Intent and Reality of the European Employment Strategy


Book Description

With new governance characteristics - such as mutual policy learning, exchange of best practices, or peer review - the European Employment Strategy (EES) and the Open Method of Coordination confront political actors within the EU with the new rules of policy coordination that also affect on governance structures within the European Multilevel System. This dissertation intensively deals with the different facets of the EES, analyzing its original intent and its political reality. It looks at the genesis, development, and characteristics of the EES, and in a highly elaborated and profound theory-based analysis, it examines the impact of the EES on political structures, employment policies, and underlying ideas, as well as the interplay of the EES with other supranational economic policies. In addition to the EU level analysis, the United Kingdom and Germany serve as case studies for the examination of adaptation at Member State level. In order to critically assess their applicability and validity in the given case, the book embeds this impact analysis into the academic debate on Europeanization and policy convergence. By doing so, it complements Europeanization studies on regulatory policies by analyzing the Europeanization potential and the impact of soft policy coordination within the European Multilevel Governance System. Dissertation.




Social policy in the European Union: state of play 2015


Book Description

The sixteenth edition of Social policy in the European Union: state of play has a triple ambition. First, it provides easily accessible information to a wide audience about recent developments in both EU and domestic social policymaking. Second, the volume provides a more analytical reading, embedding the key developments of the year 2014 in the most recent academic discourses. Third, the forward-looking perspective of the book aims to provide stakeholders and policymakers with specific tools that allow them to discern new opportunities to influence policymaking. In this 2015 edition of Social policy in the European Union: state of play, the authors tackle the topics of the state of EU politics after the parliamentary elections, the socialisation of the European Semester, methods of political protest, the Juncker investment plan, the EU’s contradictory education investment, the EU’s contested influence on national healthcare reforms, and the neoliberal Trojan Horse of the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP).




Global Governance from Regional Perspectives


Book Description

Global Governance from Regional Perspectives argues that the academic debate on global governance has neglected the combination of power with value constellations/culture. Both input and output legitimacy, for instance, or the exercise of control and influence are inextricably related to culture, worldviews, and values. The book questions theoretically the Western hegemonic and hence 'invisible' definition of governance and related concepts, as well as the Western hegemony over global governance institutions. It looks from the ground up whether, and how, alternative practices, institutions/networks, and concepts/norms of global governance are emerging in relation to emerging powers and regional integration systems. Global Governance from Regional Perspectives starts with a critical reading of global governance from multi-disciplinary views and engages with two important and under-studied aspects, notably how global governance can be measured and what lies behind such measurements , and questions the democratic deficit of global governance. The book provides a series of regional and country perspectives on global governance which engage with a specific example of an institution, process, or issue that is used to highlight why and how the western hegemonic views and practices of global governance are (or not) contested. The book offers a mapping of global governance phenomena in different regions of the world and a critical readings of those. As such this volume is different from all international relations or political science collections on global governance and also opens up a new field of study that has been hitherto neglected in sociological or cultural studies.




New Governance and the European Employment Strategy


Book Description

In recent years new or experimental approaches to governance in the EU, namely the Open Method of Coordination (OMC), have attracted great interest and controversy. This book examines the European Employment Strategy (EES) and its implementation through the OMC, exploring the promises and limitations of the EES for EU social law and policy and for the safeguard of social rights. This significant and timely work offers new insights and fresh perspectives into the operation of New Governance and its relationship with both European and national law and constitutionalism. This book will be of great interest to academics, researchers and postgraduate students working in European law – specifically in the field of EU employment law and gender equality – and European governance studies in general.




Routledge Handbook on the European Union and International Institutions


Book Description

This Handbook addresses the increasingly contested issue of profound political importance: Europe's presence in multilateral institutions. It assesses both the evolving role of Europe in international institutions, and the transformations in international institutions themselves.




Wage bargaining under the new European Economic Governance


Book Description

Within the framework of the new European economic governance, neoliberal views on wages have further increased in prominence and have steered various reforms of collective bargaining rules and practices. As the crisis in Europe came to be largely interpreted as a crisis of competitiveness, wages were seen as the core adjustment variable for ‘internal devaluation’, the claim being that competitiveness could be restored through a reduction of labour costs. This book proposes an alternative view according to which wage developments need to be strengthened through a Europe-wide coordinated reconstruction of collective bargaining as a precondition for more sustainable and more inclusive growth in Europe. It contains major research findings from the CAWIE2 – Collectively Agreed Wages in Europe – project, conducted in 2014–2015 for the purpose of discussing and debating the currently dominant policy perspectives on collectively-bargained wage systems under the new European economic governance.







Designing Prostitution Policy


Book Description

Most discussions about approaches to regulating prostitution occur at the national level--battles, for example, between prohibition and legalization. In reality, however, the impact of prostitution is felt most keenly at the local level, and it is local measures that can have the greatest effect. This book explores various approaches to regulating prostitution and other sex work at the local level, analyzing their aims and outcomes and offering guidance on designing effective regulations through available policy instruments.




People, Population Change and Policies


Book Description

This two-volume work explores social cohesion and the demographic challenges of low birth rates and population aging. Authors approach the topic from the perspective of citizens and policymakers, analyzing attitudes from 14 European countries on demographic trends and expectations towards private networks and public policies. Volume 2 focuses on family and family change, value of children, fertility intentions, and views on work-family balance.




Ideas and European Education Policy, 1973-2020


Book Description

This book analyses the transformation of European Education Policy from 1973 to 2020. In doing so, it offers a unique insight into the changes of European education from a predominantly national concern to a supranational policy framework, driven by an economic discourse concerning productivity and employability. The book shows that the idea of the “Europe of Knowledge” did not originate in the Lisbon Strategy of 2000, but rather was the result of a gradual development that started in the mid-1980s. This begun with the establishment of a specific problem definition of education as a solution for Europe’s lack of competitiveness, a definition that was incrementally constructed by the European Commission and the European business community. Highlighting significant and unexplored questions such as the role of European transnational business in education and the role of the “problem entrepreneur” in defining policy issues, this book will provide a comprehensive perspective on European Education Policy that will be of interest to all students of European Politics, Education Policy, and Public Policy.