Published ten years after the first edition, this new Handbook offers topical, and comprehensive information on the welfare systems of all 28 EU member states and their recent reforms, giving the reader an invaluable introduction and basis for comparative welfare research. Additional chapters provide detailed information on EU social policy, as well as comparative analyses of European welfare systems and their reform pathways. For this second edition, all chapters have been updated and substantially revised, and Croatia additionally included. The second edition of this Handbook is most timely, given the often-fundamental welfare state transformations against the background of the financial and economic crises, transforming social policy ideas, as well as political shifts in a number of European countries. The book sets out to analyse these new developments when it comes to social policy. In the first part, all country chapters provide systematic and comparable information on the foundations of the different national welfare systems and their characteristics. In the second part, using a joint conceptual foundation, they focus on policy changes (especially of the last two decades) in different social policy areas, including old-age, labour market, family, healthcare, and social assistance policies. As the comparative chapters conclude, European welfare system landscapes have been in constant motion in the last two decades. While austerity is not to be seen on the aggregate level, the in-depth country studies show that all policy sectors have been characterised by different reform directions and ideas. The findings not only reveal both change and continuity, but also policy reversal as a distinct type that characterises social policy reform. The book provides a rich resource to the international welfare state research community, and is also useful for social policy teaching. Review 'Featuring a conceptual introduction and 28 country chapters, the second edition of this Routledge Handbook provides a rich overview of social policy continuity and change within the European Union. Scholars and practitioners interested in the evolution of social policy in Europe should read and engage with this strong volume.' – Daniel Béland, Professor of Political Science, McGill University, Montreal, Canada '[...]In addition to the in-depth analysis of what is happening in 28 countries and on the EU level, the reader is offered a comparative analysis of the reforms, both from a quantitative and a qualitative perspective. This comprehensive overview of recent efforts to transform European welfare state systems makes the book a must read for all who are interested in comparative social policy research. It is recommended reading for students and senior researchers, but also for professionals and policy makers who seek to learn from policy solutions from abroad.' – Tanja Klenk, Professor of Administrative Sciences, Helmut-Schmidt University Hamburg, Germany 'Edited volumes which review social policy development in a "country-by-country" fashion seem somewhat old-fashioned in style and can often be incoherent in substance. This volume is a welcome exception. Guided by a clear analytical structure, the chapters in this compendium systematically assess key national social policy trajectories since the late 1990s across Europe. The result is an invaluable resource for all those interested in the development of advanced welfare states in recent times.' – Jochen Clasen, Professor of Comparative Social Policy, The University of Edinburgh, UK About the Author Sonja Blum is Researcher and Lecturer at the Institute of Political Science, University of Hagen, and External Research Fellow at the KU Leuven Public Governance Institute. She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Münster. Her research focuses on public policy analysis, comparative social policy, family policy, evidence use and learnin