Introduction: New Configurations -- 1. Recent Developments in the German Welfare State: Basic Continuity or a Paradigm Shift? / Jens Alber -- 2. Remaking the Welfare State in New Zealand / Ross Mackay -- 3. The French System of Social Protection: Path Dependencies and Societal Coherence / Jean-Claude Barbier and Bruno Theret -- 4. New Directions for the British Welfare State / Linda Bauld, Ken Judge and Iain Paterson -- 5. Social Welfare under Advanced Capitalism: The U.S. Response / Rebecca A. Van Voorhis -- 6. Back on Track - To the Future? The Making and Remaking of the Swedish Welfare State in the 1990s / Sven E. O. Hort -- 7. Social Security and Welfare in the Netherlands Before and After the Year 2000 / Piet Keizer -- 8. Half Way Through the Ford: The Italian Welfare State at the Start of the New Century / Valeria Fargion