A CONCEPTUAL-MODEL FOR STUDYING SOCIAL-WELFARE POLICY COMPARATIVELY

Courses in international or comparative social welfare have many benef its, but require a framework for systematic comparisons between countr ies. This article presents an institutional political process model fo r studying social welfare policy comparatively. The principal elements of the model include each country's societal values, government insti tutions (operationalized as the role of interest groups), policy goals , and system implementation (type of welfare system). The model is dem onstrated through a comparison of the dissimilar social welfare system s of Sweden and the U.S.