It is possible to draw important lessons from the last 15 years that saw the attempt to build a significant layer of «Social Europe», from the first initiatives in the very early 1990s. The near collapse of this dynamics was triggered by the double rejection of the project for a constitutional treaty in the Netherlands and France. But this failed attempt at adopting a constitution has much deeper cultural and political roots. In the absence of the «social» dynamics, the substance of the discourse of coordination at Eu level has quickly reversed back to good and solid mainstream «economicism» while perfunctory service was paid to the necessity of «better communication». The fundamental conditions that brought the refusal from voters in France and the Netherlands can be seen as «cultural». This opens up a research programme where the status of a «missing variable», culture, could be considered anew, with its role enhanced in comparative welfare state literature. only subscribers can see the full article

It is widely believed that a viable welfare state depends on achieving and maintaining a high level of solidarity amongst citizens, and that this solidarity is eroded by increasing levels of ethnic and racial diversity due to immigration. If true, there is a trade-off between a more open and accommodating approach to immigrants, on the one hand, and the maintenance of a robust welfare state. In this paper, however, we argue that claims about an inevitable trade-off between diversity and solidarity are premature. The evidence to date, and our own research, shows that a multicultural welfare state is a viable prospect.only subscribers can see the full article

Culture pervades the rights and expectations of citizenship. Recent decades have seen increasing cultural diversity in western nations, yet their multicultural condition has been little recognised in theories of citizenship and social policy. This paper looks at three theoretical accounts of the relation between multiculturalism and citizenship with a view to making the study of welfare state citizenship more responsive to the issues raised by cultural diversity. only subscribers can see the full article

This article deals with the question to what extent welfare states help or hinder inter-ethnic cohesion. Derived from socio-psychological theories, two indicators are proposed: meeting and mobility. The first points towards the possibilities of real and repeated contact, while the second refers to the absence of insider/outsider boundaries. The Dutch welfare state is presented as an illustration of how to analyse social policy when looking through this lens. In both dimensions the Dutch welfare state is acting poorly. Educational policies as well as labour market policies reduce the possibilities of meeting and mobility. only subscribers can see the full article

The paper argues that welfare is satisfying human needs. It is a multidimensional phenomenon and is constructed through gendered processes. The author distinguished five dimensions of welfare: having, loving, being, doing, deciding. The dimensions are illustrated and discussed connected to the debates on the public-private divide, the distribution between care and wage work, Welfare models and inequality regimes, social and political citizenship. only subscribers can see the full article

It is widely believed that a viable welfare state depends on achieving and maintaining a high level of solidarity amongst citizens, and that this solidarity is eroded by increasing levels of ethnic and racial diversity due to immigration. If true, there is a trade-off between a more open and accommodating approach to immigrants, on the one hand, and the maintenance of a robust welfare state. In this paper, however, we argue that claims about an inevitable trade-off between diversity and solidarity are premature. The evidence to date, and our own research, shows that a multicultural welfare state is a viable prospect.only subscribers can see the full article