Abstract
The New Politics of the Welfare State gathers a selection of key texts and thinkers in order to analyse the question of welfare state transformation in our current ‘post-industrial society'. By using Esping-Andersen's division of the three ‘worlds' of welfare system, the scholars highlight the necessity to question the core reasons and reactions to the changes of our current social systems. The emphasis of the book remains in responding and refuting the assertion that holds that globalization and the spread of neo liberal trends are the main reasons for the change we are witnessing in our welfare systems. By looking at this idea, The New Politics of the Welfare System highlights the limits of this assumption and questions other economic, political and social factors embedded in national polities as the main motives for change.
While not denying entirely the influence of globalization, The Politics of the New Welfare State explores the new dynamics in motion by going into a more depth analysis of the origins of the current difficulties governments need to respond to. In order to approach this topic, Pierson and his colleagues affirm that there is a necessity to further explore the origins of the welfare state crisis in order to respond to it accordingly.
