Exploring European social policy

Book abstract:

Faced with the challenges of economic globalisation and the retrenchment of the national welfare state, the development and future of EU social policy has taken on a new importance. This book provides an overview of the policy area and examines whether the EU social policy is strengthening or weakening European social policy regimes.

The first two chapters provide the fundamental historical and theoretical background for the later policy chapters. Chapter one defines social policy and discusses its history and the limited international aspects of its development. It also analyses the three major post-war theories of European integration, federalism, functionalism and neofunctionalism, with the specific focus on social policy. Chapter two analyses the revival of social policy in the early 1970s and follows the policy's development throughout the next three decades right up to the present day.

The key areas of EU labour policy are the focus of the next two chapters. An analysis of the freedom of movement of labour and health and safety policy forms the bulk of chapter three and the extensions to EU labour policy that emerged after the 1970s are discussed in chapter four.

Chapter five concerns the development of EU gender policy from its beginning in the Treaty of Rome in 1958 right up to its 'mainstreaming' into other policy areas in the 1990s.

The financing of the EU social policy is discussed in chapter six through an analysis of the structural funds with the emphaiss on the difference between past and present policy roles of both the Structural Funds and the ESDF.

Three of the most recent areas of social policy - social inclusion, anti-race discrimination and public health - come under the spotlight in chapter seven. While chapter eight focuses on three policy areas which have emerged as a response to three specific groups: the elderly, the disabled and the young.

The final chapter provides the reader with a brief summary of the current map of EU social policy, explores how EU social policy is not like national-level social policy and looks at the uncertain future of EU social policy.

This book provides useful material for anyone studying EU or national social policy, as well as for practitioners in the field.

Robert Geyer is a lecturer in the Department of Politics at the University of Liverpool.