ROBERT SYKES is Principal Lecturer in Social Policy at Sheffield Hallam University. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the British Social Policy Association and convenes its comparative social policy study group. - BRUNO PALIER is Charg? de Recherches at CNRS, in the Centre d'?tudes de la vie politique fran?aise (CEVIPOF), Paris. He is a member of the Management Committee of Cost A15, 'reforming the welfare system in Europe'. - PAULINE PRIOR is Lecturer in Social Policy at The Queen's University of Belfast. She has a background in practice and management within social services in Northern Ireland and she is the author of Gender and Mental Health (Palgrave 1999).