Social policy and multi-level govern (ment/ance)

Discussions of welfare development have repeatedly focused on the provision of policies of well-being for less-favoured citizens, as well as with the means to achieve higher economic growth or to bring about income redistribution. An overriding attention in the analyses of contemporary welfare states has usually been geared towards the ‘autonomous’ action of state intervention in providing security to its citizens. The fact that state action in the development of welfare made concordant with modernity many functions which had been previously developed by families, churches, guilds and local communities has often been ignored. Both territoriality and welfare have too often lived separated lives. There is a need to explore more fully the links between studies and literature dealing with both fields of analysis. Generally speaking, territorial politics literature has tended to neglect the social dimension, while research on welfare has taken the centralizing nation-state for granted.Peer reviewe