Book Review: Flexicurity: The Emergence of a European Concept
| Author | Constanze Janda |
| DOI | 10.1177/138826271401600205 |
| Published date | 01 June 2014 |
| Date | 01 June 2014 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
European Jour nal of Social Secu rity, Volume 16 (2014), No. 2 177
BOOK REVIEWS
Sonja Bekker, Flexicur ity: e Emergence of a Europe an Concept, Cambridge:
Intersentia, 2012, 333 pp., ISBN 978–1-78068–091–0
In her recently published book, Sonja Bekker examines the origi ns of the concept of
exicurity in European labour market polic y. e term stems from a combination
of ‘exibility’ and ‘secu rity’, thus aiming at a compromise bet ween employers’ and
employees’ interests in the labour market . Whereas employees plead for security in the
job, i.e. the opportunit y to work with their employer for as long as possible, employers
aim at exible struc tures – both in general labour law and in the individua l labour
contract. Flexibil ity is oen associated wit h a lack of security, but could, potentially,
provide for more jobs by facilitating employers’ decisions to recruit employees. e
concept of exicurity see ks to balance economic performance and socia l factors.
Sonja Bekker’s study aims to examine the emergence of exicurity as a concept
in policy-making. Her focu s extends beyond political science, since her analysis
encompasses an examination of the interaction and interdependency of law and
policy-making. Methodologically, she works with case stud ies and with interv iews,
with policy ma kers, with representatives of the social partners and organ isations of
civil societ y at EU, national, regional and loca l level, and also with scholars.
e study is divided into ten par ts. Aer a short introduction, the author outli nes
the emergence of and the preconditions for (new) policy concepts in general, referr ing
in her analysis of new modes of polic y-making in EU employment policy, to the
idea of new governance. Rather than being able to steer society and att itudes purely
from above through legal provisions, the need to resolve the complexity of current
challenges forces policy-makers to take diversity issues into account. ereby, a shi
to a bottom-up setting of ru les can be observed, which has its origi ns in the failure of
the common market to respond adequately to the cha llenges posed by globalisation.
From an institutional poi nt of view, exicurity is analysed as a legal concept
within the f ramework of EU primary law, set down in the Treaty on the Functioning
of the European Union (TFEU), as well as t hat of ‘so law’, as set out in guidelines
complementing the Open Method of Coordinat ion (OMC). Employment policy
was the rst issue to be dealt with by this new type of policy-making, which enables
member states to follow common objectives, whi le still givi ng them adequate
discretion in respect of their own legal and politica l history and al lowing for ‘tailor
made’ legal arrangements. I n addition, the identication of best practices avoids law-
making followi ng the ‘trial and error’ method.
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