Social policy in the Middle East and North African (MENA) has evolved significantly over the last decade. Focusing on three key dimensions - allocation, membership, and entitlement - and the way these play out in social programmes led by governments, UN agencies and NGOs, this book presents a wide breadth of case studies across this complex and diverse region. It questions whether recent social policy initiatives signal a move towards universal social policy convergence or, instead, represent a continuation of previous policy trends, perpetuating poverty and inequality. Leading scholars...

This timely book critically examines the European Social Model as a contested concept and concrete set of European welfare and governance arrangements. It offers a theoretical and empirical analysis of new economic models and existing European investment strategies to address key issues within post-Covid-19 Europe. The authors explore the structural inequalities that have been shaped by strong imbalances in the relationship between public health, work, formal and informal care, inequality, poverty and the labour market across Europe. They then assess the potential of new economic models...

In a period of rapid change for welfare states around the world, this insightful book offers a comparative study of three historically small welfare states: the US, Japan and South Korea. Examining various aspects of welfare states, chapters explore the underlying reasons behind the restraint of social security in these countries. Featuring contributions from international distinguished scholars, this book looks beyond the larger European welfare states to unpack the many common political and institutional characteristics - from labor organization to party politics - that have constrained...