Knut Roder teaches Political Economy at Saint Louis University, Madrid Campus and is an Invited Scholar at the Instituto Juan March - Centro de Estudios Avanzados en Ciencias Sociales, Madrid.

'Knut Roder has written a rich academic book which documents a careful and comprehensive research process. It should be of interest not only to specialists in labour market policy and social democracy, but also more generally to students and scholars in the field of political scientists.' - Per Kongshøj, University of Copenhagen, West European Politics

• Introduction: social democracy under pressure, The aims of this book, Methods and the quantitative and qualitative approach to programme analysis, Theoretical aspects: linking historical institutionalism with the decline of the Keynesian paradigm PART I Changing conditions for policy design 1 Challenges of post-war social democracy 2 Inside the party: changing conditions and strategies 3 Institutional constraints on party behaviour: Keynesian v. neo-liberal paradigms PART II The development of labour market policy 4 The development of labour market policy in Britain and Germany 5 Trends in policy convergence: findings from party documents 6 Policy reform and policy change: a comparative perspective PART III Conclusions 7 Converging social democratic strategy