In this fully revised third edition of Australia's 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.