It is widely assumed today that the "welfare state" is contracting or retrenching as an effect of the close scrutiny to which entitlement to social security benefits is being subject in most developed countries. In this book, 15 authorities from nine different countries - the UK, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Finland, Norway and the US - investigate to what extent this assumption is warranted. Taking into account developments and initiatives at every administrative level from sub-national employment agencies to the OECD and the World Bank, they draw on both data and theories in a broad spectrum of related disciplines, including political science, economics, sociology, and law. Detailed materials allow the reader to formulate well-defined responses to such crucial questions as: Is there indeed waning public support for social security? Is the "Demographic time bomb" of an ageing population as serious as we are often to believe? How seriously do supranational reform proposals tend to underestimate cross-national differences? To what degree is "activation policy" merely rhetorical? To what extent do employment office staff reformulate and redefine policies "on the ground" to accommodate specific case-by-case realities? Specific criteria for entitlement (eg disability) and such central issues as "gendered" assumptions, access to benefit programmes, and the involvement of trade unions are examined in a variety of contexts.