The development of the modern welfare state is one of
the major social and political changes in the Western countries
during the past century. Together with a group of colleagues at
the Swedish [nstitt|te for Social Research, Stockbolm University, l
have for some time been involved in a comparative study of tbis
change in 18 OECD countries. The purpose of this comparative
researcb programme is to describe welfare state development in
the Western countries, to attempt to explain tbis development,
and also to look at some of the consequences of welfare state
development.I To use the vocabulary of T. H. Marshall (1950)
one coutd say that we are studying the development of social
rights and the emergence of social citizensbip in the Western
countries
