The state is one of the major institutions in modern industrial societies which have an enduring influence on societal development. Since the latter part of the 20th century developments have pointed to a far-reaching transformation of the modern nation state in the OECD world (Organisation for...

We examine whether a fundamental change in the core dimension of modern 20th century statehood, the welfare state, has become evident in response to changed exogenous and endogenous challenges. By combining quantitative and qualitative approaches we take stock of social policy development in...