Before going into depth about different models of welfare states, it is important to define what exactly a welfare state is and what it means. ‘Welfare state denotes a democratic state that, in accordance with its constitution, not only guarantees basic rights and personal and economic freedoms (state under the rule of law), but also takes legal, financial and material measures to equalise social differences and tensions (up to a point). The principle of the welfare state to that extent is related to the goal of justice under the rule of law and is laid down in Articles 20 and 28 of the Basic Law’. (Petring et al, 2012).

Worldwide, there are many different varieties and models of welfare states. The three most common are liberal, conservative and social democratic. This essay will focus on describing, comparing and contrasting these three different models using examples from the United States of America (liberal welfare state), Germany (conservative welfare state) and Sweden (social democratic welfare state). The 3 different models of welfare states are in many aspects, greatly different to each other. They each promote different ideologies of how much interference and input the government should have in the welfare of their people, what constitutes as fair and equal and how much do people need in order to sustain comfortable and tolerable lives. These different models have diverse historical backgrounds, derivations and functions and this essay will delve into these.