The notion of flexicurity promotes the idea of compensation of labour market deregulation (= flexibilization) with advantages in employment and social security. The paper contains a brief history of the concept and its operational definition. To monitor effects of flexicurity policies in Europe,...

Activation measures in Finland have meant the weakening of the level, qualification criteria, coverage, and time limits of social benefits in a way inimical to the post-Second World War Nordic welfare model. These changes have been accompanied by a growth of labour market flexibility, of...

During the first decade of the 21st century, China’s top leaders reined in the marketising, commercialising welfare reforms of the 1990s, and recommitted the State to a role in providing social goods. But the governmental and social elites who shape welfare policy are still debating the...

Current proposals for welfare reform in the UK are based on a Universal Credit, intended simultaneously to simplify the structure of benefits while offering sensitive and rapid responsiveness to personal circumstances. The two objectives are in conflict, and neither can be achieved by the proposals.