Contents: Editorial introduction, Catherine Jones Finer. Overview of Trends in Social Policy and Social Services Delivery: The development of the British welfare state, Pete Alcock; To be or not to be a Taiwanese welfare state. Lessons from recent experience, Yeun-wen Ku; Modernizing social welfare services? change and continuity in social care and social welfare in Britain, Ann Davis; The myth and the reality of privatizing social welfare services: a case study of Taipei City, Hsiao-Hung Nancy Chen. Pensions: Is it safe enough? the planning of national pensions insurance in Taiwan, Yeun-wen Ku and Hsui Hui Chen; Thinking the unthinkable? pensions policy prospects in Britain, Tony Maltby. Health Care: Financing health care for middle-to-low income households in Taiwan, George Cheng Wang; Current themes and issues in Britain’s National Health Service, Robert N. Matthews. Family and Community Care and Control: A comprehensive policy for the single-parent family, Betty Y. Weng; Family support services: some recent developments, Kate Morris; The social construction of ageing: elderly women in Taiwan, Lih-Rong Wang; Enhancing independence in old age, Nick Le Mesurier; Community care for the elderly people in Taiwan: illusion, vision or reality?, Yuan-shie Hwang; Crime, punishment and community in England and Wales, Susan Hanley and Mike Nellis. East-West Ideas on Welfare and Growth: Looking East, looking West: trends in orientalism and occidentalism amongst applied social scientists, John Doling and Catherine Jones Finer; Elite political-cultural projects, economic growth and the achievement of social welfare in East Asia, Peter W. Preston; Indices.