In this ground-breaking, two-volume study of the adjustment of advanced welfare states to international economic pressures, leading scholars detail the wide variety of responses in twelve countries. Rejecting any notion of convergence to some kind of neo-liberal orthodoxy, they find that most countries have remained true to the basic features their postwar model as they have liberalized. Moreover, within differenct welfare-state constellations, while some countries are still struggling to adjust, others have reached a new sustainable equilibrium. Volume I presents comparative analyses of differences in countries' vulnerabilities and capabilities, the effectiveness of their policy responses, and the role of values and discourse in the politics of adjustment. Volume II presents in-depth analyses of the experiences of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom as well as special studies on the participation of women in the labor market, early retirement, the liberalization of public services, and international tax competition.

In this ground-breaking, two-volume study of the adjustment of advanced welfare states to international economic pressures, leading scholars detail the wide variety of responses in twelve countries. Volume I presents comparative analyses of differences in countries' vulnerabilities and capabilities, the effectiveness of their policy responses, and the role of values and discourse in the politics of adjustment. Volume II presents in-depth analyses of the experiences of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom as well as special studies on the participation of women in the labour market, early retirement, the liberalization of public services, and international tax competition.

This text presents an in-depth analysis of the experiences of twelve countries and special studies on the participation of women in the labor market, early retirement, the liberalisation of public services, and international tax competition.

Europe and the United States confront common challenges in responding to the transformations of work and welfare in the 'new economy'. This volume examines new approaches to the governance of work and welfare in the EU and the US, surveys emergent trends and reflects on future possibilities.

Büchs analyses the goals and instruments of the Open Method of Coordination, discusses approaches which theorize its functioning, examines its policy content and develops a framework for its evaluation. Through the examination of a case study the author demonstrates how policy actors apply the OMC in employment in Germany and the United Kingdom.

This book combines the two most important typologies of capitalist diversity; Esping-Andersen's welfare regime typology and Hall and Soskice's 'Varieties of Capitalism' typology, into a unified typology of capitalist diversity. The author shows empircally that certain welfare states bundle together with certain production systems.