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Edited by Pete Alcock and Gary Craig.
Palgrave
£15.99
ISBN 0 333 74866 2

In recent years books on comparative social policy and social welfare have focused heavily on Europe. Studies of international trends in welfare have been mainly theoretical, rather than a collection of country studies such as this one.

It is an ambitious and wide-ranging text, including chapters on 12 countries in the developed world, with each addressing several major topics in the broad field of social policy.

These topics include a historical review, key issues and principles affecting social welfare developments, and the future prospects for social policy in each country. In their introduction the editors acknowledge that the writers faced a daunting task in chapters of around 8,000 words, making it difficult to do justice to their complex subject matter.

The editors state that their book is not a comparative text but is rather a resource for the comparative study of social policy. As such it is useful in providing clearly written, up-to-date information and analysis of welfare developments in countries under-represented in other studies, for example, South Africa and Hong Kong.

But it was probably unwise to include so many countries in a medium-sized book in which social care receives limited attention.

Brian Munday is senior lecturer in international social care, University of Kent.