The chapter puts the book into the context of the contemporary discussion on welfare state reform, and reflects on major concepts and guiding notions, such as retrenchment, re-calibration, and restructuring. It argues in favour of a robust conceptualisation and operationalisation of the ‘dependent variable’, combining both quantitative parameters, such as social spending, with qualitative ‘social rights’ indicators. Furthermore, the chapter underlines the interest both in capturing changes in policy direction (expansion or retrenchment) as well as in assessing policy profiles or patterns of...

The chapter puts the book into the context of the contemporary discussion on welfare state reform, and reflects on major concepts and guiding notions, such as retrenchment, re-calibration, and restructuring. It argues in favour of a robust conceptualisation and operationalisation of the ‘dependent variable’, combining both quantitative parameters, such as social spending, with qualitative ‘social rights’ indicators. Furthermore, the chapter underlines the interest both in capturing changes in policy direction (expansion or retrenchment) as well as in assessing policy profiles or patterns of change.