Since the mid 1990s, the focus of European employment and social policy has shifted from protection to promotion. This book provides a timely analysis of this new form of governance, and the new forms of policy delivery and audit which accompany it. The limitations of the current approach became particularly apparent during the financial crisis of 2008, and it has now reached a turning point. The book offers a new coherent European reform agenda that views easing transitions in employment and promoting the development of individual and collective capabilities as cornerstones. The contributing authors focus on vocational training, life course policies, reflexive labor law and social insurance, from theoretical, empirical and practical perspectives. Transforming European Employment Policy will be of great benefit to policy makers as well as those researching or studying European law, labor law, industrial relations, political science, social policy or international business. Contributors: P. Auer, J.-M. Bonvin, C. Crouch, S. Deakin, C. Didry, B. Gazier, P. Kaps, R. Rogowski, R. Salais, G. Schmid, H. Schutz, N. Whiteside, P. Wotschack, B. Zimmermann

Since the mid 1990s, the focus of European employment and social policy has shifted from protection to promotion. This book provides a timely analysis of this new form of governance, and the new forms of policy delivery and audit which accompany it. The limitations of the current approach became particularly apparent during the financial crisis of 2008, and it has now reached a turning point. The book offers a new coherent European reform agenda that views easing transitions in employment and promoting the development of individual and collective capabilities as cornerstones. The contributing authors focus on vocational training, life course policies, reflexive labor law and social insurance, from theoretical, empirical and practical perspectives. Transforming European Employment Policy will be of great benefit to policy makers as well as those researching or studying European law, labor law, industrial relations, political science, social policy or international business. Contributors: P. Auer, J.-M. Bonvin, C. Crouch, S. Deakin, C. Didry, B. Gazier, P. Kaps, R. Rogowski, R. Salais, G. Schmid, H. Schutz, N. Whiteside, P. Wotschack, B. Zimmermann

This volume brings together scholars from a range of disciplines to provide an analytical and historical overview of how state policy has affected established economic and labour market systems in France and Britain. The contributors to this book explore questions such as: how "dirigiste" was the French state in reality; why was state intervention more acceptable in France than in Britain?; and how do the differences in state intervention help to explain the respective economic performances of the two countries since World War II? The book draws on primary research by scholars in economic and social history, industrial relations, economics, law, political science, sociology and social policy. As such, it is an intervention into debates concerning the politics of modern labour markets specifically and the role of the state in economic modernization more widely. It should appeal to researchers and students in several discplines.

Future pension provision is highly controversial; it juxtaposes the challenges of old age security with the exigencies of global finance. Clearly, demography, finance and public accountability are crucial to current political debate. But there are other important issues. The problems of paying for the retirement of the baby boom generation has exposed profound differences in the advanced economies in terms of their financial institutions and infrastructure. Pension security has been re-conceptualised, in part, as an issue of global finance and international comparative advantage bringing with it a re-definition of risk and pension security. This book examines how major continental European and Anglo-American countries are dealing with these pressures, to what extent these responses are beginning to redraw the boundaries between public and private responsibility for pension security, and what the implications of public-private partnerships are for the financial organisation and infrastructure of European and global financial markets, and the nation-based welfare state. The contributors, all involved in policy development in their respective countries, assess the comparative strengths and weaknesses of recent pension initiatives in the light of continuing fiscal constraints and current market instabilities. Using a tight comparative framework, the book questions assumed divisions between states and markets, as new divisions between public and private spheres of pension responsibility require new regulatory machinery to guarantee future security. This book provides a vital reference point in understanding pension security in the 21st century for academics and postgraduates in the social sciences, economics and finance, geography, politics and social policy, policy makers in OECD countries and industry professionals.

Future pension provision is highly controversial; it juxtaposes the challenges of old age security with the exigencies of global finance. This multi-disciplinary book, of interest to political scientists, social policy academics and economists, exposes the contradictory political and financial pressures currently experienced by major western economies.