Social Policy Review 15 continues the tradition of providing a different style and approach to policy issues from that found in most academic journals and books. This volume combines issues such as globalization, Europe and pensions with examination of the current and historical contexts of social policy.

Contents: Introduction: the year in social policy Catherine Bochel, Nick Ellison and Martin Powell; Part One: UK Social policy: Thinking historically about integration David Gladstone; Invest and reform: spending review 2002 and its control regime Richard Parry; Who choosing what? The evolution of the use of 'choice' in the NHS, and its importance for New Labour Ian Greener; Part Two: International issues: Globalisation/welfare: what's the preposition? And, or, versus, with? Herman M. Schwartz; Convergence in social welfare systems: what does it mean? Denis Bouget; Analysing the health transition: what the Greek case tells us about social determinants of health Mick Carpenter; Welfare reform in the United States: the first five years of TANF Pamela A. Holcomb and Karin Martinson; Social policy in the East Asian tiger economies: past, present and future Ian Holliday and Paul Wilding; Part Three: In focus: Pensions and old age: Adapting pension systems to labour market changes in western Europe Giuliano Bonoli and Benoît Gay-des-Combes; Pension choices for the 21st century: meeting the challenges of an ageing society Jane Falkingham and Katherine Rake; The schlock and the new: risk, reflexivity and retirement Kirk Mann; Pension sharing on divorce: the future for women Debora Price.

"... an interesting collection of essays that will be very useful for both teaching and research purposes." Journal of Social Policy "... an invaluable resource for both teaching and research. It not only keeps the social policy community up to date with a range of developments in UK social policy, but it also gives us a flavour of wider international, cross-national and conceptual debates." Ruth Lister, Department of Social Sciences, University of Loughborough

"... an invaluable resource for both teaching and research. It not only keeps the social policy community up to date with a range of developments in UK social policy, but it also gives us a flavour of wider international, cross-national and conceptual debates." Ruth Lister, Department of Social Sciences, University of Loughborough