Governing Work and Welfare in a New Economy: European and American Experiments

This book examines the common challenges confronting the European Union and the United States as they reconfigure work and welfare in a new economy and struggle to develop effective and legitimate governance arrangements. Chapters by leading European and American scholars demonstrate that despite institutional and political differences, the EU and the US face similar problems created by changes in productive organization, employment patterns, household structures, and social risks. They likewise face similar problems of coordinating reforms across interdependent policy domains and levels of governance, each involving a multiplicity of public and private actors. Because the issues are complex, the environment uncertain, and ready-made solutions unsatisfactory, policy makers in Europe and the US have increasingly recognized the need to accept diversity, encourage experimentation, foster collaborative problem-solving, and link multiple levels of governance. The result has been a proliferation of new forms of experimentalist governance based on various combinations of devolved decision making, information pooling and performance comparison, deliberative exploration of promising solutions or 'good practices', and redefinition of policy objectives in light of accumulated experience. Europeans are systematically studying and debating each others' policies and practices through the Open Method of Coordination, while American states and localities are likewise developing new mechanisms for information sharing and horizontal comparison. Hence there is now an opportunity to expand the process of mutual learning to the transatlantic region as a whole. Governing Work and a Welfare in a New Economy contributes to this project by tracing parallel trends in governance and showing how new policy solutions are emerging from such experimentation. The book's innovative interdisciplinary approach and up-to-date coverage of current transformations in work, welfare, and governance on both sides of the Atlantic will make it required reading for scholars, students, and policy makers alike.

Table of Contents:
1: Jonathan Zeitlin: Introduction: Governing Work and Welfare in a New Economy: European and American Experiments Part 1: Experimenting with the Work-Welfare Nexus: The European Union 2: David M. Trubek and James Mosher: New Governance, Employment Policy, and the European Social Model 3: Janine Goetschy: The European Employment Strategy, Multi-level Governance, and Policy Coordination 4: Maurizio Ferrera and Anton Hermerijck: Recalibrating Europe's Welfare Regimes 5: Martin Rhodes: National 'Pacts' and EU Governance in Social Policy and the Labor Market 6: Ida Regalia: Decentralizing Employment Protection in Europe: Territorial Pacts and Beyond 7: Adalbert Evers: Local Labor Market Policies and Social Integration in Europe: Potential and Pitfalls of Integrated Partnership Approaches Part 2: Experimenting with the Work-Welfare Nexus: The United States 8: Joel Handler: US Welfare Reform: The Big Experiment 9: Paul Osterman: Organizing the US Labor Market: National Problems, Community Strategies 10: Laura Dresser and Joel Rogers: Part of the Solution: Emerging Workforce Intermediaries in the United States 11: Louise Trubek: Health Care and Low-wage Work in the United States: Linking Local Action for Expanded Coverage Part 3: Governing Work and Welfare in a New Economy: Emergent Patterns and Future Possibilities 12: Robert Salais: Work and Welfare: Toward a Capability Approach 13: Joshua Cohen and Charles Sabel: Sovreignty and Solidarity: The EU and the US 14: Alain Supiot: Governing Work and Welfare in a Global Economy

About the Author :
Jonanthan Zeitlin is Professor of History, Sociology, and Industrial Relations at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is also a co-director of the European Union Center. He has been a consultant on industrial and labour market policy for the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, and the Greater London Council. David M. Trubek is Voss-Bascom Professor of Law and Director of the Center for World Affairs and the Global Economy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he is a co-director of the European Union Center. Previously he was Dean of International Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Review :
... will interest students, scholars, researchers, policy makers and practitioners in the fields of labour market and welfare studies.