Social welfare in a globalised world

The 33^rd ICSW Global Conference on Social Welfare was held in the city of Tours (France) in 2008 (June 30-July 4) and was attended by more than 600 people from 75 countries. This "Davos summit" on social welfare covered a wide range of issues and cases, making it impossible to summarise them all and unfair to choose any one view.

The French Committee for Social Development and Action (CFADS - Comité français pour l'action et le développement social) therefore chose to produce a book with chapters by different authors who have analysed key subjects presented at the conference. No attempt has been made to be exhaustive; the authors have signed their contributions and included their own input and angles, casting light on different presentations made at the conference. The chapter by Christian Rollet covers the wide range and different capacities of welfare policies around the world; Eric Parpaillon has focused on welfare policy innovations in both "the North" and "the South;" Gérard Schaefer has explored the practice of "workfare" around the world; and Blandine Destremau has highlighted the ambiguous relationship between human rights and social rights, showing that they do not necessarily form an ideal partnership.

The work reported here also incentive for further study of social welfare in a globalised world.