The Welfare State East and West [Hardcover]

A unique, comparative examination of the different ways in which modern democratic societies provide welfare today, these essays focus on the welfare strategies and experiences of the U.S., Japan, Great Britain, Scandinavia, Germany, and Israel. While the objectives of welfare are common to each society, each has its own ideas about the best way for the state, the market, and the household to contribute to the welfare mix. With the economies of many countries under pressure, the question of the proper balance between domestic welfare spending and defense spending is often at the center of the debate. The essays on Japan provide new and useful insights into how a state--not normally considered a welfare state --manages to provide a wide array of successful welfare services.

Provides an important and distinctive contribution to our understanding of the modern welfare state....For those searching for concepts of the welfare state and for broad comparative sketches of alternative routes in welfare state development, this volume will be very illuminating. --AmericanPolitical Science Review

Recommended reading...The attempt to evaluate welfare from a broad perspective, comparing conditions in the six welfare states and regions in terms of welfare mixes is totally new. --Japan Quarterly

The book is excellent....Each chapter is authored by experts on the welfare systems of their respective countries. --Stuart S. Nagel,University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

A sensitive and sincerely constructive volume that contributes to the dialogue on the future of the welfare state. --Social Science Quarterly

A provocative and unique set of comparisons. --T.J. Pempel,Cornell University