Australia's Welfare Wars: The players, the politics and the ideologies

(Paperback, 3rd edition)

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In this fully revised third edition of Australias Welfare Wars, Philip Mendes questions many of the key values and assumptions that determine contemporary social welfare policies, and the factors and forces that shape these policies in Australia.

Rather than concentrating on the history of the welfare state, or the process of making social policy, Mendes examines welfare politics in Australia from a broad political perspective, exploring the role played by key socio-economic players and their respective ideologies in the political struggles around welfare. The book looks closely at:

• the influence of ideas and ideologies such as neoliberalism, laborism, social democracy and social investment on the welfare state
• how different local interest and lobby groups influence welfare policy
• the significant impact of economic globalisation, and global social policy trends, on Australian welfare policy debates.

Author Bio

Philip Mendes is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Social Inclusion and Social Policy Research unit in the Department of Social Work, Faculty of Medicine, Monash University. He has been a social work and social policy practitioner and educator for 30 years, with particular experience in the fields of income security, young people leaving out-of-home care, social workers and policy practice, and illicit drugs. He has authored more than 100 publications in local and international peer reviewed journals, and is the author or co-author of 10 books including the first two editions of Australias Welfare Wars (2003, 2008), Harm Minimisation, Zero Tolerance and Beyond: The politics of illicit drugs in Australia (2004), Inside the Welfare Lobby: A history of the Australian Council of Social Service (2006), Young People Leaving State Out-of-home Care: Australian policy and practice (2011), and Young People Transitioning from Out-of-home Care: International research, policy and practice (2016).