Social Policy and the Eurocrisis ― Quo Vadis Social Europe

Whatever happened to Social Europe? The promise of Jacques Delors seems to have spawned a flurry of European Union directives, yet has since fizzled out. This edited volume, bringing together a team of international interdisciplinary experts from across Europe, systematically explores the EU's social policy activities, both before and after the Eurocrisis. The contributors examine how and why the great expectations remained unfulfilled, but also move the scholarly debate beyond the emphasis on courts and markets. European Commission policy entrepreneurship, eastern enlargement, the shifting ideological contours of European Social Democracy, and the spirit of the Lisbon Agenda have all led to market creation taking strong precedence over market correcting policies. This insightful and comprehensive volume will be of great interest to European Union scholars and practitioners alike.

Amandine Crespy is Lecturer in Political Science and European Studies at the Universite Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Belgium. She was a Visiting Fellow at the Freie Universitat Berlin, Science Po in Paris and Harvard University. Her research deals with political conflict related to the social and economic integration in the EU. Her research has been widely published in international journals and books.

Georg Menz is Professor of Political Economy and Jean Monnet Chair at Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK, and Visiting Professor of European Politics, University of Pittsburgh, USA. His previous monographs include Varieties of Capitalism and Europeanization (2008) and The Political Economy of Managed Migration (2010). He is the co-editor of Internalizing Globalization (with Susanne Soederberg and Philip G. Cerny, 2005) and Labour Migration in Europe (with Alexander Caviedes, 2010). He has also published numerous journal articles.