A toothless bite? The effectiveness of the European Employment Strategy as a governance tool

Copeland, Paul; Haar, Beryl ter

doi:10.1177/0958928712463157

Cited by 22 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Arguably, the crisis has also been used by Spain's policy makers as an opportunity to push through labour market reforms that have long been deemed necessary (Clasen et al 2012: 25). terms of surveillance and enforcement than the new tools for tightening fiscal governance (Copeland andTer Haar, 2013, De La Porte and and austerity has also meant that it has become more difficult to fund measures aimed at enhancing lifelong learning opportunities and improving social cohesion de la Porte, 2015, Theodoropoulou, 2015). Social protections, such as unemployment benefits, and employment protections are being simultaneously weakened in many countries.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Farewell to flexicurity? Austerity and labour policies in the European Union

Hastings

Heyes

2016

Economic and Industrial Democracy

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For the past decade the European Commission has urged EU member states to pursue ‘flexicurity’ policies aimed at achieving employment growth and social inclusion. However, the economic crisis and turn to austerity across the EU has presented the flexicurity model with a substantial challenge. This article argues that since 2008 labour policies across the EU have exhibited shared tendencies, but support for measures that might contribute to the achievement of the security aspects of flexicurity has been substantially weakened. In developing this argument, the article presents findings from a cluster analysis and detailed investigations of labour policies in EU member countries. The article also discusses the implications of the findings for comparative institutional analysis. It highlights differences in the approaches of countries that are commonly treated as members of the same institutional family, as well as similarities in the policies adopted by countries commonly associated with different ‘varieties’ of capitalism.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Farewell to flexicurity? Austerity and labour policies in the European Union

Hastings

Heyes

2016

Economic and Industrial Democracy

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“…Gradually, however, the majority view grew more skeptical, pointing to the ambiguity of common European objectives, the weakness of soft law procedures, and the almost unchallenged domination of market and neo-liberal principles (Idema and Kelemen, 2006;Daly, 2008;Kröger, 2008: 205-19). Intended to reconcile national social protection with economic integration, the OMC appeared in the end relatively ineffective and, if anything, more favorable to market mechanisms and welfare state retrenchment than to high employment levels and social inclusion (Begg, 2008;Barbier, 2008: 87-96;Büchs, 2009: 4-5;de la Porte and Jacobsson, 2012;Copeland and ter Haar, 2013). Even optimistic observers now concede "the limits of the OMC and the difficulty of implementing the commonly agreed 4 objectives," as well as the lack of "political commitment to the social dimension of the Lisbon Strategy" (Heidenreich, 2009: 12;Zeitlin, 2008: 441).…”

Section: A Country-based Analysis Of the Omcmentioning

confidence: 99%

The politics of poverty in the European Union: how states respond to the open method of coordination on social inclusion

Noël

Larocque

2014

Policy &Amp; Politics

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This article assesses the responses of EU–15 member states to the poverty reduction objectives of the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) on social inclusion between 2001 and 2006. As a flexible mechanism of information sharing between governments, the OMC could not produce strong convergence. A thorough analysis of the OMC documents indeed points to the enduring power of national institutions and partisan politics, for the three dimensions of social inclusion identified by the EU (rights, labour market policies, and participation). There was however some learning and adaptation around emerging policy ideas like activation and the participation of people experiencing poverty.

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“…10 10Empirical evidence shows that the formulation of country‐specific recommendations that follows the evaluation of national performance is ‘a politically negotiated process … between the Commission and the Member States’ (Copeland and Ter Haar, , p. 31). The Member States try to influence the wording of the Commission's recommendations or to have (parts of) recommendations removed and occasionally they succeed (Copeland and Ter Haar, , p. 32; Mailand, , pp. 356, 358–9).…”

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confidence: 99%

“…356, 358–9). It does not follow, however, that ‘recommendations are therefore quasi‐extensions of the Member States acting in areas they themselves identify as a priority’ (Copeland and Ter Haar, , p. 32). If the Member States could exercise such control over the recommendations, they would be fairly responsive to them.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Europeanization Mechanisms and Process Tracing: A Template for Empirical Research

Moumoutzis

Zartaloudis

2015

J of Common Market Studies

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While the literature on Europeanization has exhibited considerable awareness of the methodological challenge of establishing causal relations between non-binding EU stimuli and domestic change, less work has been done on how this challenge might be met. This article contributes to the literature's attempts to meet this challenge by: 1) reformulating four explanations of Europeanization based on four distinct causal mechanisms (instrumental learning, social learning, naming and shaming and peer pressure); 2) specifying their observable implications for three intervening steps between EU stimuli and change in national policy (the definition of the policy problem, the alternative courses of action considered and the manner in which they were assessed); 3) defending process tracing against critiques of its usefulness for research on Europeanization; and 4) providing practical guidelines on how process tracing can be used to test these four explanations empirically, using examples from employment policy, where non-binding EU stimuli feature most prominently.

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A toothless bite? The effectiveness of the European Employment Strategy as a governance tool

Cited by 22 publications

References 35 publications

Farewell to flexicurity? Austerity and labour policies in the European Union

Farewell to flexicurity? Austerity and labour policies in the European Union

The politics of poverty in the European Union: how states respond to the open method of coordination on social inclusion

Europeanization Mechanisms and Process Tracing: A Template for Empirical Research

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