The volume at hand contains the proceedings of the conference "Restructuring the Welfare State: Ethical Issues of Social Policy in an International Perspective" held with the support of the Stiftung Forschungsinstitut fur Philosophie Hannover at the Forschungsinstitut fiir Philosophie Hannover in Hanover, Germany, on September 8-10, 1995. Several of the papers in the volume have been read at the Fourth International Conference on Ethics in the Public Service at Stockholm, Sweden, on June 15-18, 1994, organised by Hans De Geer and Gunilla Silfverberg at the Swedish FA Institute. The editors wish to thank the organisers, participants and speakers of the Stockholm and Hanover conferences. They are also grateful to Anna Maria Hauk for the smooth handling of the Hanover conference, to Guttorm Aanes and Simen Brrein for their assistance in preparing the manuscript, and to Peggy Simcic Brl/lnn for the valuable and professional management of the manuscript. Oslo and Hanover, October 1996 Andreas Fl/lllesdal Peter Koslowski Table ofContents Preface v Restructuring the Welfare State: Introduction PETER KOSLOWSKI .....-............--.....-.....-........-....-..--...-................. 1 Part I. The Welfare State Under Siege in Western Europe 1. Is the British Welfare System Sustainable? FRANCES CAIRNCROSS 9 2. Is the Welfare System of the Netherlands Sustainable? KEES SCHUYT 21 3. Is the German Welfare State Sustainable? DIETHER DORING 38 Part II.