Reshaping Welfare States and Activation Regimes in Europe

The activation-based intervention paradigm is being adopted by several European countries resulting in major reforms to the social welfare system. The spread of the activation paradigm has had major repercussions, not only for welfare interventions aimed at combating unemployment, but also for the political regulation of the social question and citizenship. Citizenship is being redefined in contractual terms and greater emphasis is being placed on its economic aspects. Nevertheless, a wide range of policies are labelled with recourse to this interpretative framework and a pluralistic approach to implementation could serve just as well to empower as to weaken workers'/citizens' position in society.
This book analyses the extent of these changes from a cross-cultural perspective. Institutional settings as well as prevailing work values and social representation of social exclusion (activation regimes) have a key role in defining the instruments to be used in national activation strategies to regulate the behaviour of job seekers. In this book, a discussion about the range of social welfare model reforms throughout Europe and a typology of activation regimes is proposed.

Inhaltsverzeichnis:

Contents: Amparo Serrano Pascual: Reshaping Welfare States: Activation Regimes in Europe - Colin Lindsay: The United Kingdom's 'Work First' Welfare State and Activation Regimes in Europe - Rik van Berkel: Activation in the Netherlands: The Gradual Introduction of a Paradigm Shift - Flemming Larsen/Mikkel Mailand: Danish Activation Policy: The Role of the Normative Foundation, the Institutional Set-up and Other Drivers - Eskil Wadensjö: Activation Policy in Sweden - Jean-Claude Barbier: The French Activation Strategy in a Comparative Perspective - Jorge Aragón/Fernando Rocha/Ana Santana/Jorge Torrents: The Commitment to Be Actively Available for Work and Employment Policy in Spain - Pedro Hespanha: The Activation Trend in Portuguese Social Policy. An Open Process? - Tomás Sirovátka: Activation Policies and Shaping Factors in the Czech Republic - Amparo Serrano Pascual: Activation Regimes in Europe: A Clustering Exercise.

Rezension:

«Not only is 'Reshaping Welfare States and Activation Regimes in Europe' of major relevance on account of the topical and detailed analysis that makes it a reference text for any research on recent transformations in European welfare states. It represents, in addition, a valuable instance of the study of welfare state regimes from a historical-hermeneutic perspective, moving beyond the traditional combination of socio-economic indicators and thereby resulting in an original critical contribution to earlier studies and opening up new avenues of interpretation.» (María Paz Martín Martín, Transfer)