Implementing Social Europe in Times of Crises

<p>While the EU legitimacy crisis and the Great Recession prevail certain European Union principles and policies have to be implemented in the member states. This volume explores the diverse processes stages and subjects of implementation in a variety of social policies to identify different institutional dynamics and actor behaviours at play. The individual contributions examine the transposition of the patients’ rights directive to the Europeanisation of pension reforms; the role of national parliaments in transposing social Europe; judicial Europeanisation; and the multi-level enforcement of EU decisions. </p><p>Theoretically the contributions in this book highlights the fact that implementation is often conditioned by domestic politics or comes as a ‘random walk’ due to organisational and cognitive constraints. Empirically the volume has three main findings. First the constitutive components of the EU tend to have a contradictory impact on the EU’s social policies and the national welfare systems. Second crises influence the implementation of social Europe at times leading to a modification of fundamental principles and content but not across the board. Third as a result there is evidence of differentiated Europeanisation.</p><p>This book was originally published as a special issue of <i>West European Politics. </i></p>