Dutch Welfare Reform in an Expanding Europe: The Neighbors’ View

The sustainability and architecture of today’s European welfare states and social security systems are under pressure. In addition to general trends such as individualization, ageing, and migration, the very process of European integration and globalization drives welfare states to reform. In this collection of essays five leading foreign welfare state experts reflect on the nature of the Dutch welfare state in a changing Europe. Comparative commentary from abroad provides policy wisdom as well as illuminating asides about national debates. These reflections from experts of neighboring countries (Germany, France, the United Kingdom, and Belgium) and the United States focus on various aspects of the Dutch welfare state, such as social security, labor market policy, health care, and immigration, and carry the intellectual discussion of a pressing political issue across borders. In this way the book contributes to the political debate on the future of the welfare state in the European context. It offers an interesting and provoking mosaic of the Dutch welfare state during the past two decades. At the same time, it reveals the important questions and dilemmas the Netherlands will have to cope with in the years to come. The observations and insights enrich the debate about the future of social policy in the Netherlands and in the European Union as a whole.