"This paper draws on the research done in the framework of the European Union Framework Programme 7 project The Governance of Uncertainty and Sustainability: Tensions and Opportunities (GUSTO). The New Social Risks (NSR) school of social policy analysis has enabled scholars and policy-makers alike to reshape their approach to take account of the main relevant changes that have affected advanced societies since the major reformulation of welfare state arrangements that took place, in most cases, after World War II. However, the authors of this paper point to certain deficiencies in it, and suggest a new approach which offers an overall framework of analysis for an extended concept of the social policy environment. "

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