The Spanish Welfare State (WS) has been expanding during 1978-2008 in the general framework of the Mediterranean WS Regime. After a discussion of the literature, a wide panoramic view will be shown analyzing its evolution, the changes about in the contents and management, the lights and shadows of the expansion period, the effects of this national economic model, adn this socio-economic crisis and also political and institutional. All of them developed inside a double process of Europeanization and decentralization becoming a multilevel government. Hence, in addition to having financial consequences, its instability impacts upon its own capacity to act and upon its complicated legitimacy and governance. Nowadays the WS has to face different priorities (i.e.:high unemployment and relative poverty) traditional and new problems (i.e: inefficient redistribution, low skilled workers, strongly dualized labour market) challenges and new designs (i.e.:better administrative coordination, activation, flexi-cure, reconciliation work-family policies). So the prominence of the different public and social partners with respect to citizens’ welfare is shifting, although the family networks retain their role for support, particularly in times of recession.
Consequently, it has been progressively necessary to reshape our mixed welfare system, as well as to redefine the role of the public sector. Including this change, it is accepted the need of multiple reforms (renewal of enterprises, recapitalization of labour and refocusing of financial system) in order to transform the unsustainable productive model. And especially stressed is the requirement to look for new resources and employments in strategic sectors, some of them are linked to those areas were already described in Delors’ Rapport (1993) and European Strategy(2020).The post-Keynesian WS is undergoing constant material readjustments and the consequent strategic reforms to its character are more qualitative. Therefore, debates will continue concerning its future and the impact of current economic crisis might have on its sustainability.
