Introduction: Studying the warfare-welfare nexus

The Introduction presents the overarching research question of the book, namely the question of whether and how war between nations has influenced the development of advanced welfare states. This question has received only scant attention from the welfare state literature so far. The Introduction reviews the fragmented literature in history and social science with a focus on national narratives and revisionist positions, and argues for a comparative angle which puts the various causal mechanisms linking mass war and welfare state development. These mechanisms are systematized, using a heuristic of supply- vs. demand-side mechanisms and three distinct phases of military conflict: war preparation, mobilization, and the post-war period.