Introduction

Summary

This chapter sets out the rationale, scope and organization of the book. It situates the two policy tensions of interest in the book within wider debates about the meaning of ‘care’ and appropriate policy and legal responses to societies’ care and support needs, in light of the growing demand for, and declining supply of, care and support. While the book is intended to contribute to international conversations currently underway, its main focus is on policy in ‘liberal’ welfare states. The principles proposed in the book are designed to respond to the shortcomings of both long-standing features of these systems (including the provision of modest ‘safety net’ benefits for those who cannot resort to the family or market) and more recent effects of neoliberal reforms that had led to the withdrawal and marketization of services and the prioritization of paid work participation as the essential activity of citizenship. Case studies of recent policy reforms in two broadly liberal welfare states – Australia and the UK – explore the care policy tensions and application of the principles in this wider context later in the book, and this chapter also includes an explanation of the purpose of these case studies and the case study methodology.