The Sovereign Debt Crisis, the EU and Welfare State Reform

This book offers a much-needed analysis of how the European Union (EU) has affected welfare state reforms in the Member States most severely hit by the 2008 economic crisis. Bringing together leading European social policy researchers, it shows that the EU’s responses to the sovereign debt crisis have changed the nature of EU intervention into domestic welfare states, with an enhanced focus on fiscal consolidation, increased surveillance and enforcement of EU measures. The authors demonstrate how this represents an unprecedented degree of EU involvement in domestic social and labour market policies. Readers will also discover how greater demands to attain balanced budgets have been institutionalized, leading to tensions with the EU's social investment strategy. This highly informative edited collection will engage students, social policy practitioners and researchers, scholars of the welfare state and political scientists.

de la Porte, Caroline & Elke Heins (eds): “The Sovereign Debt Crisis, the EU and Welfare State Reform”, 229p, Palgrave Macmillan UK 2016,  ISBN 9781137581792

including the contributes:

Caroline de la Porte & Elke Heins: Introduction: Is the European Union More Involved in Welfare State Reform Following the Sovereign Debt Crisis? pp. 1-14.

Caroline de la Porte & Elke Heins: A New Era of European Integration? Governance of Labour Market and Social Policy Since the Sovereign Debt Crisis. pp. 15-42.

Elke Heins & Caroline de la Porte: Depleted European Social Models Following the Crisis: Towards a Brighter Future? pp. 207-222.