*** JEAN-CLAUDE BARBIER, MARIE-THERESE LETABLIER (Eds.): Politiques sociales - Social Policies. Enjeux méthodologiques et épistémologiques des comparaisons internationales - Epistemological and Methodological Issues in Cross-National Comparison. Presses Interuniversitaires Européennes - Peter Lang (1 av. Maurice, B-1050 Brussels. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - e-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.com ). "Travail & Société - Work & Society" series, No. 51. 2007, 295 pp, €32-50. ISBN 978-90-5201-348-0.
Under the austere cover of a scientific tome, there hides a volume that will really set the cat amongst the pigeons of received ideas and the fashionable 'politically correct' notions doing the rounds amongst European leaders. Due to the clumsy sound and fury of the European Union's encouragements down this path since the 1980s (and for social sciences, ever since the poverty programmes of the 1970s), comparative research has mushroomed at EU level, but what credit should it really be given? These devastating lines from the preface by the book's editors, themselves renowned scientists who are, moreover, like everyone else involved in the seminar reported upon in the book, anxious to preserve pure old-fashioned (and therefore free) science, encourage them to dig their claws in somewhat: "Despite this considerable achievement, it has to be acknowledged that very few researchers or research teams directly and explicitly address epistemological and methodological issues in their projects. Whereas most comparative research is conducted in English, on the assumption that international teams are able to operate on a daily basis using 'international English,' the question has rarely been raised as to whether concepts are or are not translatable, and whether or not the vocabulary used empirically in different European languages has direct 'functional equivalents'. The contributors to this collection of papers recognise that many researchers are not aware of the pitfalls of cross-national comparisons, despite the large body of literature on the subject, as illustrated by the references presented by our authors".
The book is divided into three sections, each enriched with personal accounts from the researchers writing the essays. The first part looks at the relationship between comparison and policy and politics, particularly the question of the nation-national category and its relevance to comparative research into social policy. The second is more directly devoted to the question of language and translations in international comparisons, whereas the third section looks at the social construction of subjects of comparison and the categories they fit into.
Fault lines emerge in the book with some essays, for example, revealing that the mushrooming international comparisons in the EU are developing under the constraint of obstacles that limit their scope and impact, and some research is not really comparative research at all, being little more than a benchmarking of countries from various over-simplistic viewpoints. Things deteriorate totally, adds Jean-Claude Barbier, CNRS research director at the 'Centre d'Etudes de l'Emploi' in France, when those commissioning the research are international organisations which want comparable data at any cost. Not to mention the risks of a logic of polarised research because, as Barbier explains, the weight of commissioning and funding, the pressure on researchers from study requests that demand results, even for problems for which solutions do not exist, can sometimes make people forget that some methods do not meet the profession's usual high standards. When it comes to language, the authors look at the limits and dangers of using English as the only lingua franca in research, showing for example that not all ideas can be translated into all languages. It would be a good idea for the Commission to take good note of the fact that words like 'social cohesion' and 'solidarity' have connotations in Bulgaria and other countries of central and Eastern Europe of being close to the newspeak of the former Communist rulers, which can put people off, encouraging mistrust and even hostility at times…
Michel Theys
*** NORALV VEGGELAND: Paths of Public Innovation in the Global Age. Lessons from Scandinavia. Edward Elgar Publishing (Glensanda House, Montpellier Parade, Cheltenham, Glos GL50 1UA, UK. Tel: (44-1242) 226934 - Fax: 262111 - e- mail: info@e-elgar.co.uk - Internet: http://www.e-elgar.com ). 2007, 140 pp. ISBN 978-1-84720-449-3.
Could the Scandinavian social model be applied at EU level? This is the question posed in this book by a professor of social science at Lillehammer University in Norway. The book takes as its starting point the fact that when it was founded, the European Community adopted a so-called 'continental model' with an interventionist nature based on social protection. The Common Agricultural Policy is one of the best illustrations of this trend and also, as far as the author is concerned, provides good indications of its weaknesses, particularly in terms of budget control, which is made extremely difficult by these approaches. Hence, towards the end of the 1980s, there was a re-orientation of administrative and social roles towards a more Anglo-Saxon model and it was therefore the market which was promoted and a whole raft of reforms and measures to encourage competition were introduced. Budget expansion was held back but, in the 1990s, lack of EU competitiveness in the global market, along with the democratic and legitimacy deficits in Europe, raised alarm bells in the minds of European politicians. There was the arrival of the old 'Eastern European' countries to boot, a change which created the need for a new social model for Europe. The author is at pains to 'sell' the Scandinavian social model in this connection, describing it as a hybrid of social protection of the type dear to the Continent and the high economic competitiveness dear to the Anglo-Saxon model, a combination which gave rise to the term 'flexicurity' that is now inspiring policy well beyond Scandinavia.
(NDu)
*** VICKI PASKALIA: Free Movement, Social Security and Gender in the EU. Hart Publishing (16c Worcester Place, Oxford, OX1 2JW, UK. Tel: (44-1865) 517530 - Fax: 510710 - E-mail: mail@hartpub.co.uk - Internet: http://www.hartpub.co.uk ). "Modern Studies in European Law" series, No. 10. 2007, 342 pp,£60. ISBN 978-1-84113-622-6.
Looking at the European system for coordinating social security, the author, a senior law lecturer at Stockholm University in Switzerland, assesses social security for women taking a break in their careers or getting divorced. After examining the development of social security in EU member states, internationally and according to gender, the book studies two big issues in the light of their importance for social security for women. Vicki Paskalia starts by asking whether EU coordination rules actually protect social security benefits for women working in other countries whose career is interrupted due to childcare or moving to live overseas. Secondly, noting the continual decline in the institution of marriage, the author looks at the role of marriage in the social security system for women and the need to protect women's social security rights in the event of divorce, and whether such rights should be extended to other forms of living together. This highly comprehensive study leads the author to note that some areas of current legislation are failing and there are legal gaps to be filled.
(TBa)
*** PIERRE BAUBY, HENRI COING, ALAIN DE TOLEDO (Eds.): Les services publics en Europe. Pour une régulation démocratique. Publisud (15 rue des Cinq-Diamants, F-75013 Paris. Tel: (33-1) 45807850 - Fax: 45899415 - E-mail: publisud.editions@cegetel.net - Internet: http://www.editionspublisud.hautefort.com ). "L'Observatoire des sociétés" series. 2007, 244 pp,€24. ISBN 978-2-86600-883-3.
The outcome of a series of inter-disciplinary research (economics, politics, sociology, history and law) in several French and European universities, along with an international conference organised at Paris 8 - Saint-Denis a little over two years ago, this very dense book discerns the typology and criteria for effective, credible regulation of services of general economic interest at EU level. In the first chapter, which opens with an article by former MEP Philippe Herzog (President of Confrontations Europe, who describes an EU 'in search of a doctrine for services of general interest'), the authors focus on the reasons for regulating services of general interest, particularly in the light of how this meshes with governance and privatisation. They then consider national and territorial regulation logic, particularly from the angle of how EU and national interests inter-relate. The book goes on to study sector-specific issues, asking whether the telecoms regulatory model can be generalised and spread to the waste management industry, the water industry or the central bank system if the specific nature of each industry does not demonstrate regulatory innovation. The final chapter of this highly comprehensive book raises the question of the future of regulation, answering the following questions: Do services of general interest have a special economic status? Do they come under special financing rules? What regulatory models are emerging? Are we moving in the direction of generalising calls for tender? What about the legitimacy of the regulatory authorities? Essential reading in the current situation!
(PBo)
*** OLIVIER DERRUINE: De la proposition Bolkestein à la directive services. Centre de recherche et d'information socio-politiques (1A place Quetelet, B-1210 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 2110180 - Fax: 2197934 - e-mail: crisp@cfwb.be - Internet: http://www.crisp.be ). Collection "Courrier hebdomadaire", No. 1962-1963. 2007, 63 pp, €12-40.
Much ink has already been expended on the so-called Bolkestein Directive, but this weekly newsletter from CRISP in Belgium has its place because the author focusses on changes in the Commission's draft following the amendments tabled by the European Parliament in December 2006, including the changes made by Jose Manuel Barroso's team and, at the end of the process, by the Council. After describing in a step-by-step approach the changes to the areas which came in for the greatest controversy (the scope of application of the directive and the principle of the country of origin), Olivier Derruine shows how implementation of the Services Directive could, in his view, lead the Commission to suggest fine-tuning the legislation to bring it closer to the original spirit than the direction backed by the MEPs.
(MT)
*** AURELIE DECOENE: La libéralisation des services portuaires et la grève des dockers. Centre de recherche et d'information socio-politiques (see above). "Courrier hebdomadaire" series, No. 1966-1967. 2007, 88 pp, €12-40.
The draft Directive on access to port services was twice rejected by the European Parliament, marking a first in the history of the European project. It also led to the mobilisation of port workers at EU level, which was just as striking as the farm demonstrations in the 1970s. The author of this excellent newsletter starts by explaining the origins and content of the Commission's first proposal, before describing the views of the main employer and trade union stakeholders. The most important part of her work is her unpicking of the raft of stages undergone by the draft legislation in the codecision procedure. Aurélie Decoene ends by focussing on the rejection of the second legislative proposal due, she explains, to a coming together of opposition among the employers, trade unions and European Parliament against the Commission.
(MT)
*** DIMITRIOS ORFANIDIS: Eigentumsproblematik und Mitbestimmung hinsichtlich der Europäischen Verfassung. Peter Lang (1 Moosstrasse, Postfach 350, CH-2542 Pieterlen. Tel: (41-32) 3761717 - Fax: 3761727 - e-mail: info@peterlang.com - Internet: http://www.peterlang.de ). "Europäische Hoschschulsschriften - Publications Universitaires Européennes - European University Studies", No. 4306. 2006, 238 pp, €39-70. ISBN 3-631-54695-5.
A return to the profoundest roots of law may help shed new light on the most current legislation. It is this type of reflection that is carried out in this book by Dimitrios Orfanidis, looking at the connection between the right of staff to be represented and participate in decision-making and the right to private property, which forms what is known in German a right of management enabling employers to impose their will on non-freelance workers. This is a restriction on the freedom of individuals to organise action as they see fit. All methods for representing and involving staff in the life of a company are ways of resolving this conflict between two fundamental issues of the right of modern states and modern market economies. Based on a doctoral thesis for Potsdam University in Germany, the book looks in turn at German and Greek law and the EU legal system, exploring the concept of private property and the right of representation in the workplace. There is an idea running through the book - against the backdrop of globalisation of the economy, which calls for a globalisation of law, there is a conflict, which does not change from one epoch to the next, between the right to private property and the rights of non-freelance workers.
(MGr)