Welfare Policy: the dynamics of European integration

Abstract

In the current period the process of European integration is beset with major political and economic difficulties and consequently any discussion of change in European welfare regimes must proceed cautiously. In this vein this article sets out an editorial context for this special issue of Policy and Politics. It outlines key factors that constitute the dynamics of European welfare change, exploring constraints and suggesting possible outcomes. On the one hand economic and monetary convergence procedures suggest a common set of pressures on welfare regimes, whereas institutional differences in member states dictate that responses will vary significantly. In these circumstances the extent to which integration can be usefully described as ‘transnational’ or ‘supra-national’ is explored.