Social Europe - a Dead End What the Eurozone Crisis is Doing to Europe's Social Dimension

In the context of Europe's eurocrisis and its current management, the long 'road to Social Europe' appears to have become a dead end. This volume explores in a comprehensive and interdisciplinary way the processes and driving forces at the root of the current social downward spiral. It also examines the main social consequences of the eurozone crisis. The book first provides an assessment of the state of Social Europe, beginning with a look back at the framing and development of Social Europe from the founding of the European Community onward. This includes social policy issues linked to the kind of federalism promoted within the Economic and Monetary Union. Second, the book provides a good basis for understanding the factors that led to rule-based management of the eurozone crisis, offering an analysis of the role of the main European institutions in shaping crisis responses. It also sheds light on various social consequences of the New Economic Governance Framework and of reform policies in the fields of social protection and labor law. Finally, it demonstrates that the crisis and its management have contributed to increased economic, political, and cultural heterogeneity and inequality between and within EU Member States, which is undermining the legitimacy of the European project as a whole. This has come at an unfortunate time, as the EU is now facing new major challenges to its social cohesion. (Series: Studies in European Cooperation - Vol. 4) [Subject: Economics, Politics, Social Policy, European Studies]