The paper discusses the possible implications of the challenges facing the "European Social Model" (ESM) caused by the European Monetary Union (EMU) and the enlargement of the EU to include central and eastern European countries. The strains produced by the two challenges on the European welfare...

This is the third volume dedicated to a World Congress of the IIRA: the one for the Tokyo Congress in 2000 and it is dealing with the European scene. The perspective reflects the fact that Europe has reached a stage where it does no longer make too much sense to analyse national systems in...

The forces of the market and systems competition bring about economic and social convergence in Europe. There is no need for social policies at the EU level. Social harmonisation would distort migration flows and slow down the speed of economic convergence. National welfare states will be...

This working paper by Rebecca Zahn of the University of Stirling looks at the effects of the economic crisis on the enlarged European Union and the European Social Model.Starting from an analysis of the well-known Viking and Laval decisions of the European Court of Justice from 2007 and 2008,...

Social and labour market policies are not part of the obligations of European Union membership, or acquis communautaire; they are left to the discretion of member states. Yet both official EU documents and economic literature on types of capitalism refer to the European Social Model (ESM): for...

This paper aims at exploring the relationship between Europeanization, Enlargement and social policy developments in Central and Eastern Europe. In particular, it examines the importance of ideas, interests and institutions in the making of contemporary public and social policies, as well as...