Book Review: The lighthouse function of social law. Proceedings of the ISLSSL XIV European regional congress Ghent 2023 by Yves Jorens (ed.)

Published date01 March 2024
DOIhttp://doi.org/10.1177/13882627241233265
AuthorMarthe Delodder
Date01 March 2024
Book Reviews
Yves Jorens (ed.) The lighthouse function of social law. Proceedings of the ISLSSL XIV European regional congress
Ghent 2023, Cham, Springer, 2023; 636pp., ISBN 978-3-031-32821-3
Reviewed by: Marthe Delodder ,Vrije Universiteit Brussel
DOI: 10.1177/13882627241233265
Recent decadeshave been characterised by a number of crises,such as the f‌inancial crisis of 2008 and
the more recent Covid-19 crisis, which not only disrupted everyday life, but also had a far-reaching
impact on the f‌ieldof social law. As it can be hard not to get lost in this sea of reformsand changes, the
relevance of the book The Lighthouse Function of Social Law, edited by Yves Jorens, is undeniable.
In this book, which is the result of a three-day conference organised by the Lab for International &
Interdisciplinary Social Affairs(LIISA) in September 2023 in Ghent(Belgium), various academics in
the f‌ield of social law shedlight on the question: In what way does social law interact and exchange
with other f‌ields?. The book itselfis divided into four parts, each corresponding to one of the follow-
ing sub-questions: What is the essence of European social law?;What lessons can be drawn from
the history of sociallaw, with a view to future crises?;How doesregionalisation inf‌luencethe devel-
opment of sociallaw?;andHow can the effectiveness of social law be strengthened?. I will discuss
these questions in the following paragraphs.
The book starts with an analysis of the essence of social law; it distils the basic principles of
social systems, with a focus on their relationship with (EU) economic rights, in particular the
right to free movement. The interaction between these two aspects is clearly set out throughout
the f‌irst part of this book: national social policies can restrict free movement at EU level, but are
at the same time necessary to facilitate it. In her contribution, Torres García points out how national
economic interests tend to prevail above the humanistic aspects of the right to lifelong learning.
While describing how this right is applied in Spain, she emphasises its role not only in building
a resilient economy, but also in social inclusion and personal development. Moreover, she proposes
that lifelong learning should be planned from a social perspective. The skills systems adopted by
each country should especially assist people with lower qualif‌ications; otherwise, lifelong learning
will increase inequalities at the expense of vulnerable groups who have not had educational oppor-
tunities, such as immigrants and people with disabilities.
The second part of the book lays out the lighthouse function of social law by describing its history,
discussing the origins and evolution of the International Labour Organisation, the Belgian pension
system and labour disputes. While the various contributions give us particularly interesting insights
into the current social landscape, they give only implicit answers to the central question: can we
learn lessons from past crises?. However, the chapter by Martone is an interesting exception to this.
Ref‌lecting upon the European debt crisis of 2011, he shows how the added value of solidarity was
Book Reviews
European Journal of Social Security
2024, Vol. 26(1) 8494
© The Author(s) 2024
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