The modern welfare state is experiencing an unprecedented crisis and questioning. Victim of the processes we have come to call "globalization" but also of the "guild" and bureaucratic exaggerations that historically accompanied it, the welfare state can only be an important parameter of the contemporary problematic for social rights.
This edition consists of studies that focus both on the theoretical issue of the protective scope of social rights and on the contemporary issues faced by the welfare state at national and European level in specific areas of action, such as employment, social security, education and health. The common denominator of all articles is the integration of social rights within the framework of specific constitutional requirements, the obligation of the state to take positive measures as provided by the Constitution, and the possibility or not of the state monopolizing the provision of social services. In other words, the concept and limits of the "social acquired" are examined, both theoretically and specifically.