Reviews objectives and operations of welfare systems at national and municipal levels.

This collection of 24 articles, dating from 1992 to 1999, draws on the comparative literature on the politics of income maintenance policy. It demonstrates how the Gosta Espen-Andersen's regime theory, along with arguments on convergence and path-dependency, has been applied to the study of income maintenence policy. It highlights issues about the difference between social insurance and social assistance and about the important differences in the way women and families are treated. the collection seeks to explain cutbacks, or their absence, highlighting issues about pensions policy.