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Dear colleagues, My recent book 'Politics of Segmentation: Party Competition and Social Protection in Europe' has now been published as paperback. (I had not previously announced the book on this list.) http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781138812468/ When political parties make policy decisions they are influenced by the competition they face from other parties. This book examines how party competition and party systems affect reforms of social protection. Featuring a historical comparison of Italy and Germany post-1945, it shows how a high number of parties and ideological polarization lead to fragmented and unequal social benefits. The book brings together two important issues in welfare state research that have been insufficiently investigated: First, the complex influence of party competition on social policy-making, and second, how some social groups enjoy better social protection than others. Beyond the two case studies, the book proposes an innovative framework for studying segmentation of social protection and applies it to 15 advanced welfare states. Overall, the book draws together different strands of research on political parties and on welfare states, and introduces a new argument on how party politics shapes social policy. Kind regards, Georg Picot -- Dr Georg Picot Departmental Lecturer in Comparative Social Policy University of Oxford From September 2014: Lecturer in Comparative Public Policy University of Manchester