This book systematically compares the development of all social programmes over the last three decades in Continental Europe. It demonstrates that, contrary to the common view, "Bismarckian" welfare states have changed a lot. Reforms have followed a similar path, starting with a "labour shedding strategy", giving way in the 1990s to attempts at retrenchment and to the spread of "institutional" reforms aimed at changing the bases of the systems (financing mechanisms, management rules); all these enabling - by the beginning of this century - the multiplication of structural reforms in line with the new global social policy agenda: activation policies, new funded schemes in pension, market mechanisms in health, development of care policies to reconcile work and family life... Gathering among the best European specialists of welfare state comparisons, this book organises comprehensive and up to date information on European welfare state reforms in an analytical framework which allows a new approach to social policy changes.