The activation-based intervention paradigm is being adopted by several European countries
resulting in major reforms to the social welfare system. The spread of the activation paradigm
has had major repercussions not only for welfare interventions aimed at combating unemployment
but also for the political regulation of the social question and citizenship. Citizenship is
being redefined in contractual terms and greater emphasis is being placed on its economic
aspects. Nevertheless a wide range of policies are labelled with recourse to this
interpretative framework and a pluralistic approach to implementation could serve just as well
to empower as to weaken workers' citizens' position in society. This book analyses the extent
of these changes from a cross-cultural perspective. Institutional settings as well as
prevailing work values and social representation of social exclusion (activation regimes) have
a key role in defining the instruments to be used in national activation strategies to regulate
the behaviour of job seekers. In this book a discussion about the range of social welfare
model reforms throughout Europe and a typology of activation regimes is proposed.
