Research on welfare has tended to focus on the national scale with relatively little attention given to the differential impacts of welfare restructuring in rural places and the difficulties faced by disadvantaged groups with limited provision of welfare services in many rural areas. This book seeks to significantly extend previous research work on the rural impacts of national welfare reform and position it in a broader context. International Perspectives on Rural Welfare provides a critical, comprehensive and comparative account of the rural dimensions of welfare in a number of developed countries. The book brings together recent