Institutions, ideas and learning in welfare state change: labour market reforms in Germany

Abstract

Institutions, Ideas and Learning in Welfare State Change investigates the transformation of German labour market policy, showing that Germany has departed from the conservative-corporatist path of welfare. This development started with the conservative-liberal Kohl government in the mid-1990s, and was accelerated by the Red-Green alliance of Chancellor Schröder (1998-2005). That Social Democrats, with the Agenda 2010 and the Hartz Legislation in particular, continued on the trajectory of welfare restructuring and retrenchment caused much surprise amongst comparative social policy circles. This book demonstrates how policy learning transformed the ideational underpinnings of the labour market policy of the German 'social insurance state' and fostered the rise of the new welfare paradigm of activation