This milestone work is the first to offer in-depth treatment of all aspects of the discipline and practice of social policy globally. Supported by a distinguished international advisory board, the editors have compiled more than 750 entries written by 254 leading specialists to provide authoritative coverage of definitional and conceptual terms, actors, institutions and national and regional contexts and applications, and the growing importance of the transnational dimension. Also included are biographical entries on major theoreticians. The editors provide strong coverage of national and regional traditions and experiences and differing academic approaches, and emphasise the diversity of social policy in study, development and application around the world. Contributors draw in and make the necessary connections with social policy's associated disciplines to provide a rich picture of this vast and highly diverse field. Comprehensive and authoritative, the "Encyclopaedia" nevertheless opens up the numerous areas in which there is on-going research, debate and, often, serious disagreement and divergence in theory and practice. To this end, entries introduce a core or common ground of understanding before moving on to a wider discussion of debates and different theoretical and geographical approaches. The whole is integrated by cross-referencing and each entry includes a bibliography for further reading. There is a full index. "The International Encyclopaedia of Social Policy" provides the most substantial mapping of the international study and practice of social policy to date and will stand as a vital storehouse of knowledge for many years to come.