One of the main questions in recent debates on the future of welfare states has been whether globalization or structural economic change will lead to convergence. To answer that question, the liberal welfare state of the United States and the conservative continental European welfare states are...

Workfare strategies, requiring recipients of public assistance to work or to participate in work related activities, are not a completely new phenomenon of the modern welfare state. Nevertheless, there have been remarkable policy changes and reforms in most of the Western capitalist societies...

In the 20 th century, different types of socialist societies failed - not only because of an evident lack of democracy, but also due to their economic inefficiency. Apart from the historical underdevelopment of Russia and other socialist countries, there could be given three main reasons for...