*** AMPARO SERRANO PASCUAL, LARS MAGNUSSON (Eds.): Reshaping Welfare States and Activation Regimes in Europe. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes - Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Work & Society" series, No. 54. 2007, 319 pp, €36-20. ISBN 978-90-5201-048-9.
It is obvious that the original concept of the welfare state has undergone huge changes, and the role of the state in social and employment policies has also been radically modified throughout the European Union in recent years. Since the 1997 Luxembourg Council, attention in this domain has been focussing to an increasingr extent on policies to get the unemployed and other recipients of welfare back to work. As Amparo Serrano Pascual points out at the start of the book: "Activation regimes are the outcome of the fragile balance of power between the different actors involved in the design and implementation of these activation policies and of all hegemonic regulatory and cognitive benchmarks that shape a community's understanding of the social exclusion problem". In the first part of the book, looking at general changes in state social security and activation policies and the role of the EU institutions in encouraging the convergence of the various national systems, this lecturer at Complutense University in Madrid explains that it is not only changes in the instruments being implemented that are being seen, but also deeper adjustments: "We are witnessing a transformation of the concept of social citizenship with the Welfare State. the State as the guarantor of social rights (the 'entitlement State') being replaced by the State as the regulator of individuals' behaviour (the 'enabling States')". This section of the book explains how the system is moving towards greater individualism (employment is above all a matter of individual behaviour, with the socio-economic situation taking second place) and the primacy of economic issues over social and political facets of citizenship, along with greater contractualisation.
Following on from this first section, the authors spend more time on the activation policies of a raft of European countries, also trying to determine the extent to which they have been influenced by the EU. They look at countries ranging from the United Kingdom - where the success of the "New Deal" is brought under scrutiny - to France, via others like the Czech Republic, Sweden and Denmark: "the fact that certain countries have come to be regarded as 'best-practice models' means that they are to some extent under pressure to maintain their status, making them more likely to ignore any criticisms or recommendations made by European institutions," explains Amparo Serrano Pascual, who contributes a summary of the preceding essays, also revealing that national situations tend to align themselves with a common paradigm placing activation centre stage, although there are fundamental differences at play when it comes to how the policies are actually applied.
One of the book's merits is that it goes beyond simplistic, superficial comparisons between different activation policies which, although they resemble one another, are incorporated in fundamentally different national frameworks which is would be unwise to clump together without careful consideration of their raison d'êtres and outcomes. Jean-Claude Barbier comments: "It is striking that the evaluation of activation reforms seems to be dominated by a constant stream of studies conducted on the basis of mainstream economic methods and disseminated by the OECD". He concludes that the results of such research "should be re-interpreted in a wider framework if any significant meaning is to be extracted".
Frederik Ronse
*** CHRISTOPHE DEGRYSE, PHILIPPE POCHET (Eds.): Bilan social de L'union européenne 2006. Huitième rapport annuel. ETUI-REHS (5 bld du Roi Albert II, boîte 4, B-1210 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2240470 - Fax: 2240502 - E-mail: research@etui-rehs.org - Internet: http://www.etui-rehs.org ). 2007, 247 pp, €20. ISBN 978-2-87452-083-9.
This annual publication from the European Social Observatory is commissioned by the European Trade Union Institute for Research, Education and Health and Safety (ETUI-REHS) and the European Trade Union Confederation. This year's issue looks at social policy at the EU level. It notes that the EU has to choose between asserting and defending the special nature of the European economic and social model or jettisoning the burdens and obstacles to competitiveness at international level. There is therefore no country-by-country analysis of member states, although member states are frequently mentioned of course in the different contributions. The book weighs up changes in EU policies and the situation on the ground in the member states, focussing on the most striking aspects. Laurent Vogel, for example, provides answers to the question of whether, in a context of persistent tension between the need to build on social rights acquired in the past and the deregulation trend in order to face the challenges of globalisation, health and safety at work is taken hostage by competitiveness policies. Other writers look at issues like changes in restructuring, inter-professional social dialogue and the EU' Services Directive.
Olivier de Schutter thinks the new European Agency of Fundamental Rights will be able to breathe new life into the Charter of Fundamental Rights, but the writers generally show that the European Union is generally passive and not forthcoming on this issue. Some observers note, for example, that in its role of promoting consultation and dialogue among the social partners (trade unions and employers) at EU level, the European Commission no longer has any impact on negotiations and is completely out of the picture.
(FRo)
*** MARC RICHEVAUX, DAN TOP: Les grands principes du droit communautaire de travail. L'Harmattan (5-7 rue de l'Ecole Polytechnique, F-75005 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 40467920 - Fax: 43258203 - E-mail: diffusion.harmattan@wanadoo.fr - Internet: http://www.editions-harmattan.fr ). "L'esprit économique", "Economie et Innovation" series. 2007, 126 pp, €13-50. ISBN 978-2-296-02904-0.
This series of books aims to generate debate about the hidden economic facets of social issues. This issue goes over EU labour law with a fine toothcomb. The fruit of cooperation between a Romanian lawyer and a French lawyer, the book provides readers with analysis of EU labour law and discusses how it impacts on domestic law in the member states. More than a simple listing of EU rules on the free circulation of individuals, the labour force, non-discrimination at work, equal opportunities and protection of workers and their rights against abusive employment practices, the book also aims to determine the impact of EU labour rules on citizens' daily life and understand whether the fear of an invasion of Polish plumbers is truly justified.
(TBa)
*** JEAN-CLAUDE BOUAL, PHILIPPE BRACHET, MALGORZATA HISZKA (Eds.): Les services publics en Europe - Public Services in Europe. Allemagne, Espagne, Italie, Royaume-Uni, Suède + Bulgarie, Estonie, Hongrie, Lettonie, Lituanie, Pologne, Roumanie, Slovaquie, Tchéquie. Editions Publisud (15 rue des Cinq-Diamants, F-75013 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 45807850 - Fax: 45899415 - E-mail: publisud.editions@cegetel.net). "L'Observatoire des sociétés" series. 2007, 284 pp, €26. ISBN 978-2-86600-844-8.
This bilingual book (the same book in both English and French) arose from one fact and one strong idea. The fact was the sheer diverse range of practice and concepts of services of general interest in the EU member states. The strong idea was that public services, where policy, economic and social affairs mix and match, are at the heart of the constant remodelling of the European model of society, which necessarily involves dialogue between and within EU member states, dialogue to achieve the democratic drawing up of a common project. It is clearly essential to understand and take into consideration what is happening in the world outside one's national borders. The authors aim to boost this understanding and, following on from a seminar, they discern the influence of EU directives on services of general interest in five large countries of the 'old' EU. How have the directives been implemented and what has been the outcome? Have they led to greater convergence? The detailed answers to these questions are provided through a 'horizontal' approach to economic and non-economic services. The second part of the book looks, in the same spirit, at the cultural, political, social, historic and geographical issues underlying the position and perception of services of general economic interest in nine new EU member states in Eastern Europe, both generally and in terms of the various individual sectors.
(MT)
*** VIRGILE PERRET, OLIVIER GIRAUD, MARC HELBING, MONICA BATTAGLINI: Les cantons suisses face au chômage. Fédéralisme et politiques de l'emploi. L'Harmattan (see above). "Logiques sociales" series. 2007, 217 pp, €19-50. ISBN 978-2-296-02888-3.
Until the end of the 1990s, Switzerland was a model of full employment, but times have changed. Faced with rising unemployment, several reforms have been introduced, leading to a new federal law to control the unemployed and get them back to work. The same law applies across the country but it is implemented in often very different ways by the different cantons. Why? Considering Switzerland as a pertinent microcosm for understanding the EU because, like the EU, it has cultural, linguistic and development differences within itself, the four authors, all university lecturers, decided to measure disparities in the enforcement of federal law among the cantons. They test out three hypotheses: the different socio-economic situations from one canton to the next; the influence of the federal decision-making process on implementation in the cantons; and different political and administrative styles in the cantons for the legal measures in question.
(TBa)
*** CLEMENT DESBOS: La gauche plurielle à l'épreuve de la mondialisation. La campagne d'Attac pour la taxe Robin. L'Harmattan (see above). "Questions contemporaines" series. 2007, 356 pp, €30. ISBN 978-2-296-02766-4.
A lecturer at Limerick University in Ireland, Clément Desbos looks in this comprehensive book at the influence of the French campaign group Attac (which tries to have the Tobin Tax introduced to provide government income from financial transactions) on the broad left government in France between 1998 and 2002. Following an in-depth description of globalisation and an overview of the Tobin Tax, the author questions both the desire of the political elite to open up to such social groups emerging in the 1990s and the limits and scope of Attac's campaigning. Following a very detailed analysis, the author concludes that the Tobin Tax gave visibility to the distance between, on the one hand, the political forces and radically committed social forces fighting against neoliberalism on and, on the other, the left political government elite who backed regulation of the impact of neoliberalism. This gap has since been confirmed by the defeat of Lionel Jospin in the French presidential elections in France and the French no vote rejecting the European Constitution.
(MT)
*** AKIF HILÂL ÖZTÜRK: Das Kopftuch. Rechtliche Hindernisse in der Berufswahl und -ausübung und ihre Rechtfertigung anhand eines Vergleiches des deutschen, türkischen un europäischen Rechts. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - E-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.de ). "Europäische Hochschulschriften - European University Studies - Publication Universitaires Européennes", No. 4455. 2006, 330 pp, €52-80. ISBN 3-631-55904-6.
This law thesis presented at the Technische Universität Chemnitz by a Turkish lawyer born in Berlin attempts to demonstrate that Muslim women can find that wearing the veil can be a block on their professional careers, particularly in the public sector. The author starts off with an important introduction on the current topicality of the issue, which does not only affect many of the three million or so Turks living in Germany but also most other EU member states. The book takes a legal rather than political, sociological or religious approach, comparing not only rights and how they impact on Germany and Turkey, but also on other European countries. The central question is equality between men and women and this is also addressed in connection with international human rights conventions. The comparing and contrasting of German and Turkish laws on the relationship between state and religion raises many often unknown questions like the impact of state neutrality in Germany or the voluntary secularism or the Turkish constitution. While 'neutrality' requires not using religious insignia in public buildings (Germany does not always apply this for Christian symbols), Turkish 'secularism' aims to be a tool to ensure social and political transformation in Turkey whose long-term impact remains to be seen. However, the demonstration of religious views in an immigrant situation leads to identity attitudes and issues which cannot always be rationally explained away. This is the heart of the issue raised in the book, which therefore cannot provide any clear-cut conclusions on the role of law in this connection. The legal approach remains limited at the moment and does not allow any future trends to be discerned but this does not detract from the book's profound descriptive work, which is extremely useful and interesting.
(GFr)