This open-access SpringerBrief accompanies and explains a comprehensive GIS dataset that traces both the external and internal administrative borders of the current 27 EU member states, the United Kingdom, the EFTA member states (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland), as well as the countries that formerly constituted Yugoslavia and Albania, covering the period from 1870 to 2020. The dataset represents the first geospatial data package to provide complete and systematic information on changes in European borders at the regional level.Together, the book and dataset enable users at all levels of expertise to use standard GIS tools to generate regional maps. Detailed knowledge of these regional transformations provides a solid foundation for examining Europe’s cultural and political heterogeneity and its historical development. This resource is particularly valuable for academics and secondary school teachers working in fields such as history, geography, sociology, and European studies.

This book provides a study of the rise of private sector providers in the welfare state. It compares for-profit firms as providers of hospital services and pensions and investigates the new private actors in social policy provision, whether they become political actors, and the extent of their power in welfare state politics. Focusing on Germany and the UK, the author’s analysis includes, amongst others, the surprising role of private sector firms in the National Health Service and the halting integration of financial sector companies in the German pension system. The book develops a novel measure of power resources with which to capture two dimensions of provider power: instrumental and structural resources. This important book sheds new light on the increasingly dominant role of markets in public policy provision by focusing on the supply side of these markets. Readers will learn about the drivers and contents of social policy reform, the interaction between business and politics andthe politics of privatization. It will appeal to scholars and practitioners with an interest in public policy, comparative politics, welfare state reform and privatization.

This book provides a study of the rise of private sector providers in the welfare state. It compares for-profit firms as providers of hospital services and pensions and investigates the new private actors in social policy provision, whether they become political actors, and the extent of their power in welfare state politics. Focusing on Germany and the UK, the author’s analysis includes, amongst others, the surprising role of private sector firms in the National Health Service and the halting integration of financial sector companies in the German pension system. The book develops a novel measure of power resources with which to capture two dimensions of provider power: instrumental and structural resources. This important book sheds new light on the increasingly dominant role of markets in public policy provision by focusing on the supply side of these markets. Readers will learn about the drivers and contents of social policy reform, the interaction between business and politics andthe politics of privatization. It will appeal to scholars and practitioners with an interest in public policy, comparative politics, welfare state reform and privatization. 

This open-access SpringerBrief accompanies and explains a comprehensive GIS dataset that traces both the external and internal administrative borders of the current 27 EU member states, the United Kingdom, the EFTA member states (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland), as well as the countries that formerly constituted Yugoslavia and Albania, covering the period from 1870 to 2020. The dataset represents the first geospatial data package to provide complete and systematic information on changes in European borders at the regional level.Together, the book and dataset enable users at all levels of expertise to use standard GIS tools to generate regional maps. Detailed knowledge of these regional transformations provides a solid foundation for examining Europe’s cultural and political heterogeneity and its historical development. This resource is particularly valuable for academics and secondary school teachers working in fields such as history, geography, sociology, and European studies.

This book provides a study of the rise of private sector providers in the welfare state. It compares for-profit firms as providers of hospital services and pensions and investigates the new private actors in social policy provision, whether they become political actors, and the extent of their power in welfare state politics. Focusing on Germany and the UK, the author’s analysis includes, amongst others, the surprising role of private sector firms in the National Health Service and the halting integration of financial sector companies in the German pension system. The book develops a novel measure of power resources with which to capture two dimensions of provider power: instrumental and structural resources. This important book sheds new light on the increasingly dominant role of markets in public policy provision by focusing on the supply side of these markets. Readers will learn about the drivers and contents of social policy reform, the interaction between business and politics andthe politics of privatization. It will appeal to scholars and practitioners with an interest in public policy, comparative politics, welfare state reform and privatization.

This book provides a study of the rise of private sector providers in the welfare state. It compares for-profit firms as providers of hospital services and pensions and investigates the new private actors in social policy provision, whether they become political actors, and the extent of their power in welfare state politics. Focusing on Germany and the UK, the author’s analysis includes, amongst others, the surprising role of private sector firms in the National Health Service and the halting integration of financial sector companies in the German pension system. The book develops a novel measure of power resources with which to capture two dimensions of provider power: instrumental and structural resources. This important book sheds new light on the increasingly dominant role of markets in public policy provision by focusing on the supply side of these markets. Readers will learn about the drivers and contents of social policy reform, the interaction between business and politics andthe politics of privatization. It will appeal to scholars and practitioners with an interest in public policy, comparative politics, welfare state reform and privatization.