This book examines the development of social policy in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan through the framework of bureaucratic regimes. It traces the institutional continuity from the colonial Indian Civil Service to its post-colonial successors - the Bangladesh Administrative Service, the Indian Administrative Service, and the Pakistan Administrative Service - revealing how these enduring structures have shaped social policies, influenced welfare outcomes, and reinforced social inequalities. Adopting a comparative historical institutionalist approach, the book advances theoretical and empirical understanding and offers a fresh perspective on welfare regimes in the Global South. The book will be of particular value to scholars of social policy, political science, development studies, and public administration, as well as to policymakers and international organizations committed to reforming government structures for more inclusive and equitable welfare systems.

Zahid Mumtaz is a Senior lecturer and a Research Associate at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University, Australia, and a Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics and Political Science, UK. His research explores welfare regimes in the Global South, bureaucratic regimes, community welfare regimes, and the interplay between formal and informal social protection. He also advances innovative methodologies by applying classical and quantum machine learning to policy analysis. He has published widely in leading social and public policy journals and is the author of Informal Social Protection and Poverty.