This volume presents research on the recasting of European welfare states from the European Forum on Welfare at the European University Institute in Florence. The chapters include both comparative analyses of topical issues, and in-depth studies of changes in the major European countries.

"Virpi Timonen investigates both the changes that have taken place in central social policies in the areas of pensions, unemployment policies, social and health servcies, and the political and structural reasons for the pattern of policy change that emerged. A critical evaluation of the roles of globalization, political mechanisms and power relationships in shaping these social policies in Finland and Sweden is also featured.".

Urban Segregation and the Welfare State examines ethnic and socio-economic segregation patterns, social polarisation, and social exclusion in major cities in the Western world. Contributors from across North America and Europe provide in-depth analysis of particular cities, ranging from Johannesburg, Chicago and Toronto to Amsterdam, Stockholm and Belfast. The authors highlight the social problems in and of cities, indicating differences between nation-states in terms of economic restructuring, migration, welfare state regimes and "ethnic history".

The book deals with the role of the international level in securing or supplementing national welfare functions. The authors evaluate the role of international labour law, social rights as human rights, the World Trade Organisation, non-governmental organisations and international taxation law, in the effort to maintain and promote welfare rights and the welfare state. The functions of national migration law and of social security law are analysed in case studies.

This volume presents a thought provoking analysis of key welfare state issues engaging policy makers across the globe. It provides a unique and comprehensive evaluation of the state of welfare states- developed and developing. It maps the diversity of welfare regimes across the world and brings to fore the particularities and nuances that characterise them. The book also focuses on the on-going reforms and makes a powerful case for the increased relevance of the welfare state in a globalizing era.

This collection of essays looks at recent developments in the crisis theory of capitalist development and relates such theories directly to the current patterns of economic, political technological and cultural changes associated with societal restructuring in industrialized countries.

In today’s globalized and competitive business environment, companies increasingly look to restructuring, mergers & acquisitions and downsizing to survive, grow and maximize profits. However, when they are not managed in a socially responsible manner, restructurings may exert the negative impact on employees, shareholders, communities, and society as a whole. The book empirically explores the phenomena of corporate social responsibility (CSR), restructuring, and relationships with firms’ performance in China. It gives an insight into how Chinese firms respond to expectations of stakeholders by making social goals a part of their overall business operations. It also gives a fresh view of the new concept of socially responsible restructuring. For those seeking to promote socially responsible practices in restructuring, the book provides a unique and stimulating analysis and touchstone.

This book revives the discussion on public social services and their redesign, with a focus on services relating to care and the social inclusion of vulnerable groups, providing rich information on the changes that occurred in the organisation and supply of public social services over the last thirty years in different European places and service fields. Despite the persisting variety in social service models, three shared trends emerge: public sector disengagement, ‘vertical re-scaling’ of authority and ‘horizontal re-mix’ in the supply system. The consequences of such changes are evaluated from different perspectives – governance, social and territorial cohesion, labour market, gender – and are eventually deemed ‘disruptive’ in both economic and social terms. The policy implications of the restructuring are also explored. This title will be Open Access on Elgaronline.com.

This book is about change in Central and Eastern Europe, and about how we think about social and economic change more generally. In contrast to the dominant 'transition framework' that examines organizational forms in Eastern Europe according to the degree to which they conform to, or depart from, the blueprints of already existing capitalist systems, this book examines the innovative character, born of necessity, in which actors in the post-socialist setting are restructuring organizations and institutions by redefining and recombining resources. Instead of thinking of these recombinations as accidental aberrations, the book explores their evolutionary potentials. The starting premise of Restructuring Networks in Post-Socialist Societies is that the actual unit of entrepreneurship is not the isolated individual personality but the social network that links firms and the actors within them. Drawing insight from evolutionary economics and from the new methods of network analysis, leading sociologists, economists, and political scientists report on changes in organizational forms in Hungary, Poland, Eastern Germany, Russia, and the Czech Republic.