Over the past decade Beyond the Welfare State? has become established as the key text on the emergence & development of welfare states. It offers a comprehensive & remarkably well-informed introduction to the ever more intense debates that surround the history & still more importantly the future of welfare in advanced industrialised states. Comprehensively revised & re-written this third edition of the book embraces all of the most important theoretical & empirical developments in welfare state studies of recent years. Working within an explicitly comparative framework the book draws on a wealth of international evidence to survey what are now the most pressing issues surrounding the future of welfare: among them globalisation demographic change declining fertility postindustrialism & immigration. It draws extensively on the explosion of work on welfare states that has emerged within the North American political science community over the past ten years as well as giving detailed attention to developments with the UK continental & northern Europe & beyond. Beyond the Welfare State? remains the most comprehensive & up-to-date guide to the complex of issues that surround welfare reform. It is required reading for anyone who wants to come to terms with what is really at stake in arguments about the future of welfare.