This paper analyzes responses by welfare states to globalization in some OECD countries in the 1980s and 90s, demonstrating that the hypothesis concerning the dismantling of social welfare systems cannot be proven due to lack of evidence of substantial changes in the funding and selection of beneficiaries. The paper also focuses on the effects of internationalization of the Brazilian economy on the country's social protection system. The conclusion is that restrictions imposed on public expenditures severely limited the capacity to promote broad coverage in social policies. During the decade the option was made for targeted, selective social policies based on the adoption of a diagnosis of low effectiveness in the Brazilian social protection system. The case of health policy was an exception, due to capacity for interest mediation in the social arena.