New Welfare Spaces

The 'post Keynesian' shift in the welfare settlementinvolves the emergence of 'workfare' as a dominantpolicy regime. Social benefits are increasinglyconditional on the unemployed participating inactivation programmes and major aspects of labourmarket policy delivery is devolved to localinstitutions. The book explores this theme through acomparison of two diverse welfare systems - the UKand Denmark and two city case studies Sheffield (UK)and Aalborg (DK). The book analyses the dynamics ofspatial rescaling of welfare and the politics ofgeographical uneven development, revealing that thelocal is a site for innovation and adaptation and asa consequence plays a crucial role in mediatingnational welfare policy production. Second, politicalagency and actors within welfare-work policy regimes(trade unions and social movements)contest andnegotiate workfare at different spatial scales,including the locality. 'Localisation' as suchinvolves the production of new welfare spaces whichis inherently contradictory, unstable and contested.The book argues that an understanding of the role ofthe 'local' as such is of importance to anyassessment of future welfare trajectories.

Autorentext

David Etherington is Principal Researcher at Middlesex University Business School working on economic governance and employment. He has worked for many years on comparative research on welfare and employment in the UK and Denmark. David has published widely as research papers, book chapters and in a number of international peer reviewed journals.

Klappentext
The 'post Keynesian' shift in the welfare settlement involves the emergence of 'workfare' as a dominant policy regime. Social benefits are increasingly conditional on the unemployed participating in activation programmes and major aspects of labour market policy delivery is devolved to local institutions. The book explores this theme through a comparison of two diverse welfare systems - the UK and Denmark and two city case studies Sheffield (UK) and Aalborg (DK). The book analyses the dynamics of spatial rescaling of welfare and the politics of geographical uneven development, revealing that the local is a site for innovation and adaptation and as a consequence plays a crucial role in mediating national welfare policy production. Second, political agency and actors within welfare-work policy regimes (trade unions and social movements)contest and negotiate workfare at different spatial scales, including the locality. 'Localisation' as such involves the production of new welfare spaces which is inherently contradictory, unstable and contested. The book argues that an understanding of the role of the 'local' as such is of importance to any assessment of future welfare trajectories.