This milestone work is the first to offer indepth treatment of all aspects ofthe discipline and practice of social policy globally. Supported by adistinguished ... » 

This milestone work is the first to offer indepth treatment of all aspects ofthe discipline and practice of social policy globally. Supported by adistinguished international advisory board the editors have compiled more than750 entries written by 254 leading specialists to provide authoritativecoverage of definitional and conceptual terms actors institutions andnational and regional contexts and applications and the growing importance ofthe transnational dimension. Also included are biographical entries on majortheoreticians.The editors have particularly striven to provide strong coverage of nationaland regional traditions and experiences and differing academic approaches andto emphasise the diversity of social policy in study development andapplication around the world. Contributors draw in and make the necessaryconnections with social policys associated disciplines to provide a richpicture of this vast and highly diverse field.Comprehensive and authoritative the Encyclopedia has nevertheless sought toopen up rather than to foreclose the numerous areas in which there is ongoingresearch debate and often serious disagreement and divergence in theory andpractice. To this end entries attempt to introduce a core or common ground ofunderstanding before moving on to a wider discussion of debates and differenttheoretical and geographical approaches. The whole is integrated by crossreferencing and each entry includes a bibliography for further reading. Thereis a full index.The International Encyclopedia of Social Policy provides the most substantialmapping of the international study and practice of social policy to date andwill stand as avital storehouse of knowledge for many years to come. «