This paper represents a foray into the relatively neglected domain of social policy analysis by looking at the Sri Lankan welfare experience as the outcome of welfare state policies. The paper is organized around two mainsections. One deals with the examination of the growth of welfarism, its rationale, policies and their overall assessment. The other, is more conjectural, employing a comparative social policy perspective. It outlines some of the theoretical perspectives currently available for the analysis and eventual restricting of the welfare state. The book also touches briefly on recent developments in the analysis of welfare state policies in developed countries with a view to suggesting alternative conceptual schema for evaluating the Sri Lankan experience of welfarism.