Introduction: the birth of the state -- The state meets modernity -- The state meets business -- The state meets voluntarism -- The state meets democracy -- Conclusion: the anatomy of the state.

Since the turn of the millennium, significant social, economic, political and technological transformations have brought policy issues to prominence in East Asian societies. This topical Research Agenda finds East Asian social policy at a critical juncture and analyses the driving forces that are shifting contemporary research and diverse policy responses in the region.

'This extensively revised edition of A Handbook of Comparative Social Policy provides up-to-date and valuable insights on key concepts and issues, such as globalization, crime, diversity, housing, child poverty, gender inequality, and social policy regimes. To write about these topics, editor Patricia Kennett has gathered an excellent team of researchers, who deal with both the developing and the advanced industrial world. Students of comparative social policy would benefit from engaging with this illuminating Handbook.' Daniel Béland, JohnsonShoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, Canada The current context of social policy is one in which many of the old certainties of the past have been eroded. The predominantly inward-looking, domestic preoccupation of social policy has made way for a more integrated, international and outward approach to analysis which looks beyond the boundaries of the state. It is in this context that this Handbook brings together the work of key commentators in the field of comparative analysis in order to provide comprehensive coverage of contemporary debates and issues in cross-national social policy research. Organized around five themes, this thoroughly revised and updated second edition explores the contextual, conceptual, analytical and processual aspects of undertaking comparative social research. The contributions highlight specific areas of comparative social policy including child poverty and well-being, patterns of housing provision and housing inequalities, and social protection in East Asia as well as crime and criminology in a global context. The authors of the Handbook explore continuing and emerging themes as well as issues which are of particular relevance to understanding the contemporary social world. International in scope, this authoritative Handbook presents original cutting-edge research from leading specialists and will become an indispensable source of reference for anyone interested in comparative and international social research. It will also prove a valuable study aid for undergraduate and postgraduate students from a range of disciplines including social policy, sociology, politics, urban studies and public policy.

This book introduces readers to the world of ideal types within the readings of Max Weber by giving a theoretical understanding of ideal types, as well as applying the development of ideal types to an array of social policy arenas. The twenty-first century has seen the development of welfare regime analysis marked by two differing strands: real-typical welfare regime analyses and ideal-typical welfare regime analysis; the latter focusing on the formation, development and application of ideal types in general comparative social policy. Designed to provide new theoretical and practical frameworks, as well as updated in-depth developments of ideal-typical welfare regime theory, this book shows how Weber’s method of setting up and checking against ‘ideal types’ can be used in a wide variety of policy areas such as welfare state system comparison, comparative social and economic development, health policy, mental health policy, health care system analysis, gender policy, employment policy, education policy and so forth. The book will be of interest to all scholars and students working in the fields of social policy including health policy, public policy, political economy, sociology, social work, gender studies, social anthropology, and many more.

Public administration plays an integral role at every stage of social policy creation and execution. Program operators' management decisions shape policymakers' perceptions of what can and should be accomplished through social programs, while public administrators wield considerable power to mobilize tangible and intangible resources and fill gaps in policy designs. Furthermore, the cumulative effects of public administrators' daily activities directly influence outcomes for program participants, and may shift policy itself. Location also matters to social policy, as those same administrators are expected to innovate continuously in response to shifting local and national conditions, including changes in budgetary allocations, client needs and capacities, and public attitudes. This Handbook will aim to capture what is being learned across six geographical regions: Africa, Asia, Australasia, Europe, Latin America, and the U.S. and Canada. Specifically, each regional section will contain 6-10 chapters canvassing a particular set of promising practices or emerging challenges at the regional or sub-regional level, in addition to a brief overview written by the section editor. The regional sections will be flanked by integrative chapters. As a whole, the volume contains 65 chapters.

The present Korean public administration and policy system has shown very significant differences compared to the system in 1970s. This book provides a comprehensive and holistic view on the development of Korean public policy and administration. The book aims to explain who the key actors are during the post-democratization period, how the administrative systems reform, and what kinds of social problems are transformed into public policies.

In the postwar period, Korea’s economic and social-political metamorphosis is a rare example of a successful transition from one of the world’s poorest developing countries to a highly sophisticated industrial society—an experience which many developing countries are keen to emulate. The change is particularly significant as Korea was able to reduce poverty and keep social inequality at a modest level during its rapid economic development. This volume analyzes the Korean transition in regards to the political and institutional foundation of its government and public policies. The government of Korea single-mindedly carried out public policies to stimulate economic growth, but the government and public policies have themselves been affected and changed by the process. The contention of this volume is that the transition of Korean society and the evolution of the Korean government are the results of two-way interactions. In this context, the volume analyzes the way in which the dynamics of public administration were shaped within the Korean government and the kinds of public policies and instruments that were adopted to encourage this economic and social development. This analysis will allow a more complete understanding of the economic and social transformation of Korea. Surprisingly, there is a paucity of research on this aspect—a gap which this volume seeks to fill. This volume shows that it is necessary to maintain consistency and coherence in government and public policy in order to achieve economic and social transformation, making it of interest to both scholars and policy-makers concerned with development in the Asia-Pacific.

Christopher Deeming and Paul Smyth together with internationally renowned contributors propose that the merging of the ‘social investment’ and ‘inclusive growth and development’ agendas is forging an unprecedented global social policy framework. The book shows how these key ideas together with the environmental imperative of ‘sustainability’ are shaping a new global development agenda. This framework opens the way to a truly global social policy discipline making it essential reading for those working in social and public policy, politics, economics and development as well geographical and environmental sciences. In the spirit of the UN’s Sustainability Goals, the book will assist all those seeking to forge a new policy consensus for the 21st century based on Social Investment for Inclusive Growth and Sustainable Development. Contributors include Giuliano Bonoli, Marius Busemeyer, Sarah Cook, Guillem López-Casasnovas, Anton Hemerijck, Stephan Klasen, Huck-ju Kwon, Tim Jackson, Jane Jenson, Jon Kvist, James Midgley, and Günther Schmid.

Published in association with the Social Policy Association, Social Policy Review is an annual volume that draws together international scholarship at the forefront of research on social policy. This edition looks at the effects of financialization on services and the provision of care, policies aimed at addressing deficiencies in housing and labor markets, and ways that the study of social policy may need to develop to respond to changing material concerns. A themed section, meanwhile, considers the place of comparative welfare modeling in the context of a quarter-century of change.

As national borders become more permeable, women are increasingly travelling from poor to rich countries to take up jobs as care workers. The struggle to maintain a healthy work/care balance in Western nations is creating a care deficit in the developing world. This volume links ethics to the social politics of care by examining the implications of the feminization of migrant labour and the shortcomings of social policy. From Canada to Sweden and from Korea to Japan, renowned and emerging scholars reveal that a truly feminist ethics of care must be grounded in the concrete lives of real people working in transnational webs of social relations.