Ricerc@Sapienza

This special issue of «Contemporanea: Rivista di storia dell’800 e del ’900», dedi-
cated to the relationship between war and welfare, was completed while the Covid-19
pandemic was invading the lives of tens of millions of people around the world, rap-
idly changing their lifestyles, priorities, and expectations about the future. The very
concepts of safety and risk – concepts that have always been entwined with any the-
oretical reflection on the welfare state, as well as on its concrete practices – were
radically affected.