European Integration and Changing National Social Policy Institutions

Abstract

The EU has been extended to 27 countries and almost 500 million inhabitants. The member states share a common future in several respects, including rapidly ageing of populations, changing labor markets and new gender balances. There is an urgent need to modernize social protection in order to address such challenges. In this process the concept of a European Social Model has been launched to strengthen the political ambition to place social objectives high on the EU agenda. But what are the imprints of this development on national policy? In what ways does increased European integration shape socio political action at the national level? Are governments using the EU to introduce unpopular reform, thus can Pierson’s concept of “blaim avoidance” be used to better understand processed involved in the Europeanization of social policy? The enlargement of the EU and the increased emphasis on social policy and inclusion at European level brings also the old issue of welfare state convergence to the forefront of analysis? Economic perspectives on social policy formation sometimes assume that convergence is in the downward direction and takes the form of a race to the bottom. But are the EU Member States converging towards a single European standard offering no more than minimum security for lost incomes? Is such a development even the appropriate response to the challenges raised by globalization and changed demographic patterns? Sociological perspectives emphasizing the role of national political power relations provide an alternative interpretation of recent social policy reform, including continued, if not, increased institutional variation across countries. In this panel we invite studies applying an enlarged European comparative perspective on social policy variation. In particular we would like to encourage papers that combine political science, sociological and economic frameworks in the analysis of social policy institutions.

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