In this state-of-the-art work, Colin Hay and Daniel Wincott reassess welfare provision across the whole of Europe – East, West and Central – and at the national and EU level. The book challenges much conventional wisdom about the welfare state, including the widely accepted notion of a 'golden age' of welfare, the idea of a challenge posed by globalization, and the notion of the welfare state as a burden on competitiveness and a drain on economic performance. The authors put forward an alternative analysis of European welfare capitalism which highlights the importance of European economic integration, domestic political dynamics and demographic change in determining welfare trajectories. They conclude with a compelling account of the challenges to which European welfare states must respond if they are to survive in the new era of public austerity.