The Politics of the New Welfare State

Since the early 1990s, European welfare states have undergone substantial changes, in terms of objectives, areas of intervention, and instruments. Traditional programmes, such as old age pensions have been curtailed throughout the continent, while new functions have been taken up. At present, welfare states are expected to help non-working people back into employment, to complement work income for the working poor, to reconcile work and family life, to promote gender equality, to support child development, and to provide social services for an ageing society. The welfare settlement that is emerging at the beginning of the 21st century is nonetheless very different in terms of functions and instruments from the one inherited from the last century. This book seeks to offer a better understanding of the new welfare settlement, and to analyze the factors that have shaped the recent transformation. Contributors to this volume - Giuliano Bonoli is Professor of Social Policy at the Swiss Graduate School of Public Administration at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland. Jochen Clasen is Professor of Comparative Social Policy in the School of Social and Political Science at the University of Edinburgh. Daniel Clegg is Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Edinburgh. Colin Crouch is Emeritus Professor of Governance and Public Management at the Business School of Warwick University. Johan Bo Davidsson is a post-doc researcher at Lund University. Bernhard Ebbinghaus is Professor of Sociology at the University of Mannheim, and former Director of the Mannheim Centre for European Social Research (MZES). Patrick Emmenegger is Associate Professor at the University of Southern Denmark and its Centre for Welfare State Research. Maurizio Ferrera is Professor of Political Science and President of the Graduate School in Social, Economic and Political Studies of the University of Milan. Silja Hausermann is a Junior Professor at the University of Konstanz, Germany. Anton Hemerijck is the Dean of the Faculty of the Social Sciences at the VU University Amsterdam and Vice Rector. Jane Jenson, Canada Research Chair in Citizenship and Governance and Professor of Political Science at the Universite de Montreal. Maarten Keune is Professor of Social Security and Labour Relations at the Amsterdam Institute of Advanced Labour Studies, University of Amsterdam. David Natali is Associate Professor of Public Policy Analysis at the University of Bologna. Ingela Naumann is Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Edinburgh. Bruno Palier is CNRS Research Director at Sciences Po, Centre d'etudes europeennes.