2nd Edition
The Routledge International Handbook to Welfare State Systems Towards Global Social Policy Science
Developing countries may not have full-fledged welfare states like those we find in Europe, but certainly they have welfare state systems. For comparative social policy research, the term "welfare state systems" has many advantages, as there are numerous different types/models of welfare state systems around the world.
This revised and expanded second edition brings together leading experts to discuss social policy in 32 countries/regions around the world: from the most advanced welfare state systems in Scandinavia and Western Central Europe to the developing powers of Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, and Russia.
Country-specific chapters provide in general a historical overview, discuss major characteristics of the welfare state system, and analyze country-specific problems, as well as critical current and future trends for further discussions, while also providing one (additional) major focal point/issue for greater in-depth analysis.
Including new country case studies on Mali, South Africa, Iceland, Spain, Italy, Greece, and Vietnam, this book is reframed around urgent contemporary issues including migration and rising social inequalities, LGBTQIA+ rights, universal basic income, and transboundary social policy.
It will be of great interest to all scholars and students of social policy, social development, development economists and health economists, experts in public policy, health policy (including mental health policy), housing policy, education policy, family policy, cis- and trans-gender policy, migration and population policy, sociology, social work, anthropology, as well as social policy and public policy makers and administrators.
Chapter One – To Save Humanity We Need to Investigate the Whole World: An Introduction
Christian Aspalter
Chapter Two – Ten Worlds of Welfare Capitalism Theory: A Springboard for Global Research
Christian Aspalter
Chapter Three – Future Welfare: A Polarized World
Peter Abrahamson
Chapter Four – The Australian Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Welfare Conditionality—The Case of the Income Management System
Philip Mendes
Chapter Five – The American Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Asset- and Means-Tested Social Assistance Programs
Peter Abrahamson
Chapter Six – The Cuban Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Universalism
Carmelo Mesa-Lago and Christian Aspalter
Chapter Seven – The Mexican Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Conditional Cash Transfer Systems
Gabriel Martínez
Chapter Eight – The Chilean Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Social Security Privatization
Silvia Borzutzky and Mark Hyde
Chapter Nine – The Brazilian Welfare State System: A Special Focus on the Outcomes and Performance of the Welfare State System
Christian Aspalter
Chapter Ten – The Malian Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Transboundary Social Policy
Alfio Cerami
Chapter Eleven – The Nigerian Welfare State System: A Special Focus on the Challenges of Developing a Social Security System
Bruce R. Josephson
Chapter Twelve – The South African Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Universal Basic Income
Jelena Vidojević
Chapter Thirteen – The UK Welfare State System: A Special Focus on the Mental Health Care System
Paul Taylor and Jason L. Powell
Chapter Fourteen – The Icelandic Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Gender Equality and LGBTQIA+
Guðný Björk Eydal and Guðbjörg Ottósdóttir
Chapter Fifteen – The Swedish Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Inequality and the Redistribution Paradox
Joakim Palme
Chapter Sixteen – The French Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Youth Unemployment
Tom Chevalier and Bruno Palier
Chapter Seventeen – The Belgian Welfare State System: A Special Focus on "Targeting Within Universalism"
Bea Cantillon, Diana DeGraeve and Natascha Van Mechelen
Chapter Eighteen – The German Welfare State System: A Focus on the Old-Age Pension System
Karl Hinrichs and Magnus Brosig
Chapter Nineteen – The Austrian Welfare State System: A Special Focus on the Long-Term Care System
Kai Leichsenring
Chapter Twenty – The Swiss Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Education Policy
Jean-Michel Bonvin and Stephan Dahmen
Chapter Twenty-one – The Spanish Welfare State System: A Special Focus on the Social Protection of Immigrant Populations
Cristina Virginia Font Haro and Francisco Javier Moreno Fuentes
Chapter Twenty-two – The Italian Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Social Inequalities
Michele Raitano
Chapter Twenty-three – The Greek Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Housing Affordability and Homelessness
Gabriel Amitsis
Chapter Twenty-four – The Russian Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Regional Inequality
Markus Kainu, Meri S. Kulmala, Jouko Nikula and Markku Kivinen
Chapter Twenty-five – The Turkish Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Human Capital Development
Adem Yavuz Elveren, Tuba I. Agartan and Nursel Durmaz-Bodur
Chapter Twenty-six – The Israeli Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Poverty and Inequality
John Gal
Chapter Twenty-seven – The Indian Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Health Outcomes in Comparative Perspective
Christian Aspalter
Chapter Twenty-eight – The Indonesian Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Social Security Extension in the Development Context
Jörg-Michael Dostal and Gemati Ekacita Naskoshi
Chapter Twenty-nine – The Singaporean Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Public Housing and the Central Provident Fund
Youyenn Teo
Chapter Thirty – The Vietnamese Welfare State System: A Special Focus on the Old-Age Income Maintenance System
Pham-Thi-Hong Diep and Nguyen-Thu Hang
Chapter Thirty-one – The Chinese Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Ageing of Society and Social Policy
Carmel K.M. Lee
Chapter Thirty-two – The Hong Kong Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Complimentary Social Welfare Initiatives
Joe C.B. Leung
Chapter Thirty-three – The Taiwanese Welfare State System: A Special Focus on the Universal Health Insurance System
Yih-Jiunn Lee and Yeun-Wen Ku
Chapter Thirty-four – The South Korean Welfare State System: A Special Focus on the Future of Social Insurance Systems
Jinsoo Kim and Jaewook Nahm
Chapter Thirty-five – The Japanese Welfare State System: A Special Focus on Financing Social Security in a Super-Super-Aged Society
Christian Aspalter and Hubert Liu
Chapter Thirty-six – Lessons for the Future of Social Policy and for Humanity: By Way of Conclusion
Christian Aspalter
Biography
Christian Aspalter is Professor of Social Policy at the Department of Social Sciences, Beijing Normal University–Hong Kong Baptist University, United International College, Zhuhai, China. He is the author of more than 25 books on social policy (including health policy) and has published numerous articles in international journals. He is editor of the book series Routledge Studies in Social Welfare in Asia.
In light of, and being complementary to, the recently published book Ten Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Aspalter and his authors provide a strong in-depth analysis of 32 welfare state systems across the entire world, also within the framework of the descriptive Ten Worlds Theory and the normative Developmental Social Policy Theory. His collected expert chapters encompass Australia, the United States, Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, North Asia, South Asia and East Asia, literally all continents and most corners of the world. Despite the great number of welfare regimes covered, welfare state systems across the nations presented are fully and deeply analyzed in all their complexities and diversities, covering a most-extensive range of social policy sub-fields, topics and issues. With this new and extended Second Edition of this Handbook, Aspalter and his colleagues have reached a new milestone in light of comparative social policy studies.
Wan-I Lin
Minister without Portfolio, Executive Yuan (Taiwan), Emeritus Professor, Department of Social Work, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan
