Since climate change threatens human wellbeing across the globe and into the future, we require a concept of wellbeing that encompasses an equivalent ambit. This paper argues that only a concept of human need can do the work required. It compares need theory with three alternative approaches....

This article contributes to the ongoing debate about the impact of globalization on welfare systems across the world. Its argument is that economic globalization alters the global balance of forces compared with the ‘Golden Age’ of welfare capitalism, but that its impact on policies and...

This paper maps the distribution of total direct and embodied emissions of greenhouse gases by households in the UK and goes on to analyse their main drivers. Previous research has studied the distribution of direct emissions by households, notably from domestic fuel and electricity, but this is...

This article studies how the composition of public revenues in terms of sources (such as taxation, social insurance contributions, mineral rents, foreign aid) is associated with different welfare regimes and social policy outcomes. It is divided into two halves: a review of literature and...

This paper compares two recent books addressing issues in human wellbeing, rights and development: A Theory of Human Need by Doyal and Gough and Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach by Martha Nussbaum. The first part identifies the common project which underlies both works: to...

The current stage of ‘neo-capitalism’ or ‘state monopoly capitalism’ is characterized by a qualitatively expanded role of the state in capitalist social formations. [1] One expression of this huge politico-economic weight of the modern state is the prolonged expansion in state...

The article considers three major non-Marxist explanations of the modern welfare state: functionalist sociological theories, economic theories of government policy, and pluralist theories of democracy. Each is subjected to a critique and all are found wanting, in that none can satisfactorily...