After Austerity: Welfare State Transformation in Europe after the Great Recession

European welfare states are undergoing profound change, driven by globalization, technical changes, and population ageing. More immediately, the aftermath of the Great Recession and unprecedented levels of immigration have imposed additional pressures. This book examines welfare state transformations across a representative range of European countries and at the EU level, and considers likely new directions in social policy. It reviews the dominant neo-liberal austerity response and discusses social investment, fightback, welfare chauvinism, and protectionism.It argues that the class solidarities and cleavages that shaped the development of welfare states are no longer powerful. Tensions surrounding divisions between old and young, women and men, immigrants and denizens, and between the winners in a new, more competitive, world and those who feel left behind are becoming steadily more important. European countries have entered a period of political instability and this is reflected in policy directions. Austerity predominates nearly everywhere, but patterns of social investment, protectionism, neo-Keynesian intervention, and fightback vary between countries. The volume identify areas of convergence and difference in European welfare state futures in this up-to-date study - essential reading to grasp the pace and directions of change.

Table of Contents:
1: Peter Taylor-Gooby, Benjamin Leruth, and Heejung Chung: Introduction 2: Jan-Ocko Heuer and Steffen Mau: Stretching the Limits of Solidarity: The German Case 3: Peter Taylor-Gooby, Benjamin Leruth, and Heejung Chung: Where Next for the UK Welfare State? 4: Benjamin Leruth: France at a Crossroads: Societal Challenges to the Welfare State under Nicolas Sarkozy and François Hollande's Presidential Terms 5: Jørgen Goul Andersen, Mi Ah Schoyen, and Bjørn Hvinden: Changing Scandinavian Welfare States - Which Way Forward? 6: Maša Filipoviç Hrast and Tatjana Rakar: The Future of the Slovenian Welfare State and Challenges to Solidarity 7: Ana M. Guillén and Emmanuele Pavolini: Spain and Italy: Regaining the Confidence and Legitimacy to Advance Social Policy 8: Maria Petmesidou: Welfare Reform in Greece: A Major Crisis, Crippling Debt Conditions, and Stark Challenges Ahead 9: Benjamin Leruth: The Europeanisation of the Welfare State: The Case for a 'Differentiated European Social Model' Peter Taylor-Gooby, Benjamin Leruth and Peter Taylor-Gooby, and Heejung Chung: Liberalism, Social Investment, Protectionism, and Chauvinism: New Directions for the European Welfare State

About the Author :
Peter Taylor-Gooby is a Research Professor of Social Policy at the University of Kent. He is the director of the NORFACE-funded 'Welfare States Futures: Our Children's Europe' (WelfSOC) project. His publications include Britain's Growth Crisis (co-edited with Colin Hay and Jeremy Green, Palgrave, 2015), The Double Crisis of the Welfare State and What Can We Do About It (Palgrave, 2013), and New Paradigms in Public Policy (OUP, 2013). Benjamin Leruth is an Assistant Professor in Public Administration at the Institute for Governance and Policy Analysis, University of Canberra, and a Research Associate at the University of Kent. He is working on the NORFACE-funded 'Welfare States Futures: Our Children's Europe' (WelfSOC) project. His publications include The Routledge Handbook of Euroscepticism (co-edited with N. Startin and S. Usherwood, Routledge, 2017). Heejung Chung is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Kent. He is working on the NORFACE-funded 'Welfare States Futures: Our Children's Europe' (WelfSOC) project.

Review :
the edited volume is a compelling account of the subject. Its theoretical framework is deployed consistently and coherently throughout the book, the chapters are strongly anchored by a historical account, are analytically consistent and provide diverse case-studies and levels of analysis. The book contains timely, precious material and analysis that can contribute to the formulation of more socially and economically coherent policies across EU Member States and at the EU level. It is a must read book for policy-makers, the business sector, trade unions and NGOs concerned about the future of democracy and ensuring a sound economy underpinned by an equitable welfare state.