Gibt es einen Reformtrend der Sozialordnungen in der EU? Skizze einer Typologie zur Diskussion um einen neuen dritten Weg / Is there a Cross-national Trend in Reforms of European Social Policy? Draft of a New Third Way Concerning the Three Worlds of Welfare Capitalism

Abstract

Summary Proponents of the economics and policies of the new third way mainly ignore the history of this debate. Following their project they prefer to focus on politics which seek to combine labour market deregulation and efficiency with procedural social justice. To answer local questions it is important to combine economics and political science. Thus, the current third way debate can be linked to Esping-Andersen’s “three worlds of welfare capitalism”. However, European welfare states are far away from showing a ‘frozen landscape’. Since system competition shows positive effects in both innovation and control one can expect a trend towards universal elements and principals of the welfare states. Thus, path dependence is not more than a filter for the international system competition of the welfare states. Especially investments in education, active labour market policy and the concept of ‘flexicurity’ play a key role in the new third way. However, with the empirical evidence still insufficient, there is a lot of research to be done - by economists who use the results of political science.