H Adam M . Saunders The Politics of Social Policy : State of the Art 5 / 2009

Over the course of the past half a century, a vast amount of research has been undertaken on the welfare state comprising a wide range of theoretical perspectives and empirical traditions. However, exactly how such plurality should be regarded has been less than clear since there has notably been a lack of discourse within the field of comparative political economy with regard to possible ways in which the literature might be interpreted as a whole. As a result, relatively little attention has been given to how the manner in which existing conceptual and methodological approaches are analysed has shaped the way in which researchers analyse the welfare state. Consequently, there is a need to examine and compare the different strategies which have been employed to conceptualise and assess such analytical diversity. In particular, two main analytical approaches to the review of comparative political economy literature on the welfare state are identified, namely the critical method and the composite method. Both of these approaches have been employed to specify prospective frameworks of analysis through the survey and evaluation of previous scholarly contributions. In the analysis which follows an attempt is made to reconcile the conceptual and methodological plurality which has become characteristic of welfare state research with a view towards making the mechanics of both hypothesis testing and theory building more transparent and comprehensible. Adam M. Saunders The politics of social policy: state of the art