Understanding the role and functions of social policy and social security systems is a key point for a discussion on reforms of the retirement systems. In this essay I describe the subject and range of social policy in the modern welfare state. The work has a descriptive character and aims at presenting basic issues between social security, social policy and social insurance. In the first part I provide a discussion on the welfare statefs definition and its structure; then I refer to the notion of social policy and present ideological foundations for social security development. Also, a typology of social policy regimes is presented. The essay also deals with the concept of social security, discusses its definitions, origins and discusses development. I go over the discussion concerning classical assumptions underlying the social security concept and present some recent major challenges that make the review of social security construct necessary. Some terminology and institutional differences between the US and European framework are presented as well. Part three analyses the issue and origins of various risks faced by society. Those social risks are described along with the social risk management issues that are at heart of current approach to social policy. The last part shortly deals with the functions of social security with a focus on social insurance as its main tool.
