Stephan LeibfriedCambridge University PressEdition: Illustrated, 5/3/2001EAN 9780521005128, ISBN10: 0521005124Paperback, 176 pages, 24.4 x 17 x 1 cmLanguage: EnglishThe welfare state is in hard times, according to today's consensus. The deterioration of exceptional economic performance - the basis for the 'Golden Age' of welfare capitalism - seems irreversible: this has slowed down welfare state expansion and radically shifted the ground for discussion on the future of the welfare state. This volume takes stock of 'the state of the welfare state': how can we build a theory of the welfare state? How did the post-World War II welfare state relate to economic development? How do welfare states change? How did the reforms of pension systems - a key welfare state sector - develop in OECD countries? How did the most developed 'Nordic welfare state' fare? How viable are today's advanced welfare states in the international economy? How may we recast the European welfare states for the twenty-first century?1. Welfare state futuresan introduction Stephan Leibfried and Herbert Obinger2. Towards a theory of the welfare state Franz-Xaver Kaufmann3. The dog that didn't barkeconomic development and the post-war welfare state Francis G. Castles4. How do welfare states change? Institutions and their impact on the politics of welfare state reform in Western Europe Giuliano Bonoli and Bruno Palier5. Elephants on the movepatterns of public pension reform in OECD countries Karl Hinrichs6. The Nordic welfare state in a European contextdealing with new economic and ideological challenges in the 1990s Stein Kuhnle7. The viability of advanced welfare states in the international economyvulnerabilities and options Fritz W. Scharpf8. Recasting European welfare states for the 21st century Maurizio Ferrera, Anton Hemerijck and Martin Rhodes.