ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book discusses how the international group of politicians conceptualized welfare in the transition from a coal and steel community to a general common market. It focuses on the importance of coordination and internationalization of welfare provision after the war, as it was given shape by a transnational network of social reformers through bilateral agreements on social security concerning migrants. The book provides a fundamental rethinking of the concept of the welfare state in the United States. It explains how the post-war emergencies stimulated the expansion of the welfare state and how social welfare was used to pacify citizens. The book presents the impact of the “neoliberal turn” on disabled citizens in Britain, which coincided with the coming to the power of Margaret Thatcher’s Tory government. It deals with a period in which welfare states became subject to austerity policies.