In political science research, the role of public discourse in the enforcement process of political agendas has been increasingly valued in recent years. The persuasive power of public reform discourses is now seen as a central political resource for legitimizing reforms, overcoming institutional barriers, and engaging organized interests. This book comparatively examines the reform discourses of three social democratic governments - the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Germany - which had to implement welfare state reforms in the 1990s and 2000s under the pressures of globalization and demographic change. These reforms involved the reduction of social benefits and a reassessment of the relationship between market and state, contrasting with the traditional programmatic identity.