The Labour government came to power in 1997 pledging to tackle social exclusion and to end child poverty within a generation. The European Union has also committed to making a decisive impact on poverty and social exclusion within the framework of the Lisbon Strategy of economic and social policy reform. To this end, the EU has adopted an ‘open method of co-ordination’ intended to stimulate reflection, and to promote action, on member states' policies and strategies to tackle social exclusion. The aim of this article is to analyse and assess this attempt to ‘Europeanise’ policy-making in the United Kingdom (including the devolved institutions) in the field of social exclusion.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AnnesleyC. (2003) ‘Americanised and Europeanised: UK social policy since 1997’, The British Journal of Politics & International Relations, 5:2, 143–165.
2.
ArmstrongK. (2003) ‘Tackling social exclusion through OMC: Reshaping the boundaries of European governance’, in BörzelT.CichowskiR. (eds), The State of the European Union, Vol. 6 (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 170–194.
3.
ArmstrongK. (2005) ‘How open is the United Kingdom to the OMC process on social inclusion’, in ZeitlinJ.PochetP. (eds), The Open Method of Co-ordination in Action: The European Employment and Social Inclusion Strategies (Brussels: P.I.E. Peter Lang), 287–310.
4.
AtkinsonA. B.MarlierE.NolanB. (2004) ‘Indicators and targets for social inclusion in the European Union’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 42:1, 47–75.
5.
BauerM. W. (2002) ‘Limitations to agency control in European Union policy-making: The Commission and the poverty programmes’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 40:3, 381–400.
6.
BeggI.BerghmanJ. (2002) ‘EU social (exclusion) policy revisited?’, Journal of European Social Policy, 12:3, 179–194.
7.
BerghmanJ. (1995) ‘Social exclusion in Europe: Policy context and analytical framework’, in RoomG. (ed), Beyond the Threshold: The Measurement and Analysis of Social Exclusion (Bristol: Policy Press).
8.
BörzelT. (2002) ‘Pace-setting, foot-dragging and fence-sitting: Member state responses to Europeanization’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 40:2, 193–214.
9.
BörzelT. (2005) ‘Europeanization: How the European Union interacts with its member states’, in BulmerS.LequesneC. (eds), The Member States of the European Union (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 45–69.
10.
BörzelT.RisseT. (2003) ‘Conceptualising the domestic impact of Europe’, in FeatherstoneK.RadaelliC. (eds), The Politics of Europeanization (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 57–80.
11.
Bulmer, S. and Burch, M. (forthcoming) ‘The Europeanization of UK government: From quiet revolution to explicit step-change?’, Public Administration.
12.
BulmerS.PadgettS. (2004) ‘Policy transfer in the European Union: An institutionalist perspective’, British Journal of Political Science, 35:1, 103–126.
13.
BulmerS.RadaelliC. (2005) ‘The Europeanization of national policy’, in. BulmerS.LequesneC. (eds), The Member States of the European Union (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 338–359.
14.
BurchardtT.Le GrandJ.PiachaudD. (2002) ‘Introduction’, in HillsJ.Le GrandJ.PiachaudD. (eds), Understanding Social Exclusion (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 1–12.
15.
CramL. (2001) ‘Governance “to go”: Domestic actors, institutions and the boundaries of the possible’, Journal of Common Market Studies, 39:4, 595–618.
16.
European Commission (2003) Strengthening the Social Dimension of the Lisbon Strategy: Streamlining Open Co-ordination in the Field of Social Protection, COM (2003) 261.
17.
European Commission (2005) Working Together for Growth and Jobs: A New Start for the Lisbon Strategy: COM (2005) 24 final.
18.
FeatherstoneK. (2003) ‘Introduction: In the name of “Europe’”, in FeatherstoneK.RadaelliC. (eds), The Politics of Europeanization (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
19.
FerreraM.MatsaganisM.SacchiS. (2002) ‘Open co-ordination against poverty: The new EU “Social Inclusion Process’”, Journal of European Social Policy, 12:3, 227–239.
20.
HillsJ.StewartK. (eds) (2005) A More Equal Society? New Labour, Poverty, Inequality and Exclusion (Bristol: Policy Press).
21.
HillyardP.RolstonB.TomlinsonM. (2005) Poverty and Conflict in Ireland: An International Perspective (Dublin: IPA/CPA).
22.
JacobssonH. K. (2001) ‘Doing collaborative research in international legal topics’, International Studies Review, 3:1, 15–23.
23.
KokW. (2004) Facing the Challenge—the Lisbon Strategy for Growth and Employment: Report of the High Level Group (Luxembourg: OOPEC).
24.
LevitasR. (1998) The Inclusive Society? Social Inclusion and New Labour (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan).
MabbettD. (2004) ‘Learning by Numbers? The Use of Indicators in the Coordination of Social Inclusion Policies in Europe’, Working Paper, ESRC Seminar Series onImplementing the Lisbon Strategy.
27.
NewmanJ. (2001) Modernising Governance: New Labour, Policy and Society (London: Sage).
28.
Notre Europe (2005) The Lisbon Strategy and the Open Method of Co-ordination: 12 Recommendations for a Multilevel Strategy, Policy Paper No. 12: www.notre-europe.asso.fr.
29.
Observatory (1991) National Policies to Combat Social Exclusion: First Annual Report of the European Community Observatory (Luxembourg: OOPEC).
30.
OlsenJ. P. (2001) ‘The Many Faces of Europeanization’, ARENA Working Paper 01/2.
31.
PearceN.PaxtonW. (eds) (2005) Social Justice: Building a Fairer Britain? (London: Politico's Publishing).
32.
RadaelliC. M. (2003) ‘The Europeanization of public policy’, in FeatherstoneK.RadaelliC. (eds), The Politics of Europeanization (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
33.
RoomG. (1995) ‘Poverty and social exclusion: The new European agenda for policy and research’, in RoomG. (ed), Beyond the Threshold: The Measurement and Analysis of Social Exclusion (Bristol: Policy Press).
34.
ScottJ.HolderJ. (forthcoming) ‘Law and “new” environmental governance in the European Union’, in de BürcaG.ScottJ. (eds), New Governance and Constitutionalism in Europe and the US (Oxford: Hart Publishing).
35.
VisserJ. (2005) ‘The OMC as selective amplifier for national strategies of reform: What the Netherlands wants to learn from Europe’, in ZeitlinJ.PochetP. (eds), The Open Method of Co-ordination in Action: The European Employment and Social Inclusion Strategies (Brussels: P.I.E. Peter Lang), 173–215.
36.
WincottD. (2003) ‘The idea of the European Social Model: Limits and paradoxes of Europeanization’, in FeatherstoneK.RadaelliC. (eds), The Politics of Europeanization (Oxford: Oxford University Press), 279–302.
37.
ZeitlinJ. (2005) ‘The open method of co-ordination in action: Theoretical promise, empirical realities, reform strategy’, in ZeitlinJ.PochetP. (eds), The Open Method of Co-ordination in Action: The European Employment and Social Inclusion Strategies (Brussels: P.I.E. Peter Lang), 447–503.
38.
ZeitlinJ.PochetP. (eds) (2005) The Open Method of Co-ordination in Action: The European Employment and Social Inclusion Strategies (Brussels: P.I.E. Peter Lang).
