Book review: Integrating social and employment policies in Europe. Active inclusion and challenges for local welfare governance

Published date01 March 2017
Date01 March 2017
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/1388262717699456
Subject MatterBook reviews
Martin Heidenreich and Deborah Rice (eds.) (2016). Integrating social and employment policies in Europe. Active
inclusion and challenges for local welfare governance, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing, 307 pages.
£76.50, ISBN 978-1-78347-491-2 (hardcover).
DOI: 10.1177/1388262717699456
There is no doubt that, in a changing world, social integration requires a new approach from social
policy if it is to be successful. This book, edited by Martin Heidenreich and Deborah Rice, suggests
that ‘the social integration of disadvantaged groups through activation policies requires a coordi-
nated approach towards social and employment policy, especially at the local level’ (p. 3). One of
the main reasons for an integrated approach is that the problems of today’s clients are complex and
multi-dimensional and it is no longer possible to tackle them through just one type of intervention
provided by one type of stakeholder, for example public administration.
This book provides a thorough analysis of the current conceptual and empirical challenges for
integrating social and employment policies at the local level. In this regard coordination seems to
be the key concept – coordination of stakeholders, multi-dimensional and multi-level coordination,
with a focus on the local level. The local level is indeed crucial, as local level authorities and local
entities are nearest to the individuals who need to be socially integrated. At the same time, services
need to be coordinated and integrated in order to be able to respond in the best way to individual
needs. The authors of the introductory analytical chapte r suggest that horizontal coordination
between various policy fields and agencies, as well as vertical coordination between local,
regional, national and European actors and policies, are needed (p. 43).
The book, which is based on an EU funded project on ‘Local Worlds of Social Cohesion: The
local dimension of integrated social and employment policies’, includes national reports from six
countries, selected in order to represent different welfare models: Germany and France for the
continental regime, United Kingdom for the liberal regime, Sweden for the social-democratic
regime, Italy for the Mediterranean regime and Poland for the post-communist regime. Several
dimensions of integration policies were taken into account, such as links between policy fields,
stakeholder types and administrative levels relevant for activation. One of the main questions
addressed in the national studies was whether local actors in different regional and national settings
have the capacity to tackle unemployment and social exclusion. This part of the book provides
original and very detailed information on the current state of affairs in different European countries
in the field of social integration through social and employment policies. When the local level
dimension is included, it means also that the analysis does not remain on the surface, but is carried
out in depth and analyses the real functioning of the approaches of different national policies,
mirrored in local social and employment services.
Sweden, which has a very well structured legislative framework, seems to provide a good
example of well integrated and individualised inclusion services. However, in practice, there is
not much room for caseworkers to offer activation according to individual needs (p. 68). Poland
has only recently introduced activation policies, but no real structural reforms were adopted: only
elements of activation policy were established thanks to Europeanisation. The integration of social
and employment policies in Poland still faces several barriers – at the national as well as the local
level (p. 90). The UK chapter focuses on personalised activation for the long-term unemployed.
The author comes to the conclusion that coordination between territorial levels is lacking and thus
both policy-area and stakeholder coordination are hindered as a result (p. 112). Moreover, the
Book reviews 89

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