Publisher's Synopsis
Ten years ago labour market policy underwent a profound change In Germany. The reform implemented the principle "to demand and to enhance". So, it had been deeply inspired by the activation paradigm. The book illustrates the activating welfare state as a central project of European social policy. Based on good practices of the Netherlands, Denmark, the United Kingdom and France activation policies left also remarkable footprints in German social policy. Activation strives for a renewal of the work society and its ethics, to which social policy for centuries contributed. The intellectual fundament of the activating welfare state is not neoliberalism, but communitarianism. Self-reliance and sanctions are elements of this approach as it fights at the same time against social security fraud. A bureaucratic organisation is replaced by case and contract management, to tackle social risks and miseries. The study unveils: the activating welfare state reforms the classical welfare state in its basic legal structure.
