The Responsiveness of Social Policies in Europe : : The Netherlands in Comparative Perspective / / Menno Fenger, Martijn van der Steen, Lieske van der Torre.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Bristol University Press Backlist eBook-Package 2013-1995
• VerfasserIn: Fenger, Menno,; van der Steen, Martijn,; van der Torre, Lieske,
• Place / Publishing House: Bristol : : Policy Press, , [2013]; ©2013
• Year of Publication: 2013
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (256 p.)

Modern welfare states are confronted with a wide variety of social and economic developments, including individualization, secularization, globalization and changing preferences and ideologies of citizens. Using in-depth analysis gathered over 15 years, this book closely analyzes the consequences of these significant changes for social policies, offering theoretical and practical insights about their responsiveness. It includes a comparative analysis of recent developments in social assistance, sheltered work and labour market policies in the Netherlands, showing how policy makers are continually trying to incorporate societal transformations into social policies while being obstructed by the path-dependent development of welfare state institutions. The insights from the case studies are related to developments in other European countries in the areas of social assistance, sheltered work and labour market policies, and show how policy makers and politicians deal with multiple challenges, interests and perspectives on social policies. This book is essential reading for academics and students interested in the institutional development of social policies.

Table of Contents

Front Matter -- Contents -- List of figures and tables -- About the authors -- Preface -- Introduction -- Responsive policies in contested welfare states? -- A framework for analyzing policy responsiveness -- The responsiveness of social assistance policies -- The responsiveness of labour migration policies -- The responsiveness of sheltered work policies -- Conclusions: the responsiveness of social policies in three domains -- References -- Index