ABSTRACT
The modem welfare state is indeed one of the greatest achievements of the post war 20th century - whether from the long-term historical perspective (Flora et al., 1983,1987,1997; Flora and Heidenheimer, 1981; Alber, 1972) or from a compara tive historical and theoretical/analytical point of view (Barr, 2001, 2004; Baumol, 1965; de Swaan, 1993; Esping-Andersen, 1985,1990,1999,2009; Giddens, 1998; Goodin, 1988; Goodin and Mitchell, 2000; Lindblom, 1977; Lynch, 2006; Marin, 1990a, 1990b, 1993a; Marshall, 1975, 1977; Matzner, 1982; Pierson, 1994, 2001; Scharpf and Schmidt, 2000; Teubner, 1985; Teubner and Febbrajo, 1992; Titmuss, 1958; Tufte, 1978; Wilensky, 1975, 2002; Wilensky and Turner, 1987). The basic idea of its founding father, Sir William Beveridge, the British social scientist and long-time director of the London School of Economics (LSE), was developed in his famous 1942 report to Parliament on “Social Insurance and Allied Services” and in his book Full Employment in a Free Society (1944).
