Introduction: towards a political economy of social policy -- The historical origins of welfare systems, 1945-80 -- Social policy in Latin America, East Asia and Eastern Europe, 1945-1980: an overview -- The expansion of welfare commitments in Latin America, 1945-80 -- The evolution of social...

The acute economic pressures of the 1980s have forced virtually all of Latin America and Africa and some countries in Asia into painful austerity programs and difficult economic reforms. Scholars have intensively analyzed the economics of this situation, but they have given much less attention...