*** GIJSBERT VONK, ALBERTJAN TOLLENAAR (Eds.): Social Security as a Public Interest. A Multidisciplinary Inquiry into the Foundations of the Regulatory Welfare State. Intersentia (31 Groenstraat, B-2640 Mortsel, Belgium. Tel: (32-3) 6801550 - Fax: 6587121 - email: mail@intersentia.be - Internet: http://www.intersentia.be ). "Social Europe Series" series, No. 24. 2010, 229 pp, €56. ISBN 978-94-000-0110-7.
The debate now raging in many EU countries about how to ensure the survival of pensions systems bears witness to the fact that in this time of financial and economic crisis, the ageing population, longer life expectancy, and loss of job security are causing major problems for social security systems. Hence the ever greater temptation, that many countries have been giving way to recently, to privatise the pension system. This change has raised a number of questions - What are the public interests that call for government responsibilities? What can be regarded as the public interest in the social security systems? What are the mechanisms that safeguard the interest and what is the role of public and private regulation?
One of the main merits of this book is to examine the role the state should have in privatised social security systems, not in terms of political preferences or ideology but rather in terms of academic disciplines that although scientific, are no less able to come up with different types of views. As the editors explain, economists tend to examine the issue from a market failure theory (that the state must regulate when there are negative outcomes). Social science researchers would agree that the state should intervene in providing welfare but for different reasons depending on whiter the academics are political scientists, sociologists or anthropologists, for example. 'Historians will point out that the present day public programmes have private roots and that the contemporary leaning towards some privatisation is only a relative change when seen from the perspective of the long and rich history of the welfare state.' 'Lawyers, by the very nature of their subject, and some philosophers, in their quest for understanding the meaning of justice, employ a normative approach when redefining the role of the state in society security.' Hence the utility of this book, which seeks 'a deeper understanding of the way the disciplines approach the subject of social security as a public interest. ' To this end, it brings together economists, civil service experts, lawyers and philosophers, most of them from Groningen University in the Netherlands, to answer two questions. The first is dealt with in the first half of the book, namely: Is social security considered to be a public interest and how does the answer to this question reflect on the role of the state in social security? The second half of the book deals with the following question: How does your discipline perceive the instrumentalisation of the public interest in social security?
From the answers, one sees (for various reasons) that social security is certainly in the public interest. All disciplines agree that social security is not exclusively a state matter and privatisation often seems to be a way of correcting the public system rather than a potential substitute for it. In the same spirit, most essayists say that social security is not entirely a state matter, nor entirely a private affair, which means it is 'easy to subject the system to mixed governance structures.' The editors explain that in many domains, like public transport, environmental issues, the supply of energy and labour conditions, 'the state has to provide a certain level of services, and holds itself responsible for the provision of these services, but needs private mechanisms or private actors to fulfil these responsibilities.' Hence the strong idea emerging in this impressive research that there is no real alternative to the 'regulatory welfare state' which will no doubt therefore last for a long time to come.
Pierre Bouvier
*** MELANIE BÖTTGER: In Vielfalt geeint, Recht der Arbeit und der sozialen Sicherheit. Peter Lang (1 Moostrasse, Postfach 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32- 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). 2010, 447 pp, €72-70. ISBN 978-3-631-59566-4.
The Open Coordination Method (OCM) is probably one of the most important and innovative institutional issues of recent years but this new decision-making method, described as 'soft,' has not yet managed to convince political decision-makers or EU observers of its merits. After all, it was invented in order to create a semblance of cooperation in areas where Member States do not want to share powers, do not want to use intergovernmentalism and still less supranational solutions. There is nothing surprising, therefore, in the fact that social policy in Europe was the domain for which the OCM was created…
In this book, Melanie Böttger examines the history of the Open Coordination Method, its origins and legal basis, and examines the pension reforms being carried out virtually everywhere in the EU. This cannot be subject to EU legislation, because it remains in the exclusive domain of the Member States. The Open Coordination Method is an EU solution that can only arise from greater collaboration and cooperation among the Member States. The book is divided into several sections, each covering a different academic discipline. In the first section, the author explains the historical origins of the OCM in law. Its legal foundations are then examined before the author gives a political explanation. The rest of the book examines the OCM in the field of reform of retirement pensions and looks at changes to the OCM introduced by the Lisbon Treaty. (JD)
*** YVES STEVENS (Ed.): Protecting Pension Rights in Times of Economic Turmoil. Intersentia (see above). "Social Europe Series," No. 26. 2011, 196 pp, €49. ISBN 978-94-000-0161-9.
Following on from the 2009 annual conference in Leuven, Belgium, of the European Network of Researchers in Supplementary Pensions, this book contains nine essays examining the impact of the economic and financial crisis on pension rights throughout the western world at a time when pension systems already have to deal with the colossal challenge of people living longer. Thus far, 'statutory pensions, occupational retirement schemes and individuals' retirement accounts have all been hit by the economic malaise.' All countries have reacted, each in its own way, and 'the intensity of discussions about supplementary pensions has increased sharply.' This book is useful because it makes a root-and-branch analysis of how the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland, Denmark and Poland have reacted to the economic slowdown and its impact on pensions. It clarifies various problems faced by countries and demonstrates, as editor Yves Stevens explains, that supplementary pensions cannot really be considered as a panacea to compensate for shortcomings in the state pension system because 'most countries require both state-based pensions and various forms of other pensions to adequately face the greying society, and there is clearly no one answer that fits all.' The book opens with an article by Paul Roels, senior lecturer at Leuven University's law faculty, on eleven 'myths with respect to accounting for pensions.' (MT)
*** SONJA WITTE: Die soziale Dimension Europas. Soziale Verantwortung öffentlicher Unternehmen. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, Postfach 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - Email: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). Europäische Hochschulschriften - Publications universitaires européennes series. 2010, 120 pp, €18-50. ISBN 978-3-631-59830-6.
The idea of corporate social responsibility has undergone a renaissance in Europe because of the economic crisis in recent years. It has reappeared in scientific literature, the media and corporate communications and is being used by the European Union to respond to criticisms that it is not covering the social dimension in its policies. The problem is, however, that nobody knows exactly what 'corporate social responsibility' actually means. To try to solve this, the Centre Européen des Entreprises à Participation Publique et des Entreprises d'Intérêt Economique Général commissioned research on the subject, the first arm of which is this research by Sonja Witte, looking at social responsibility of European public enterprises. She explains that under the Lisbon Strategy, the EU aspires to become the world's most competitive and dynamic economic area and social responsibility will therefore be crucial when it comes to adding a social dimension to this economic area. In the book, Sonja Witte shows how the idea arose in Europe and how it can become a practical part of life for companies and individuals. (VG)
*** AMANDINE GARDE: EU Law and Obesity Prevention. Kluwer Law International (P.O Box 316, 2400 AH Alphen aan de Rijn, the Netherlands. Email.: kluwerlaw@turpin-distribution.com - Internet: http://www.kluwerlaw.com ). "European Monographs" series, No. 74. 2010, 358 pp, €125. ISBN 978-90-411-2706-8
The European Union cannot escape from the scourge that increasing numbers of people in all the Member States are overweight, fat or clinically obese, including an alarming number of children and youngsters. Senior lecturer at Durham Law School in the UK, Amandine Garde examines this situation in detail and the legal and other measures introduced in Europe to try and prevent people getting fat. She starts by describing how overweight and obesity have become urgent public healthcare issues and then shows how the EU institutions, led by the Commission, have drawn up an EU anti-obesity strategy. In the second part of the book, the author makes a more detailed analysis of the European Union's policies to prevent obesity, policies like food labelling, food marketing to children, food composition, food prices and physical activity. Some chapters are more detailed than others because the law has little influence on people's lifestyles, for example. Scientific uncertainty is at play in some areas so the author describes the currently available proof and the policy moves that might be considered in the future. A highly comprehensive book, the first in a domain that in the past was only covered by scientists, convincingly demonstrating that conflicts of interest on the market mean that the EU must intervene with a strong-arm policy by means of regulation rather than allowing the markets to self-regulate
(PBo)
*** LISA WADDINGTON, GERARD QUINN (Eds.): European Yearbook of Disability Law. Volume 2. Intersentia Publishers (see above). 2010, 410 pp, €75. ISBN 978-94-000-0128-2.
Written by academic experts on a research programme at the Centre for Human Rights of Maastricht University in the Netherlands and the Centre for Disability Law and Policy of the National University of Ireland Galway, this book examines the impressive mushrooming of political and legal measures on disability seen in recent times. It focuses on developments in Europe, with essays on whether EU non-discrimination law needs to be changed to match the United Nations Convention on Disability, and how the United States has transposed the convention. Other essays look at more detailed topics, like the lessons to be learned from how Scandinavia, the United Kingdom and the United States reconcile digital freedom with disability, and the removal of obstacles to the use of telecommunication technology by the disabled. The second part of the book looks at a number of laws by the EU and the European Council in this connection, along with a raft of rulings by the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights. This is a crucial working tool for anyone interested in the fate of the disabled and their battle to live a 'normal' life.
(MT)
*** Gérer & Comprendre. Editions ESKA (12 rue du Quatre-Septembre, F-75002 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 42865665 - Fax: 42604535 - Email: eska@eska.fr - Internet: http: //http://www.eska.fr ). "Annales des Mines" series, No. 102. 2010, 106 pp, €23. Annual subscription: €85 (France) or €104 (outside France). ISBN 978-2-7472-1770-5.
This issue includes an article by two scientists on the connection between remote management and health and safety at work showing that the impact on staff of remote personnel management is loss of confidence, disengagement, stress and despair, all of which have a serious, negative impact on their health. Another article looks at culture as a social construct in the light of the case study of a hospital run by a health insurance company.
(MT)