Welfare states receive considerable attention in political science due to their prominence among state functions; their central role in determining the level of inequality and poverty in society, now a much-discussed issue; and because of the fiscal and demographic pressures they face in an age of globalization. They are also the focus interesting theoretical and empirical debates. This course explores the recent comparative politics literature on welfare states in liberal democracies, before examining selected cases in Canadian social policy-making. The course material as about equally divided between comparative and Canadian content.