Welfare Markets in Europe
The Democratic Challenge of European Integration

Authors: Amandine Crespy



This book explores the European welfare model, arguing that the rollout of European policies for welfare services has led to increased marketization. The author argues that the rise of profit-making in utilities, transport, child and health care is exacerbating rather than reducing inequalities among citizens, demonstrating how the marketization of European welfare has taken place over successive rounds of policymaking for European integration.

These rounds have motivated national level public services reform, as well as contestation over these measures from civil society groups. The study traces the developments of policymaking at EU level since the late 1980s, offers in-depth studies of contentious debates which have sealed the fate of welfare services at the turn of the century, and offers insights on the problems involved with prolonged austerity in Europe. This book therefore shows how European integration is provoking a democratic challenge to what kind of Europe citizens want.

Table of contents

Front Matter
Pages i-xv

Introduction: Welfare Markets, Democracy and European Integration
Pages 1-32

European Integration as Marketization
Pages 33-70

Resistance to Liberalization
Pages 71-112

The Elusive Pursuit of Social Europe
Pages 113-149

The Contentious Global Agenda for Services
Pages 151-187

Welfare Services in Times of Austerity
Pages 189-227

Conclusion: The Marketization and Politicization of Welfare Services: Old and New Dynamics
Pages 229-254

Back Matter
Pages 255-263