This panel presents the latest theoretical approaches and fresh empirical evidence based on small-n comparative studies, which bridge the divide among western, southern, and central/eastern parts of the Europe. All papers analyze the most recent responses to and consequences of economic austerity since 2009 that threaten to become a shared, “permanent future” of national social policies in the twenty-first century. Depending on the condition and size of their economies, the type and scope of the welfare state programs and institutions, current politics, and/or specific cultural legacies, old and new EU Member States can cluster around similar policy solutions or diverge significantly regardless of their geographical locations in the conventionally defined parts of Europe. Expansion of the range of cases enhances our understanding of similarities and differences in the most recent social policy reforms stemming from this crisis. Our inclusive approach also seeks to give more satisfactory answers to key questions of comparative social policy analysis such as the impact of similar institutional settings and Bismarckian legacies on policy reform and possible, long-term convergence; the lingering historical influence of the shared experience of the “golden era” of welfare state expansion; the effects of EU conditionality, social investment agendas and work-life balance guidelines; and the influence of domestic political dynamics (within and between right and left parties and coalitions). We pay special attention to anti-poverty and family policies; trying to explain patterns of resilience and vulnerability of these less frequently examined welfare state programs in the context of the current austerity period.