ABSTRACT
Scholarly assessment in terms of stability or change is even less conclusive in terms of single social policy fields that constitute the welfarework nexus. The chapter explores the theoretical-conceptual problems, their methodological implications and some suggestions for future improvement. It outlines the main findings of the existing comparative studies on the subject, scholarly expectations about the likely adjustment of different West European welfare states to economic globalization and societal change. A first recent wave of comparative studies aimed at uncovering and exploring some general reform trends, activation strategies and some of their effects at the welfarework nexus across Europe and over time. The chapter discusses the neo-institutionalism (NI) arguably which have done a better job in contributing to the identification of policy continuity in comparison to the identification of policy change and in helping us to explain policy continuity in comparison to explaining policy change.
