Overcoming hybridisation in global welfare regime classifications: Lessons from a single case study

The hybridisation of welfare regimes is a critical issue in social policy literature due to thelack of a uniform dependent variable and the comparative, international scope of socialpolicy analysis, and data availability. We argue that what is presented in the global welfareregime literature as an analytical problem of classification or transitioning could also, infact, be treated as a methodological issue. Based on this, we aim to establish a criterion fordetermining the membership of a welfare regime by capturing the presence of hybridisation ofwelfare regimes in a given country at a particular time. We present a novel methodologicalapproach based on multistage sampling to capture the hybridisation of distinct welfare regimesand determine the most populous cluster in Pakistan. Establishing criteria for capturing anddetermining welfare regime membership can improve the understanding of welfare regimedynamics and factors that contribute to hybridisation. Ultimately, this knowledge can informpolicy decisions and contribute to the development of more effective welfare systems fordiverse populations