European Social Question

Amandine Crespy is Associate Professor in Political Science and European Studies at the Université libre de Bruxelles and a visiting professor at the College of Europe, Bruges. She is the author of Welfare Markets in Europe: The Democratic Challenge of European Integration (2016) and the co-editor of Governance and Politics in the Post-Crisis European Union (with R. Coman and V. Schmidt) (2020).

Thanks to Crespy’s impressive knowledge of the field and her admirable clarity of writing, readers are guided through academic and policy debates about Social Europe to attain a full understanding of present-day challenges and future perspectives. A must-read for students, researchers and all those interested in a fairer and more democratic European Union.

• Introduction: “Social Europe”: irrelevant, catching up, or dangerous?1. What is the European social question?2. Is the EU a key player in addressing social issues?3. Are socially-minded actors too weak in EU policy-making?4. Is European social regulation a thing of the past?5. Does liberalization undermine social cohesion?6. Does the European social dialogue really protect European workers?7. Does soft coordination support welfare states?8. Is redistribution unconditional?9. Is the EU fit for the social challenges of the twenty-first century?Conclusion: from the social question to the democratic questionIndex of CJEU Rulings