Globalization and the Southern Welfare States

Abstract

This chapter is devoted to the analysis of the relationship between social policy reform and globalization in Italy and Spain, both southern European countries and members of the European Union. Reference will also be made to Portugal and Greece, which share similar conditions. A caveat should be introduced here regarding the use of the term ‘southern’, since confusion is possible between the usages of ‘southern’ denoting a geographical area, and also as a theoretical construct or model. For clarity, we therefore use ‘southern’ (i.e. small ‘s’) when using the term generally/geographically, and ‘Southern’ (i.e. capital ‘S’) when referring to the family of welfare states in a model or regime-like sense.