Variations of the Welfare State

Franz-Xaver Kaufmann is Professor emeritus for Social Policy and Sociology at the University of Bielefeld, Germany. He studied law, economics and sociology in Zurich, St. Gall and Paris. He is the doyen of the sociology of social policy in Germany and has been awarded honorary doctorates and prizes, including the Preller Prize for Social Policy and the Schader Prize for Applied Social Science.

Lutz Leisering, the Editor, is Professor for Social Policy and Director at the Institute for World Society studies, University of Bielefeld. He took his Ph.D. at the London School of Economics. He has published widely on European and global social policy.