ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the comparative public policy debate about the relationship between welfare states and globalisation. It argues that the evidence which demonstrates widespread retrenchment as a consequence of globalisation is not very convincing, and has been surpassed by developments in the advanced capitalist countries. The chapter examines the debate about welfare state convergence as a response to the structural pressures created by globalisation and the so-called 'race to the bottom'. What follows subsequently is a brief discussion of the social investment state as a response to the debate about welfare state reform. A number of scholars have claimed that a more significant factor than globalisation in driving institutional change has been the transition from a manufacturing-based economy to a service-dominated economy, imposing new 'trilemmas' and policy choices upon welfare states. The chapter focuses on the pressures imposes upon political coalitions in the advanced capitalist countries.
